Summer 2020 trip, NDR!!!

[tod osier]

This trip report has no waterfowl related content other than a few pics of a duck dog, so read no further if that is a concern. We did, however, make one of those special decisions during the trip and put a deposit down on a new pup (no details tho, the litter not even born).

Our plan summer 2020 was Alaska salmon fishing and caribou hunting, but it wasn not in the cards. With the coronavirus pandemic surging in areas of the US and the border with Canada closed, we cancelled our plans.

We considered the idea of a trip out west and thought hard about if we could do a trip with the safety of ourselves and those we would contact as a priority. We decided that by travelling in the camper we are really self-contained and doing mostly camping off the grid we could reasonably manage the risks to ourselves and others.

We planned a two-part trip: part one was a Wyoming 10 day backpacking fishing trip and part two was a 2-3 week elk hunting trip in Utah, the trip with travel time was about 5 weeks.

Coronavirus prevention supplies in the camper.

Back of truck at home ready to leave.

Sun over the sage.

Heading into the mountains.

Getting gear ready for 10 days in the backcountry.

Heading in.

20 year anniversary photo.

Flowers.

First camp of the trip.

Skeet with the food for 10 days.

Super bear hang in the subalpine.

Gus trying to catch one for dinner.

Amazing.

What colors.

Mother and son.

Fish fry.

This was one of those magical fish on every cast evenings. You go a long time between having action like that. Twice on this trip we had action when the fish were just jumping on the hook every cast.

This was neat. I was fishing a beetle on the Tenkara and caught this brookie with a live ant biting him inside the mouth and not letting go. Bad day for him and terrestrials.

Lot of nice browns in this lake, but I only was able to dupe a smaller one.

More flowers.

Jen cracked the code on the Macks in the lake. We knew they were there, but she figured out how and where.

I?m not sure how this picture of the old skinny guy got here, or how he got ahold of my trout.

Tasty trouts. Growing up fishing for lakers, they have always held a special place in my heart.

High altitude lake trout for dinner.

You know the mosquitos are pretty bad when this many end up in the fry pan.

Bugs were really bad at times. About an hour a day they just hammered my feet and ankles.

Bugs really bugged the dog.

Our third camp of the trip at sunset.

We had frost many of the nights, which is perfect as far as I?m concerned.

Fourth and last camp of the trip.

More flowers.

Fishin.

Flower.

These guys come up just after the snow melts.

Lot of these guys around the lake edges.

We fished the inflow stream of this lake and the fish were really stacked in there. Fish on every cast for as long as we could stand it.

Pretty minnow.

Fish fry.

Relaxing after dinner.

Bear hang.

You yellow-belly come out and fight.

Heading out.

 

[tod osier]

We had a caribou trip in Alaska planned and my hope was for Gus to be able to hunt something different and special. When we cancelled Alaska, Gus was very lucky and drew a low odds tag last minute for an early season antlerless elk tag. He was really excited to be able to hunt elk, maybe more so than the caribou trip we cancelled.

For elk we hunted in a largely forested part of the unit that was pretty high altitude-wise with some meadows interspersed. The high elevation with its cooler temps allowed some breathing room if we got an elk down several miles back from the road.

Looking up into the mountains on the way there.

We got to the hunt area over a week ahead of the hunt and had up to 2 weeks to hunt, so we were in good shape as far as being able to put the time in.

Our camp.

This was not a place we hunted in the unit, but we had a beautiful, if not white-knuckle drive through it.

It is noteworthy any time you get the truck over 11K feet altitude.

We spent several days scouting pre season, we were out morning and night glassing and then hiking and looking for sign mid-day.

Getting to the glassing knob before light.

Glassing.

Found some! We never saw this herd again, but it did just what we needed to light a fire in our bellies when we had not been seeing much.

Glassing until last light.

On the way from glassing in the evening.

