| Bill's Daily Journal |
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| This page will list the daily information and data obtained from the site in Alaska. | |
| The first two pictures are pictures of myself, Bill Surface, on the left, and Bill Shelton on the right who is traveling with me. | ||
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The third picture is a picture of the trailer which we are pulling to Alaska behind my pickup truck. In it are all our supplies and transportation. This includes 4-wheel drive all-terrain vehicles and narrow wheel special carts to pull behind the 4 whee
lers.
Day 1: Left the PINES RECREATION AREA near Glascow, Montana at 6:31a.m. It took over an hour because of the poor roads. We went to Havre Mt. and then north on Highway 232 to the Wild Horse port of entry. They made us unload
our pickup and move all of the ammo into the trailer. You can't carry live ammo in the same compartment with the guns. We had the guns and serial numbers written down with the amount of shells. That speeded the entry up. No hand guns in Canada. Calgary
is really a nice city if you are into cities. We spent our first nite at Carstairs, Alberta. Gas is high in Canada as much as 72 cents per liter. How much is that per gallon? ( math students) Also the speed limit is 100km. How much is that in miles pe
r hour?
| Day 2: Left Carstairs campground at 5:34 a.m. I slept in the pickup to protect gear. High school kids were having a beer party. We were invited. There were several nice looking girls. The guys were all ugly. I didn't ge t much sleep. I am too big or the pickup needs to get bigger. It is cold here this a.m.. You can see your breath and need a jacket. We ran the truck heater. Southern Canada is all agriculture and cattle. Crops are wheat, barley, canola, alfalfa. The pastu res are hugh in size. We saw one that ran for 30 miles with no cross fence that we could see. As we go farther north we are seeing more trees and less agriculture. The trees are White Spruce, Birch, and Poplar. The Spruce trees are stunted and many are t wisted because of the harsh climate. Traffic in Canada has been horrible. We are going to stay at Fort St. James. |
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 | Alcan Highway mile marker 0 at Dawson Creek |
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Two pictures of spruce trees. Notice how narrow around they are. They're tall but the rugged conditions prevents them from being bushy and thick.
Day 3:Cold again this morning. I can see the dress for the day is going to be jackets and truck heater. Left Fort St. James at 5:34 a.m. (7:34 CDT) While traveling today we saw the following animals: Wolf, Bear with 2 cubs, dee r, Stone sheep, Moose, and Caribou. We are now in the Mountians. There is snow at the higher elevations. The windshield on the truck is taking a severe beating from flying rocks tossed up by passing vehicles. Many cars have lost their headlights. The hail screen that I placed over the grill guard has paid off.Driving in the Mts. is tough today. Lot's of steep grades to climb. I hope the Chev pickup is up to it. Raining on us now. Road construction on the Alcan is harsh and hard on equipment. I can't describe the country as it is the most beautiful I have ever seen. Everyone needs to see it.
Day4: Stayed at Contact Creek Y.T. last nite. It rained a lot yesterday and then last nite it turned to snow. Guess what? Jackets again today. We left the campground at 5:15 a.m.. Some of the campgrounds are not very good. We
had a Loon on the Lake where we stayed.
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| We put up our sign in the sign post forest at Watson Lake. There are over 20,000 signs in it. If any of you ever travel and stop there, we are in the middle row at the very top of the post down by the information center. | |
We arrived at Northway, AK about 8:30p.m. It stays light here until close to midnight and gets light a little after 3 a.m.
Note: I am doing this at 4:00 a.m. in an old building, The computer is resting on a log and my behind is on a painful stool. You had better check it over for mistakes.
Here is some information about Northway, Ak.
The village of Northway is south of the Alcan highway. There is no running water or sewer in the town. The people have to carry drinking water from the gift shop on the Alcan. They also have to shower at the station. It costs two dollars per shower.
All of the houses and the school set up on posts because of the perma-frost. The road into the village goes between lakes and creeks. It is a big waterfowl refuge. There is 70 per cent unemployment in the village. The people are very poor. The only electr icity is provided by two generators that sit down at the airstrip. All of the towns here have airports.
