Cold flight

Here are a few pics I took on a cold flight this December. It was -10 when I left Soldotna and -30 when I landed at the cabin. Needless to say, I didn't stay long.

Cabin Friends

I spent a good amount of time this spring/summer/fall across the inlet at the cabin last year. When you put in your time in the area you really begin to see what it's all about. A few hours here and there will be a good time, but you will often miss the full on ecosystem that exists over there. This summer I finally began to see the river otters. They are often so quick and clever it's hard to get more than 30 seconds with them but I was fortunate enough to see them twice, once for a few minutes while they watched me fish on the Kustatan. Also included is a picture of the local muskrat that patrols the lake right at dusk. He/she will swim past every night at usually the same time up the lake, then be back by about 30 minutes later. While Mike and I were working on the tree fort, the Grebe pictured had been abandoned and was hanging out on shore so we grabbed a few pictures at set him out in the lake to see if he would be adopted.

Summer fishing on the Kenai

Last summer I finally began to realize the beauty of fishing the Kenai river. Wally purchased a drift boat, and often we borrowed a friends drift boat to head out and take advantage of the massive red run this year. Along with getting out two to three nights a week for reds, we also fished every drift Monday for kings. Not a huge success rate with the kings but nevertheless, the great summer weather we had made it worth it. In the heart of the king run I would often get off work at 5:30, meet Wally at the boat launch and pull out at The Pillars around 1am only to get up at 4am and start the cycle all over. I'm sure that takes years off your life....

Tree Fort

Mike climbed this tree as a kid and had the itch to put a little perch in the top so we can check out the area around the lake, look at weather etc. I brought over my climbing rope and we established some fixed lines and pulleys to use to make the trip up a little safer. I'll be doing a few catch up posts to get the rest of the summer and fall all on here.

Cold streak

We have been stringing together day after day of sub-zero temps. Finally it warmed up a bit and is snowing now. Here's a crappy iPhone pic from the cabin yesterday. It was -30 when I touched down. Too cold to stay very long......

August On

Now that we are in October and it's 35 degrees and raining, it's easier to sit inside and create a few posts! This summer we were faced with a mission of trying to help control the black bear population in unit 16B which encompasses the area around the cabin. ADF&G issues predator control permits that allow us to fly and hunt black bears the same day over there so Wally, I and others took advantage of that and harvested a healthy amount of black bears this year. Here are a few pictures from my time spent black bear hunting this year.

Coho

I'm still working on getting caught up, as I type, i'm making dinner after getting back from a great couple days at the cabin. Life has been hectic with little sleep. I hope to post a few catch up pics as it slows down. Here's one from today

Josh