We went out to check Gus' zero on his rifle and do some longer range shooting. Here he is practicing at 300 yards - he smoked it!

Opening day deep meditation.

"We just need to get over and up there."

Getting pretty warm, almost to the top.

Glassing on the third morning.

Smoke from a fire one state over drifted in at times.

Pika.

Meadow at dusk. We sat this meadow a couple times, there was a lot of fresh sign and we had been seeing elk moving through the area. We heard, and then finally saw, a very nice color phase black bear tearing logs open to get at grubs along the margin of the meadow one evening.

View of the same meadow at dawn.

He got his shot the 4th morning. Checking for sign after the shot.

Blood, boy and elk.

Sweet success.

Boy with elk.

Mother and son.

We broke down the elk and packed a load out before noon and got back to get the second load of meat early afternoon. It had chilled nicely in the shade and breeze, probably better than the meat on ice in the cooler.

Almost to the truck.

Tropical storm Isaias was bearing down on home, we ended up getting hit pretty hard with town being more than 80% out at the peak. Our power went out in the early afternoon the day Gus filled his tag. The race was on from there to get home to deal with the freezers before they thawed and to get the elk in the freezer!!!!

Up early and headed East with the petal to the metal.

First meal, fried heart.

We had to debone the elk to satisfy CWD rules in the states we would travel through to get home.

Last quarter. Yes, Lenny is Gus' hero, but I prefer Rodney.

180 pounds of boneless elk.

Almost home. Sunrise over the midwest.

Stocking up for a 2 week self-quarantine before arriving in CT.

Can?t see it well, but the water in the bottle from the bottom of the freezer is still 100% solid. Stuff on the top layer of the freezer was melted, but ice cold. We had another couple days before we would have lost anything. We got the generators going and got everything frozen down and got power back after about a week.

Garden looks good and is providing nicely as we fulfill our self-quarantine requirements.

 

[Huntindave McCann]

Tod,

Cool adventure, CONGRATS to Gus for a fine job.

I'm really stung that you did not swing by and say Hi as you were driving thru Iowa. I would have even drove down and met you on I80 and it only would have cost you a couple bundles of Elk. [] []

One of these days we may actually meet.

Glad everything worked out timing wise and you were able to get home when needed without great impact on your vacation trip.

 

[Rod VanZile]

You are truly blessed Todd. What a great trip except for the bugs.

RVZ

 

[greg setter]

Great photo essay, glad for you and your family to have a great adventure.

 

[Troy Fields]

Great pictorial essay Tod. As I've said before, I always look forward to hearing about your trips. Beautiful brook trout in that first fish picture. My time is spent on the camp in Rangeley which is slowly getting there, should have power in the next week or two (at the latest). Indoor plumbing and power will be so nice! Again, thanks for posting your adventure(s)

troy

 

[Capt Rich Geminski]

Looks like a great trip. Nice pics that you will look at for years. I remember the years I took my p/u camper up state and the many years in Anson Maine.
Memories...

 

[benp]

What a great trip, even if it was not the one you originally planned. I need a job like yours so I can take a month long trip like this.

Exciting to see Gus showing his dad how it's done with the trout and elk, I'm sure you are beyond very proud. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Brad Bortner]

Love those Wind River shots. Looks like an epic family trip. Gus will remember that trip and elk forever. My sons still remember a couple of alaska wilderness float trips 20 years later.

 

[Carl]

WOW. Just freakin' WOW.

Amazing trip, amazing photos.

Nice shot Mac!

 

[Dale Wilcox]

Thanks for sharing that, I really appreciate you taking the time and effort to post something so good and positive and worthwhile. A trip like that with your family, is what life is all about. It just doesn't get any better than that in my book!

 

[steve schrat]

WOW amazing photos really enjoyed them congrats to your son on his hunt!!

 

[Phil Nowack]

Looks like a perfect trip!

 

[tod osier]

Tod,

Cool adventure, CONGRATS to Gus for a fine job.