The town of Tetlin is only accessible by boat during the summer. In winter they can drive over the ice to reach it. The kids at Northway have a hockey rink instead of a football field. For basketball, they have just one road trip of 996 miles. When they p lay Barrow they drive to Fairbanks then catch a jet to Barrow. The town of Barrow pays for the trip. When they play Barrow there is no daylight.
Hunting
Hunting is a way of life in Alaska. The people depend on the wild game that they harvest. They don't have meat available like we do. I know that some people don't like hunting, but please realize that their way of life is different than ours.
These pictures are of mountain scenery and of stonesheep licking salt and minerals off the highway..
Don Spitler and family (The people we stay with) look the same. It was great seeing them. Our tent is soaking wet and we can't get it dry because of the rain. We made a couple of set lines and caught 4 Burbot (excellent eating). We then worked on the Ar go's (8 wheel drive) A.T.V.'s.
We went into the town of Northway, a town that has no business district. There is a gas station that carries some supplies, however. All of the houses in Northway including the school are built on posts. This is because of the perma frost. It causes the house to shift and then sag. The school district of Northway is larger than the entire State of Nebraska.
Day 6: We were going into Grizz country to cut trails in the brush. One person will stand guard with a 375HH Mag for protection. No one goes out without a weapon of some sort.Don's son Joe is a smoke jumper, and the bears are gi ving them some major problems. The blue berry crop is not good because of the dry conditions so the Bears are coming into camp because they are wanting food.
Because of the rain we did not cut trails. We worked on the Argo's. We also designed a method to get the 4-wheeler's across the rivers. We will wire the Argo's spare tires to the 4-wheeler tires, and then tie the 4-wheelers on the back of the Argo's. I hope our idea works..... We leave for camp in four days. We will ride our 4-wheelers some 45 miles back into the bush. If they are anything like the trails I have already been on, I will need a seat belt and crash helmet. If I had time I would weld a b rush cage for my 4-wheeler. Bill Shelton and I are getting some real riding lessons.
There is no way that I will take this expensive computer equipment back into the bush. I will keep a journal and then contact you when I GET OUT OF THE BUSH...
Caribou Part 1
The GPS reading for the Caribou hunt is N64. 01.042Õ W143. 02. 105Õ
Left Northway about 8:30 am . We drove 28 miles into the lower Cabin. The trail was very tough going. We lost both Willy wagons (Wagons we built to pull behind the 4 wheelers) on the way with breakdowns, The one upset, and the other lost a bearing. I sho t 2 ruffed Grouse. Saw lots of Bear tracks and scat on the trail. There were some Moose and Caribou tracks as well. The Cabin is a one room cabin with no water or electricity. The bathroom is a hole and 2 sticks to set on. It sets deep into the wildernes s. Other than a few birds we saw no other wildlife. Some trappers use the cabin in the winter and skin the animals they catch inside the cabin. Their traps are outside hanging in trees. They also have traps hanging in trees along the trail.
Aug 10th: -My fingers are not working very good from gripping the 4 wheeler handles. Hands feel funny. The trail on from Caribou camp gets worse if you can believe that. We got to the Caribou camp about 3:00 p.m. Went hunting this evening. Don Spitler killed a bi g Caribou bull late in the evening. We skinned and boned it out in the field. Got back to camp and put meat out to cool. With meat just outside of tent to cool I worried all night that Bears would come into camp for dinner. We will bone the meat in the mo rning. We have to carry the 375 H&H MagÕs where ever we go. We are above Timberline so all the vegetation is stunted. The conditions are so harsh that plants canÕt grow very big. The insects are a big problem. They are always chewing on you. The wildern ess is something else. We have not heard or saw another vehicle or person for 3 days. It is so quiet.
