Favorite Adventure You’ve Done

[Snowwolfe]

Running from the boat launch on the Dalton Highway on the Yukon River to the upper Huslia river in my boat with my son. 600 miles or so in each direction. We carried 400 gallons of gas on the boat. He shot his first moose and black bear and we saw wolves and lynx on the trip.

 

[Navaluk]

This was a great idea. I get seasick always so the sea stories impress me the most. If this wasn’t a hunting forum I would go with studying the Islamic republics in the Soviet Union for a summer. But I think 14 days on the polar ice pack on Viscount Melville Sound living in a wall tent without heat beyond the Colman two burner liquid gas stove. The ice moaning at night still haunts my dreams. Great trip for the great white bear. Too many memories, but shooting ringed seals for dog food was interesting. Spent one 48 hour period trapped in that wall tent with my father and son guiding team under crazy whiteout conditions. Real old time hunters. The father was older and had hunted the bear for decades including selling them to military people up there during the Cold War. He didn’t know how many he had killed in his lifetime. Think about that. Traveling by dogsled was amazing. Nothing but radio communications. You get injured and most things that are easily fixable back here are terminal up there. Probably very much like the trans pacific trip. I am so glad I was dumb enough to do that trip.

 

[DuckDogDr]

7 day caribou hunt with Jack Hume Adventures before they lost their concession. Most relaxing trip I’ve been on

The other was a 2 day drive from Alabama to Maine to hunt sea ducks and black ducks.
I managed to get shop tours / meet several carvers I look up to. One has turned into a great friendship over the years.
That trip also hooked the girlfriend into going with me more.

 

[Macintosh]

Oh man.

I have a hard time thinking of some of the trips I took 25 or 35 years ago as “adventure” today, given cell service, gps, updated maps, the internet, etc. A big part of it was the things that simply couldnt be known ahead of time, and dealing with them in real-time. To a degree that uncertainty just doesnt exist any more. Im sure real old timers also said the same thing 30 years ago.

One adventure that stands out was canoeing a creek from the height of land between Fairbanks and Circle on the steese hi-way (which at least then was a dirt road), down to just shy of the Yukon river. Its the creek described in the book “coming into the country”, and while its not anything impressive, at the time (1993?) the internet wasnt really a thing, civilian gps didnt really exist, cell phones didnt exist, sat phones were brand new and out of reach, google earth didnt exist, and the only maps of the area were usgs quads from the early 1950’s. Our route was on 4 usgs quads, 2 of which were marked “no roads, trails or buildings on this quad”, or something to that effect. We had to line the boats down a trickle at first, then navigate a million strainers around every bend. In ine rapid a boat capsized, and the painter line snagged on a fallen tree—the boat was hung up in the current spinning around like a pinwheel. We had to unload the other boat and paddled out with a knife in my mouth, and in a brief second before being carried downstream, cut the line and tie on a new rope so we didnt lose the boat. We found that the meandering river had completely changed course in the 40 years since the maps were made, which combined with the absense of distinct landmarks made fine-scale navigation hard. We figured at one point that if anything happened there was zero chance of getting any help in less than about a week. 3 hours of dusk followed by 21 hours of daylight was new. As was waking up with the whining sound of 10,000,000,000,000,000,000 mosquitos all in the space between the tent and rain-fly, which would fall out in fist-size clumps when you shook the tent. I have nightmares of that sound 30+ years later. (And I have never taken a crap so quickly in my life). Catching and cooking grayling every day. We found a trappers cabin along the way on a side creek, not sure if it was still in use or abandoned with calf-diameter trees growing out of the sod roof, and a hand painted sign iver the door that said “MAD TRAPPERS”…it was like somewhere in between abandonment and seasonal use, with traps hanging and stuff still inside, but looking like it hadnt been used in a few years. And wondering if the crazy guy we hired to drop our van off at the take-out actually did. One of my great regrets is not having a camera on that trip, as it had been stolen out of our car early that summer.

I have been extremely fortunate to have travelled a lot of very cool places and done some amazing trips—climbing, skiing, backpacking, etc all over the us, europe, canada, australia, often in places that simply dont exist the way they used to. But that trip^^ left a mark.

 

[twall13]

I've had a lot of great adventures, but one that stands out in my mind is from my youth. I'm not sure how we talked them into it but my parents let my older brother, a good friend and I do a horseback trip into the Uintas without adult supervision. I was 13, my buddy was 14 and my brother had just turned 17. We each had a horse to ride and one pack horse for gear. We went 17 miles in and felt like we were all alone in the wilderness. I'll never forget how saddle sore I was after the ride in, I was sore in muscles I didn't know existed.

We didn't pitch a tent, simply laid on a tarp and wrapped it over the top of us for weather protection. We spent a couple nights out like this, catching fish to eat, sleeping under the stars and swimming in the lake and stream. We only saw one other person up there the entire time. It was an adventure that really helped shape who I am today as I grew to love wild places and the feeling of freedom and peace they provide. I've done many adventures since then but that one really stands out. I have a son now who will be 17 next month and I can't imagine him and his younger brother doing something similar. My wife would never allow it, though I think it might be good for them. As an adult I found out that my dad had followed us up there staying out of sight but making sure we made it on the trail okay before heading home. Still had to be nerve wracking as a parent.

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