I'm really stung that you did not swing by and say Hi as you were driving thru Iowa. I would have even drove down and met you on I80 and it only would have cost you a couple bundles of Elk. [] []

One of these days we may actually meet.

Glad everything worked out timing wise and you were able to get home when needed without great impact on your vacation trip.

Hey Dave, if you really want a chance to hang out, I'm looking for a partner for an Alaska caribou hunt and fishing trip next August!!!!! That would be some real quality bonding time. I need to find an old retired fart or college kid with a lot of time on their hands to make the trip work.

I checked out the destruction from the storm in Iowa, that looks just horrible. Even though we had a million homes out of power, our damage is miniscule compared to what went through Iowa.

Here is an update on the trailer suspension issues we have discussed here.

My rear hangers holes were wallowed out and I wanted to tighten them up. I had them welded shut and I drilled them back out. The rear holes wallowed, but not the fronts or mids. I see the most wear at a the rear for the bushings too.

Hanger after some work grinding it flat. I lost the welding pics in a phone issue. They did a nice job MIG welding them with a softer and easily machined steel.

Fixture I made for drilling with drill bushings and drill bits. Front. This isn?t exactly what Dave suggested, but really damn close. THANKS DAVE!

Fixture back (because of my cunning with woodworking, it may be tough to see that the fixture indexes to the hanger bracket on three sides). In measuring the holes, it was apparent that they were all in the same place on the hanger, so I was able to make a one size fits all fixture.

Final product.

My other problem is that the spring eyes are not round and the bushings are thin to make clearance and they deform. You can see the distinctive "V" shape that the bushings take when they form to the spring eye. These bushings have some life in them, but not enough to make to Alaska and back (which was the pre-covid plan)

What follows may be a boondoggle I?m investigating. I have no idea if it will work, but I wanted to try it.

Spring with bushing mold and epoxy. I bought 2? nylon bushings (rather than the typical 1.75 long bushings to get a little more length) and split them on the table saw (just removing the 1/8 inch saw kerf). The shims (ripped to .625 inch) oppose each other the spread the mold (see split at top). I used Johnson?s paste wax as a mold release.

Cleaning spring eyes. I used this brush with acetone to remove the paint and grease from the eyes. It worked really well. I degreased several times over the course of a couple days to leach all the oils out.

Spring eye after degreasing and paint removal.

Spring eyes being molded.

This is the epoxy I used. I had it already to be used to bed rifle actions in their stocks. It seemed like about the best product for this application I could find. It is loaded with steel and very heavy.

After mold removal.

Final product after dressing the edges.

Great fit.

[/QUOTE]

I have no idea how these held up, I need to jack the camper up and drop the suspension. They could be powdered or fine, we will see.

 

[tod osier]

Looks like a perfect trip!

Thanks Guys, the trip turned out better than I could have hoped. Gus was super excited to get an elk and we all worked pretty darn well as a team getting it done. Putting a 13 year old into the mix always adds, but overall it worked out great. I learned a lot about elk hunting and came home even more ready to retire and move west.

 

[Huntindave McCann]

Hey Dave, if you really want a chance to hang out, I'm looking for a partner for an Alaska caribou hunt and fishing trip next August!!!!! That would be some real quality bonding time. I need to find an old retired fart or college kid with a lot of time on their hands to make the trip work.

I checked out the destruction from the storm in Iowa, that looks just horrible. Even though we had a million homes out of power, our damage is miniscule compared to what went through Iowa.

Here is an update on the trailer suspension issues we have discussed here.

This is the epoxy I used. I had it already to be used to bed rifle actions in their stocks. It seemed like about the best product for this application I could find. It is loaded with steel and very heavy.
[.img]https://i.imgur.com/CVMm6FM.jpg[/img]

I have no idea how these held up, I need to jack the camper up and drop the suspension. They could be powdered or fine, we will see.