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Aug. 11th: - Got up at 5:30 am. Built a fire in the cook tent. We boned the Caribou and sacked it in cloth bags to keep the Blow flies off it. We chopped a hole through the tundra. The tundra is about 8Ó thick and like a big sponge. It is full of moss, small plants, and roots. We dug down into the dirt about 7Ó and hit ice. We lined the hole with plastic and put the meat in it. We then pulled the tundra back over the top. The meat stayed at 41 degrees. It rains a lot in the Mountains. It rained most of the morning. I left the camp by myself to see if I could find a Grizz to take a picture of. I located several big Caribou bulls. I went back to camp and got the guys. Gary did get his Bull. While riding up the side of the mountains I rolled my 4 wheeler. It was so steep that it bounced over the top of me. I did pick up a few bumps and black marks. I had lots of equipment tied on the 4 wheeler. All of my cameras, rifle, spotting scope, GPS, and pack frame. I hope all of the equipment is OK.
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Aug 12th: -Hands donÕt work very well I canÕt grip anything. My shoulder from the 4 wheeler accident is solid black. I must of hit my nose as it is all swelled up. We saw 60 Caribou while riding around. Two other boyÕs came into camp. They are sons of some of the p eople I am with. They have an Argo and are having transmission problems. They came all the way in low gear. The 4 wheeeler and equipment seem to be OK after the roll over. The weather is always cool. You need a jacket and gloves most of the time. Snow c overs some of the nearby mountains so it is a matter of time. We are about 4000 feet. We get our water from a spring about 2 miles from camp. It has to be boiled to kill the germs. The animals drink from the same spring. Being in the wilderness is a great experience. Not many blue berries around. We are eating a few. We are having Moose steak and potatoes for dinner. I fixed Caribou for supper last night. What a life I donÕt think I want to come back to the ugly world. We found an old trappers cabin. The re are traps hanging from the trees . We think it may snow tonight in the higher mountains. When you leave camp you leave all your cooking gear hanging in trees and put the rest of your stuff in 55 gallon drums with lids that bolt on. This protects your g ear from Bears. You donÕt do this each day, but when you leave camp for good. The can goods freeze over winter but seem to be ok. If they hiss a little when we open them we think they are good to eat. The cans are a bit rusty.
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Aug 13th: - rained most of the day. We took the transmission out of the boyÕs Argo. If he runs out in low gear we think he can make it. They went hunting and got a Caribou. We will bone it out tomorrow. They also saw a big Grizz. We will try to find him tomorrow. The Bears have not hit any of the Caribou that have been taken by hunters.
Aug. 14th: - Cold this morning. Looks like more rain. I think we have 4 more days in Caribou camp. We will then go to Moose camp and do some work on the cabin and build a bridge over a creek. There is lots of rock on top of the mountains. I canÕt get over how small the plants are. The trees are Black Spruce and are not very tall on top of the mountains. Down lower they grow tall but not very big around. When walking on the tundra it feels like a big sponge. The ground shakes but you donÕt sink in much. All of our fo od is kept in holes in the ground. If you like to take a hot bath forget it. You wear your cloths about 5 dayÕs then switch. Ugh what a smell. I sleep in long johns at night so my sleeping bag does not smell. When you go to bed at night it is an advantage to go to sleep first because the snoring can keep you awake. You have to be tough to survive a life like this. We have been eating a few Blue Berries. They tell us in normal years you can drive along the trails hold your hand out and rake in handfuls of berries.
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Aug. 15th: -The guys had a chocolate muffin on the table and a bunch of matches stuck in it for my birthday cake. Bill and I went over the top today looking for a Grizzle. We saw a red fox. It is cold again today. They came up on top to get us. A Grizz has hit one of the Caribou . He ate the intestines, lungs, liver, meat left on the bones, and head. He then drug the rest of the animal off in the timber. We walked in after him hoping to get a picture. It was a spooky feeling. He is too close to camp to be comfort able. Some more people came into camp last night. My 4 wheeler has a u-joint going out of it. Most of the birds we see are Ravens and Whiskey Jacks. The guys that came in from the lower camp said that it froze down there last night.
Aug. 16th: - Bill Shelton and I got up early to see if the Grizz had come back to the kill site. He had come in during the night and chewed up the rest of the carcass. We have code named him Bruno. I think he is too smart for us. I saw his tracks close to camp. If tracks are an indication he is one big bear. Everyone has left camp and they left me on guard duty to protect it from bears. If you have never been in the wilderness it is a neat experience. It is so quiet. The only thing we see of the outside world is t he Alaska Game and Parks fly a super cub over once in awhile to check on things. The silence is unreal. I feel much safer here than in a city. It does not cost Alaska residents anything for their hunting tags. We only have 3 more days in camp. I will be s ad to leave.
