Last weekend, my friend Randy asked me to fly out to his cabin and bring his sons snowmachine back to town. Not a problem. So, I met him at his house about 9:30 am and we loaded up and took off.
Here's Randy readying the plane
He is wiping some frost off the wing
Off we go
Photos on the way, Mt. Susitna, also known as "Sleeping Lady"
Yentna River
Flying Indian Creek where Randy's cabin is
Arriving at his cabin
Randy's cabin
Some logs he will use for firewood
Here I am on Indian Creek, ready to leave.
Here I am on the Yentna River
I got about 5 miles down the river and the snowmachine overheated. This is a liquid cooled machine and they tend to overheat when the weather is very warm.
With luck my cellphone worked on the river, I called Randy and he came out with some coolant.
Ok, we got that problem taken care of, Randy decided to ride a ways with me just in case. Well, there was a problem. A big one, we were following the trail markers, wooden sticks with red tips stuck in the snow. We were traveling at a good clip. As we approached 20 mile slough, there was a 3 foot drop and before I could stop, I went over and broke through the ice nose first.
As I tried to get off the machine I was up to my knees in water and my boots got filled up. As I tried to get out, the ice shelf kept breaking and I got wetter. I finally got out and was soaking wet. I to my boots off and emptied theme and wrung my socks and pants out. Randy drove 10 miles back to his cabin to get a shovel and rope to pull the snowmachine out. Sorry no more pictures but, I just wasn't in the mood to take pictures.
We got the machine out and Randy decided I should go back and go the next day. I decided not to. So, I continued on and arrived at Deshka Landing a couple of hours later. Once I got to Rawleigh Creek, I had to slow down to about 5 miles per hour because the bumps were so bad. When I finally got home, I built a hot fire in the stove, made fresh coffee and slept like a baby.
These things happen and you takes chances traveling the waterways this time of the year. Was I happy when it happened? Nope. I got over it real soon. Will I keep riding the rivers? Yep. It's just another story to add to the others. Anyway, hope you enjoy the photos and story.
