What a week it has been! I just returned this weekend from a week and a half up north. It was great to meet so many of you! I started off my journey from Anchorage and headed up to pick up base camp (My enclosed trailer) in Fairbanks. Met @thayerp81 and got some supplies from him to disperse to others if needed. Fueled up, then hit the road. Getting up to around pump station 2, it started getting exciting. Started seeing lots of bou wandering around. My plan was just road hunt, not go off 5 miles. It was more of a lazy relaxed trip. The first couple days were full of some good chances that I passed up. I allotted myself a week and a half, so I let a couple other hunters take some of the animals I was after, seeing as I had plenty more time to hunt. Weather was decent while I was up there. One of the first nights, it actually hit 22 degrees, but the rest of the nights, it hovered in the mid 40's, so not bad. No crazy rain or anything, and a few nice and sunny days. The northern lights came out a few times and it was great.
Had a weird incident happen while sleeping. I took a nap in the back seat of my truck one night, but ended up sleeping the whole night. At 630am, I heard a *tink* noise, which woke me up. I kept hearing weird crackling noises, then noticed that my rear window was just flat out shattered. No vehicles anywhere near me (I could see the highway for miles in each direction), it wasn't cold enough for the temperature to crack it, nothing. I *think* the glass was just stressed out from all the bumps in the highway and maybe a manufacturer defect. Just plain weird. Luckily, we have a shop in Prudhoe, so I drove up there, and thank goodness, they had my glass in stock and replaced it for me. Woo! Off again! Time to hunt!
Got back to where I like to glass and relaxed watching the herds meander by for the rest of the day. The aurora was out again and beautiful as ever.
The next day, I had a nice little herd cross the road not too far in front of me. It had two bulls in the back of the herd. I ran down the opposite side of the road so I was hidden, got about 70 yards from them before they started coming over the highway. By the time the bulls came across, I had my bow drawn and was ready, but decided to ditch the shot. I was a little too far away, they were moving a bit too fast, and the wind was pretty steady and I didn't want to take a bad shot and wound it. Oh well, I still had nearly a week left. I wasn't too bummed.
Another herd moved into the area and I was glassing them. I had my truck parked on the side of the road (My trailer was disconnected and was set up at my camping spot), and was glassing that new herd. Had some great bulls in it! I was about 100 yards past a gravel/dirt section of the highway. Being on the highway, hundreds of semis had passed me. every single one of them slowed down on that gravel area. Not this time. I had a semi blast past it. It almost seemed like he sped up to go through it. Well, there goes my back windshield....AGAIN. He threw so many rocks up and just peppered the back of my truck. I thought I was far enough past the gravel, but I guessed wrong. Instantly shattered again. I threw in the towel. I was so mad. I decided to just pack up and head home. I made a makeshift cover for it out of a tarp and the only tape I had was gauze and medical tape. (I know, I'm a terrible Alaskan and didn't have any duct tape with me). Some how that held together all the way until Healy, which I got some more tape, which worked out because it was crazy rain once I got closer to Anchorage.
After lots of fun and exciting swear words, I had packed up camp and started the journey home with my medically sealed rear window. (Of course I used a camo tarp in hopes that nobody would be able to see my broken window) I stayed the night up in Atigun Pass and had a nice campfire for my last night. A few hours of sleep in and hit the road again home. It was a beautiful and warm drive home. It hit around 73 degrees in Fairbanks on the way through.
To me, the whole trip wasn't a bust. I met a lot of awesome Rokslide members, met some non Rokslide hunters, and had a great adventure. I've been writing an all Alaskan cookbook for the last year and this trip didn't produce meat, but it did produce a bunch of great photos and video for the cookbook, so I'm very happy with that aspect. Congratulations to all of the hunters who tagged out. The bou were pretty plentiful, and even more plentiful if you put in some work. I'll see you all up there next year! (I'm driving a tank next year, so both semi trucks and caribou better watch out! Now to get the Argo out of her summer hibernation and go look for some moose!