Aug. 17th: -Colder than heck today. It feels like it could snow today. The tops of the mountains are covered with clouds. When the hunters came back to camp they had shot a grizz. She had a wolf snare around its back leg. It had cut through to the bone and she had i nfection in it. She would not have made it during the winter. I hope the bears never lose their fear of man. I heard a Wolf howling back in the timber. It leaves you with a cold lonesome feeling. Bill Shelton turned his 4 wheeler over on its side. Old Bru no outsmarted us again. The hunting group came in and they limited out on Caribou.
Aug18th: -Woke up at 5:30. Shelton wanted to check on Bruno. I told him to heck with Bruno. We have been out smarted. It froze hard last night. Heavy frost and water in wash basin was frozen. Bill Shelton and I went over the top to SamÕs valley. ItÕs like being o n top of the world. We walked around the mountain and walked right into a Grizz. We got some great pictures of him. A Super cub flew over camp real low and we cheered. ItÕs the first contact we have had with the outside world. We are going to have a big campfire tonight for a going away party. Our camp is very rough. It is not a camp for Wimps. I have not had a bath for 11 days. WOW P.U. I hope we get out O.K.
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Aug. 19th: Left Caribou camp at 8:50am. We had a fair trip out. Don had a flat tire on the Argo. We used trees for a jack. We stopped and cut diamond willow to make walking canes . We arrived at the Moose camp at 3:00 pm. One of the twin boyÕs lost his billfold. We will spend the night at the Moose cabin and try to make it back out tomorrow.
Aug. 20th: - Woke up at 5:30 and it had frosted again. I lost my vest so I went for a walk to see if I could find it. We walked right into a 60 inch Bull Moose. He was about 40 yards from us. He stood there and watched us. Why wasnÕt it Sept 1st so the season was op en. We are going to try to make it out tomorrow. The trail is a tough one. I killed 8 Grouse on the way out. Seven of the Grouse were Ruffed Grouse and one was a Spruce Grouse. We got to Northway about 6:30. I took a bath . It felt great. We found the bil lfold that the boys lost. The bears had chewed it up. We found the money it was o.k..
THE MOOSE HUNT
GPS Moose camp. N63.53. 892Õ W142. 52. 639Õ
Aug. 29th
Left Northway at 7:30 am. It is Bill Shelton and myself, a couple of rookies from the hicks. We went 24 miles on the ugly trail and made it to Mitchells ranch. (Mitchell's Ranch is an old log telegraph cabin used at the turn of the century.) We used the GPS system all the way. It was an uneasy feeling not knowing for sure if you were on the right trail. We had to trust the GPS and guess what it worked. We did see certain signs that gave us a boost of confidence. One was a bear chewed gas can, a track of f an old snowmobile, some old equipment on a trailer that has been there for 43 years, and a carcass of a wolf that a trapper had skinned out. It was great to see the cabin at 1:40 pm.. We can travel faster without the Argos. We saw lots of Grouse on the way in. There is a big storm front moving in from Russia. The insects are still bad.
Aug. 30th
Woke up at 5:00 am. Bill Shelton wanted to build a fire in the old stove. I went outside to check temp. 40 degrees. The plants have really changed in the last 3 weeks. It has already froze here Aug. 16th. The trees are all red, yellow, and orange. It is b eautiful out. We put up tents one by the river and one by the old airstrip. We are trying to keep people out of the Moose hunting area. We went for a walk and ran into a cow Moose and 2 offspring. We cut some Diamond Willow to make walking sticks and cane s out of. We will put Caribou horn handles on them. While making the canes we heard and saw several bunches of Sandhill cranes. It means that its going to get cold before long. The food has been here for several years bolted in iron tubs. It has been fro zen several times as it gets to 60 below. It seems to be good. We have not gotten sick from it. We are wearing our headnets as the bugs are bad. If there is a drawback to Alaska it is the bugs. We have eaten nothing but Moose , Caribou, and Salmon. I look ed in the old Mitchell cabin. It has a woodstove, 2 beds with straw mattresses, and a table made from trees. It is all logs with a sod roof. Trees are growing out of the roof. Bears and Wolverines have been in it several times.