Tod,
Alaska caribou huh? You really know how to put a guy on the spot. Time to put up or shut up? Last time I hunted Caribou was back in '96 with a bow. Flew into the town of Schefferville, Quebec which is just 2 miles off the border with Labrador. From there we took a float plane to a fly in camp about 40-60 miles away. It was cool to see all the migration trails from the air.
I will have to give it some consideration and we would have to have some discussion, but it could happen. '96,,,,,,,,, that was like over a third of my lifetime ago.

As to the trailer suspension; Dang, who would have thunk, that a guy who makes his living, running his mouth, up in front of a group of young naive college kids, could come up with such a practical solution? [ninja]

That Devcon Plastic Steel Putty is some good stuff. At the machine shop, we avoided usage of anything like this as much as possible, but this was the product of choice when we did use such a product. I suspect it will hold up well, as long as the surface was clean and had some texture to it to enhance adhesion. Even if there is some chip out and loss of the product , the increased support area for the bushing, should greatly improve the longevity of the bushing itself. Looks to me like the repair/upgrade was well thought out and well executed. I too, would be interested in how well it held up in this application. I suspect it did just fine.

 

[Vince Pagliaroli]

Tod,

Ya pack a truck very well, and that is a true talent.

Wonderful excursion for sure.

Made me hungry for another adventure, and food.

Congratulations to you and yours, especially during these trying times.


The WEST is the best. As long as ya stop before the left coast...


Best regards
Vince

 

[Eric Patterson]

Tod

Another amazing adventure. I've lost count of how many of these trips you've made with your family but am pretty sure you are among a minuscule portion of the population that has gone to these lengths to see and experience all that you have, and your still forging ahead with new plans. What a wonderful education for Gus too. His summers blow away his peer's beach trips and hanging out at the pool. Each time you show us these pictorials I can't help but think just how much research and planning must go into one of these trips. It's not like if you forget something you can run down to the Dollar General. The planning must be monumental.

Thanks for sharing and am looking forward to the next one.

Eric Patterson

 

[Dani]

Tod, who did you end up going with for your pup?

That is one heckuva trip and Gus is one lucky kid that y'all do trips like that. I know that he will look back someday and realize how lucky he was.

I have a long ways to go until retirement but I too am ready to retire and move west....or at least be able to travel west for good chunks of the year cuz I really am a cold wuss. I need to find or create a job like my aunt has where it doesn't matter where she works as long as she has internet (she's a CPA for some big restaurants). Or a job where it doesn't matter if I am gone in the fall.

Trips like yours really make my wanderlust even worse especially since my wanderlust has been curtailed greatly because of work.

Did y'all have any bear issues at all on your trip? I saw Gus' bear spray.

Thanks for sharing your trip with us...and CONGRATULATIONS on the elk!!!!!

Dani

 

[tod osier]

Tod

Another amazing adventure. I've lost count of how many of these trips you've made with your family but am pretty sure you are among a minuscule portion of the population that has gone to these lengths to see and experience all that you have, and your still forging ahead with new plans. What a wonderful education for Gus too. His summers blow away his peer's beach trips and hanging out at the pool. Each time you show us these pictorials I can't help but think just how much research and planning must go into one of these trips. It's not like if you forget something you can run down to the Dollar General. The planning must be monumental.

Thanks for sharing and am looking forward to the next one.

Eric Patterson

Thanks Eric, Gus goes into High School next year (eight grade this fall), so we have had it in our head that this was sort of our "last" summer where we wouldn't be constrained by a high schooler's activities and social needs. We will see how the next year goes, but we are planning a trip to AK next summer - with the pandemic and the border closing issues, I'm cautious. In a lot of ways this was one of our best trips even with the challenges, maybe because of or in spite of the challenges. Getting a hunt in really made it for me, but that shouldn't be a surprise. Coming home with a load of meat (or fish) along with the memories is icing on the cake.