Yentna River Trip

Last Tuesday morning, I started out on my trip with my friend OLD JOHN to his cabin up off the Yentna River. He picked me up at the Willow Community Center and we went to Deshka Landing to launch the boat.

Johns buddy..."CHEWY" not sure if it's spelled right but, close enough.

Arriving at Deshka Landing. This is where most everyone starts out from, whether by boat or snowmachine.

The boat, nice and comfy.



Waiting for John to park the truck and trailer.

Still waiting

Gear loaded

John at the helm

Underway



Denali behind us

One of the many fishwheels along the way

Took a picture of a couple of cabins a long the way including Luce's Lodge which is a popular place among travelers up and down the Yentna.







Here we are at the dock John shares with others

Loading up for the 3 mile trip to John's cabin

Our trip begins, this picture is looking back at the trailer we are towing.

The trail starts out pretty decent but, trust me, this is a real back trail.



Along the way, John showed me a bear skull tacked to a tree. He said there use to be more but, it seems people came along and took them.

We came upon a small homestead along the way. It actually is a nice place.







Here is where the fun starts. John has a normal trail he follows but, it is across muskeg and he thought it might be to hard to do with the recent rains. There is an alternative route but, as we followed it, it kind of disappeared so, needless to say, we ended up brushing out a new trail to meet up with his normal trail. I gotta tell ya, it was a lot of work, it was hot and the bugs were eating us alive. I didn't take any photos of us brushing it out as, I was just to bushed and sweaty and just wanted to find the other trail. I did fine some berries.



We did finally find the trail and headed to John's cabin but, I gotta tell ya, you talk about bumpy, this trail is worse than bumpy not to mention the widow makers hanging down, for those of you saying, what? They are low hanging branches, some that could take your head off if not careful.
  As we approached John's cabin, he wanted to show me the nearby lake. It's a nice lake but, we got stuck going through the weeds, yep, muskeg. We had to use the winch on the front of the 6wheeler to get out. We finally got to the cabin.

John's outhouse.

I took some pictures around the cabin.









We spent the night at the cabin and John is as good a chef as I am, we had Mountain House Beef Stroganoff and in the morning we had a great breakfast coffee, Scrambled eggs, peppers, onion and all you had to do was add water. I have to say, it did taste good. I really don't mind food you have to add water, it's fast and some do taste pretty good.
  I was pretty tired from all that work and while John and I was sitting and shooting the bull, I kept falling asleep while John was talking, LOL, sorry John. I finally had to go to bed, just couldn't stay awake. The next morning, it was raining hard and that was how it was from the time we left the cabin and all the way back to Deshka Landing.
  John dropped me off and I went back to the cabin, started a fire to take the chill off and the dampness out of the cabin. It felt real nice. Then, I made me a very nice dinner. Fried Halibut w/green onions, hashbrown potatoes and peas. It was real good.

Last nights meal was Salmon, fried potatoes and spinich.

OOPS!
Well, that was how the trip went but, all in all, it was great to get away. Hey OLD JOHN, thanks for the time.