Aug. 31st
Lots of cranes are moving again today. It was a great night. The stars were shining and we had a full moon. As I was in bed looking out the window at the stars I saw an unbelievable display of Northern Lights. I was fascinated beyond belief. It lasted for a short time. It got down to 24 degrees last night. We have lots of fog this morning and neither 4 wheeler will start. I hope it is just a gas problem. It will be a fine mess if we canÕt get out of here. Bill Shelton could not sleep so he got up at 4)) a m and had breakfast. Don and wife will be in sometime today. Don and wife got to camp at 2:40pm. We went out and looked for Moose. We did not see any. Shelton is getting tired of my cooking.
Sept 1st
Left Moose camp at 5:30 am. I was on top of DonÕs Argo. At 6:20 am. I saw a Bull Moose. I hit Don on the head with my hat. He stopped and Jeanne got her Moose. His antler spread was 48Ó. They are huge in size. We used the Argo with a boom to hoist him up. It took about 90 min. to complete the cleaning job. I cleaned off the velvet off the horns when we got back to camp. The meat is placed into game bags and hung on a meat pole. Jeanne cooked us Ham, eggs, and hashbrowns. What a life. We also saw 3 cows. We went out in the eve. and Bill Shelton got a huge 64Ó Bull Moose. They think it weighed 1600 lbs. After we got done butchering and bagging we ate supper. It was about midnight when we got to bed. Sometime during the night the meat pole broke. We didnÕt even hear it. I am glad it was not a Bear.
Sept 2nd
Got up about 6:30 am. It was 24 degrees and the water was froze. We went by where Jeanne killed her Moose and there were lots of Ravens working on the carcass. We then went to the river and picked up the old tent. On the way back we ran into a cow moose and baby. I hope I got some pictures of her. Sometime during the night my tent camp on the airstrip got moved. Bear, Spooks. Wind take your choice. We them boned out the Moose meat. We think we have around 1000 lbs of boneless Moose. That evening we buil t a fire and roasted Moose steak over it. Jeanne had fixed some vegetables. Great supper but the bugÕs were bad.
Sept 3rd
Woke up at 5:30 am. the temp is 14 degrees above zero. Everything is froze up. We are leaving Moose camp and returning to civilization (ugh). I really hate to leave as this has been a great experience. I will enjoy seeing my family. I will hate going back to the rat race. I know I will never return because of cost and health. Maybe I can try a fishing trip someday.
Sept 4th
Worked on Moose. We cut up and packed it.
Sept 5th
Worked on Moose
Sept 6th
Left Northway at 1:30 pm. We drove late and stayed in Whitehorse Yukon Territory. We slept in the back of the pickup in a parking lot.
Sept 7th
Left at 6:00 am. We drove in snow around Watson Lake Y.T.. It has snowed for 2 days. We came up on a terrible accident. The car was completely destroyed and burned. I hope we get home O.K.. We saw lots of Caribou on the highway. We also saw a sow Black Be ar with 3 Cubs(cute). We stayed next to a trash can in a pull off area. British Columbia is very pretty.
Sept 8th
Left early in the morning. We drove in fog and got lost in Edmonton again. I think that city stinks. Even the locals say they get lost. We made it to Carstairs, Alberta by 10:00 pm. We stayed in the same campground as we did on the way up. There were no B eer parties this time. We took a hot shower for the first time in several days. They felt great and we smelled better.
Sept 9th
Made it to Fort Peck, Montana and the cabins. Heated two cans of Dinty Moore stew. We ate out of the cans so no dishes. Marty (lives at the cabin site) fixed breakfast for us. We hit the road at 6:30 am. and made it to Murdo, S.D.
Sept 10th
Spent the day looking for deer. We will come back to this area to hunt in November. We saw 3 nice Bucks.
Sept 11th
Headed for home and got here (Republican City, Nebraska) around 1:00 pm. Bill Shelton had his oil filter fall off between Republican City and Franklin. I am glad its over.....