Alaska Raft and Kayak Joins Outdoor Life Grand Slam Adventure Alaska!

This past summer Outdoor Life Magazine’s Contributing Editor for Alaska, Chris Batin, and Mike Strahan, author of Float Hunting Alaska’s Wild Rivers, asked us, Alaska Raft and Kayak, to participate in the Outdoor Life Grand Slam Adventure Alaska by providing the rafts for a Brown Bear float hunt. Mark Cohen, owner of Alaska Raft and Kayak, not only agreed to provide the rafts, he also let me, Tracey Harmon, go along and row one of them! It doesn’t get any better than that!

Chris and Mike told us that Brandon Steele of Blacksburg, Virginia was the lucky dude selected by Outdoor Life to receive the all expenses paid trip to Alaska to hunt Brown Bear. Chris would serve as his liaison for Outdoor Life. Mike would be the trip coordinator. Mike “Buck” Bowden of Hidden Alaska Guides and Outfitters was to be the Master Guide. Realtree Camo was sending videographer Josh Schull to video the ten-day hunt. And finally Sara Mayti, a staff photographer for Outdoor Life, would be along to photograph the trip.

Seven people, along with all their gear, necessitate a number of boats, especially since we anticipated low water in the stream we had selected for the float. We decided three boats would be needed to carry everyone comfortably. Three boats would also let us spread the large pile of gear out a bit. We selected two self-bailing raft packages, a 14’ NRS Otter and a 14’ AIRE 143E, and one 18’ AIRE Leopard Cataraft. Though rafts would float higher than the cataraft in the low water we anticipated, “we” decided to take one cataraft, just to make Mike Strahan happy!

True to it’s well deserved reputation; the fickle Alaskan weather stymied our efforts to get into the field on our planned departure date. Two days were spent hanging around Barry Stanley’s Denali Flying Service hanger in Willow. Two days waiting for the ground fog to dissipate. Two valuable hunting days lost! Weather delays not only cost one days in the field, they can also weigh heavy on the mood of everyone in the party. No matter how many stories are told one keeps looking at the clock, and then the  weather. Then repeat. Without an ample flow of stories (some would say B.S.) moods can turn sour in a situation like we experienced. Luckily that was not the case here. Our party had a plethora of expert B.S. spreaders! Stories flowed too fast for one to dwell upon our troubles for long.

And how fast things can change! Two days spent sitting around the hanger waiting to fly out. Then a mad dash flight out to the field, late on the second day. A first night spent without all the amenities of the camps to come. And finally a fitful night of sleep. What a start. But all that anguish over losing two days of hunting and the first night’s camp discomfort was rapidly forgotten in the morning, because a beautiful bull Caribou was within sight of camp! First light, on the first day of hunting, and a bull Caribou is within rifle shot of camp. Brandon didn’t need any prodding here! He collected that bull, quickly and efficiently.

Now we had our game on! We had a bull Caribou down within sight of camp, which meant a bear bait within sight of camp. We were camped in an area literally swarming with bears. Silver Salmon were noisily spawning behind camp. The weather, which was now cold and clear, was finally on our side. And the fall colors, the sign of hunting season, dazzled the senses. What was not to like!? All we had to do was wade through the bears until we found one that would fill the ticket. And that proved to be our bugaboo. Though we saw multiples of Black Bear and Brown Bear daily we could not locate “the” bear in the river corridor.

Plenty of bear sign was to be had on the river, and there were plenty of spawned out Coho Salmon still active in most of the holes, but very few bears were there. They had moved up to the slopes, past the timber, past the alders. They were having berries for dessert before they climbed into their dens for a winter’s sleep. Taking a bear would require a long hike. But rather than walk all over the place, making noise and leaving scent everywhere, we spent the days walking the river corridor and glassing the slopes above in order to locate a bear. Sounds easy, with all the bears about, but it worked out differently.

We saw bears. We saw Black Bears. We saw Brown Bears. We saw lots of bears, but not “the” bear. Most had cubs, lots of cubs. We even saw multiple sows with triplets. The single bears we wanted were either too small, or in places we could not reach them short of a month of Sundays. So, every few days we moved on downstream in our efforts to locate “the” bear. At least our camps were comfortable, very comfortable. Each night we set up three tents to sleep in, two River Wings to take cover under, three or four Roll-A-Tables to hold our drinks and meals, and plenty of comfortable chairs for everyone. And did we eat well!? Mike kept us stuffed. Hey, why be uncivilized when in the field!? A comfortable camp means a rested crew. A rested crew meant we could make a total effort each and every day of the hunt.

We spent almost a week on the river without collecting a bear. The decision was made to blow on down river to Buck’s lodge, which was fine with me. There’s nothing like a good long day floating a new river…. punctuated with frequent stops to cut logs out of the river. The stream was choked with debris. Mike had brought along a great little Stihl chainsaw. The problem was a good many of the fallen trees were 20, even 30 inches, through! Buck would have to whittle his way around the bole until he finally rejoined his original cut. His efforts with that short bar saw made for some great photos!

The river had one other challenge for us, and that was the canyon. Miles of maneuvering heavily laden rafts through rock gardens. Gardens of rock as big as houses; some of which almost blocked the breadth of the stream. Gardens of yard-square-size rocks just under the surface, which seemed to reach up and grab the boats, spinning them stern first into the next hole. Rocks were everywhere. After successfully completing the run steam covered me in the 17-degree temps. I was still searching for air when Sara turned to me and asked to do it again! The canyon was great exercise, but I didn’t need anymore that day!

We finally made it to the take out, which was the trailhead up to Buck’s lodge. We stripped the boats and moved everybody and everything via ATV up the two-mile long trail to Buck’s very comfortable place. Though we had camped like Kings over the past week Buck’s lodge was the ticket. Being able to sit in the sauna, and stretch out in a comfortable recliner, certainly took the edge off. In fact,  so much edge was taken off we could not get everybody out of the lodge the next morning! It was late afternoon before everyone was astride an ATV, ready to head to the ridge tops above the lodge. But it was worth it to leave Buck’s sourdough pancakes after a single day because up on the ridge tops we found plenty of bears. Black Bears and Brown Bears were feeding side-by-side on berries. The day was already gone but everyone slipped into their sleeping bags knowing that tomorrow a Brown Bear would fall.

Since I wasn’t actually there to see the end of our hunt, you will need to look on line at Outdoor Life Magazine to get the rest of the story. There you can see Sara’s photos and Josh’s video. The article will be published in the February 2009 issue of Outdoor Life Magazine. You will find more information about this trip on Mike Strahan’s web site. Look at his Blog pages.

Outdoor Life Magazine is currently giving away an adventure trip twice a year. They call these once in a lifetime trips Grand Slam Adventures. This past fall they gave away the afore mentioned Brown Bear hunt in Alaska. Right now they are taking entries for an African safari! Well, what are you waiting on? Get your entry in! You may be the next winner. As for Alaska, contact us here at Alaska Raft and Kayak. We are ready to help you with your own Alaskan adventure!