We started at the Chena state park on University Blvd. It took us about 15 minutes to get the boat into the water - we're getting quicker at doing that - then we headed down the Chena River about 5 miles.
We went through a portion of Fairbanks where some of the nicer river front houses are and also some unusual stuff:
How about a float plane in your front yard instead of a boat? I didn't get a picture cause I was driving on the way back but there was one house that had a plane parked right up on the driveway next to the garage door.
We went by the Riverboat tours "Indian village". It is near the end of the Chena since the Tanana has dropped considerably enough that the riverboat can no longer make it in the shallow water.
A short while later we came to the Tanana. On a clear day, you can tell the difference between the water in the Tanana and the water in the Chena that is less silty. Shortly after we turned onto the Tanana, we saw this wonderful contraption.:
How would you like to live in that mobile home?
We went down the river about 60 miles and started talking about how we were going to have to turn around soon. The farthest we had gone was round trip 104 miles and that took 25 gallons of fuel. The tank only holds 35 and we hadn't brought any extra with us this trip. We decided we would have to turn around at 60 but just then we saw the train bridge at Nenana and decided to go on to the otherside of the Parks Highway before turning around.
The Nenana Ice Classic is the only lottery in Alaska. Tickets go on sale in February and you write down when you think the ice will break - date and time. At the above location, they set up a tripod attached to a clock so when the ice breaks and the tripod falls through, it stops the clock The jackpot is never more than four hundred thousand. This year the jackpot was $338,062 and was shared by 22 winners. The ice broke on May 4 at 4:24 PM.
The river was so wide and so calm and peaceful. Plus, we were the only boat all the way to Nenana.
The only other person we even saw was a plane that was trying to land on a sand bar.
In the below picture there is a fish wheel. Many of the people (mainly Native Alaskans) who do sustenance fishing use fish wheels to catch a large amount of salmon. A lot of the salmon they catch are dried for dog food but they are a lower quality salmon than people would want to eat.
The tee pee frame in the picture above is rather unusual as while we saw lots of tee pees in Montana, we haven't seen any up here. (course we haven't seen an igloo either)
On our return trip to Fairbanks, JW pulled up at this nice sandy beach and we had lunch. It was so nice and peaceful - very fine silty sand and a huge beach. Great place for a picnic and no skeeters around wanting blood donations. (This time, I remember we had the big tripod.)
After eating our sandwiches, we walked around a bit then got back in the boat to head on home. When we were passing Chena Ridge, JW pulled into this one area where there were a lot of people with boats and ski doos. He explained to me that this was another public boat ramp. Then he turned on a dime and went back into what he thought was the main part of the river.
As he headed on up the river, we were moving further away from Chena Ridge into the open. As the GPS approached the 120 mile mark which should mean that we were near the truck, I began to be a bit concerned. Especially since it seemed the hills of Fairbanks were moving further away. He slowed down and we decided we needed to turn around and go back further on up the river where the public boat ramp was that he had showed me a little earlier. I told him it was possible we didn't pay attention to that area when we went by it earlier that morning because no one was there and without people it would not have stood out.
We were now at 125 miles and the fuel gauge which had stayed on full all day had dropped quickly and was now pointing at the big E for FEEEEEED MEEEEE. I wasn't too concerned as I figured we could go at least 140 miles.
We got back to the Chena Ridge area and turned right into the area where the boat ramp is. A little orange racing boat was just pulling up that way too so JW kind of followed him in. All of a sudden, the boat came to a complete stop. My first reaction was "are we out of gas?". JW said, "No, we are stuck." He had hit a buried sand bar and the boat wasn't going anywhere.
This is where I wished I had taken a few pictures but sometimes you just got to be all business - darn it. JW pulled out his high top boots and jumped into the water to try to push the boat off the sand bar. Unfortunately, he was able to walk completely around it without going more than about 8" deep in the water. Finally, after getting no where, he told me that he was sorry and that my rubber boots were at home but I was going to have to get into the water.
Oh joy. And to think I had just admitted to him a few hours earlier that despite all my protests against buying the boat, it really was a fun thing to have.
I got out and surprisingly the water wasn't too terribly cold. We both started to push on the front of the boat. Then we tried to push on the back and we weren't moving it at all. Another boat came by and said he would throw us a few waves to see if that would help. We were all hoping that when the wave hit and lifted the front of the boat, we could more easily push it into the water.
Three or four waves later and we were still stuck - although I was now wet way up past my knees. Two young men who had been ski dooing, came out to help push. One of them told me to get in the boat and go to the front for a little counter-balance. Another wave, the 3 guys pushed the boat and hurray - we were free and on our way again.
Soon, we passed the big boat with the mobile home on again. Then we turned into the Chena River, past the houses, past the Chena Pump House, past the Riverboats, under the Geist Road bridge and under the University Blvd bridge and to the ramp. JW pulled up on the bank and jumped out to get the truck. We got the boat loaded up and turned the truck to go home.
But, first stop was at Freddy Meyers to feed the boat since we were curious as to just how close to empty we really were. 28 gallons later, the beast was full. The GPS said we had gone 136 miles. The tank holds 35 gallons. We possibly could have gone another 32 miles or so on the gas we had - there are so many variables - most importantly is how fast is the water moving.
We'll never know exactly how far we could have gone but we do know two things for sure.
1. It had been an absolutely gorgeous day
2. If we are going somewhere we've never gone before, we will be sure to take at least 5 extra gallons of gas.
And as for what we would have done if we had gotten stuck on a sand bar and didn't have anyone around to help us out, I've been told that's what we have the rope-a-long and 280 feet of rope for. (That is definitely not an experience that is on my bucket list.)
No comments:
Post a Comment