June 24th 2013 - The Bear Story!! Oh Shit!

Campground was slow this morning and busy this afternoon, so I decided the best plan for the day was to get some shopping done this morning and then go for a photo drive this afternoon before the rush of arrivals at the park

So I headed out toward the State Park up the Chilkoot River looking for something other than landscapes. Give me a friggin animal an eagle or a bear would be fine. Nothing along the way so got to the park and turned around to head off in another direction still hopeful of finding a bear or something. Stopped at the eagle nest and nothing and then all of a sudden an eagle flew overhead and I grabbed a shot.

The eagle!



So I am pretty happy with the fact that an eagle flew over and I managed to grab an in flight shot, but I feel that today will be a day of landscapes....so I am driving away from the park looking for some nice mountain and water shots, maybe a good reflection shot...going down the road I frame a good shot, but I will need to get out of the truck and walk down towards to water to get the shot....I park the truck and change lenses and get out and start down the bank towards the water walking through high grass...trying to get close enough to the water to eliminate it from the foreground of the wide angle lens. Of course as I walk down to the water the wind comes up a little and the perfect reflection is gone....damn!

I get the shot!



As I finished a series of about three shots, something catches my eye to the right a little movement. So I turn and this is what I see!!! Peeking up over the bushes is a big ass brown bear!! And she is only about 15 feet away!! Holy Crap!!



I decide this is entirely too close for comfort but I zoom in the wide angle and try for one more shot!!



Just as I finish the shot the bear stands up on her hind legs and is easily 9-10 feet tall. I figure it is time to make a retreat to the truck and change lenses. BTW - this was a smart move as the bear followed me all the way back through the grass!

So I get to the truck and change lenses and with the telephoto I can get some good shots and remain in the truck!



And now one for Greg Lantz - he has been bitching about me taking pictures of dandelions and weeds, well the friggin bear liked the dandelions and was chowing down!!!



Back to the landscapes!







Stay tuned for more fun as the season progresses!!!


Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest and Alaska!

Haines Alaska - Amazing Scenery!! June 21st, 2013

Today I had a busy day - have a couple RV repairs to make and the parts arrived yesterday, so this morning I tackled project number one of three. The electric converter in the RV which converts 110 volts to 12 volts and keeps the batteries charged up was original and started making a weird humming noise, plus it was an older model which only has one charging rate, which means when you are plugged in to electric in a campground for a long time the batteries tend to get overcharged and begin to boil the water out of them, eventually ruining the batteries, plus you have to constantly check the water levels, so I decided since I have brand new batteries (I replaced before heading to Alaska) as they were ruined from overcharging.

So I ordered a new converter, a Progressive Dynamics Inteli-Power 9200. It is a 4 stage charger which will supply a boost charge when the batteries are low and then reduce the charge level down three more times as the batteries return to full charge, then when plugged in all the time, it uses a maintain function which protects your batteries.

The install was pretty straightforward except they put the original charger on the floor and built the trailer around it, it is in a small ventilated cabinet under the stove at floor level with barely enough room to work and involved laying on your belly to see anything and install....other than that it was pretty easy. new unit is much smaller and totally silent. I tested all four functions and it is working beautifully.

This afternoon I decided to take a drive with the camera and see what I could find...chased some eagles for about 15 minutes but no worthy shots, but I did manage to collect an abundance of mosquito bites!! They were ferocious!!

On with the pictures -

Drove back up to Chilkoot Lake and found another dandelion I could isolate with the mountains in the background to drive my friend Greg Lantz crazy, since he questions when I take pictures of weeds!!

Just for Greg the next two!





Now on to some other shots from today!











Stay tuned for more adventures, some salmon are starting to arrive and the bears and eagles are starting to move down towards the river, I hope to get some good shots over the next few weeks. Had another crab feast at the campground last night, it was great fun and the guests really enjoyed it...more coming over the next few days!



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

Haines Alaska Update - catching up after a couple days! June 17, 2013

I have been a little remiss in my updates, have been busy the past couple days with some great times and some unbelievably hot weather, yesterday was bright sunshine and blue skies and mid-80's! It was HOT! But perfect weather for our first Dungenous Crab Potluck Dinner at the campground!! What a great time and great crab!!

I have been in many RV Parks and you rarely have he opportunity to meet your fellow campers, not here, the potluck last night and crab dinner was a great mixer with over 25 people enjoying the beautiful scenery and wonderful food and conversation. A great time was had by all.

Here are a few pics from the past couple days and last night...have some videos at the bottom as well!

People just relaxing enjoying the view!









The Crab Feast!



A big group!



Now some fun - I bought a GoPro video camera and I am trying to learn to use it...it is an amazing little camera and I intend to get better at using it...but I put two short videos together from a couple days going up two of the rivers around here in a skiff with a nice jet drive outboard on it...the scenery was amazing.

Day 1 - hand held camera



The Crash from yesterday - tested different settings and not as clear but tested mount on front of boat which is nice!



Stay tuned as my great summer continues...I love Haines Alaska just may have to make this my new home base!



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

June 13, 2013 - First full day in Pardise!

My first full day in Haines was a great one...got some good work done, hit the entire campground with the weedeater and it looks 100% better, ready for the full weekend. Plus I went for a drive and had a question I have been asking for years and years answered. It was cool and overcast this morning, but cleared up nicely and warmed up this afternoon, another beautiful day! I also restocked the drink cooler and a few other little chores this morning...

But last evening a cruise ship which spent the day here left and it was a wonderful evening with a little glow on the mountains across the way and it made for a couple good pictures...





While out on my drive (it always pays to have your camera and telephoto lens on the front seat beside you around here) there was a very big female brown bear walking right down the road....



As she walked into the woods that age old question was finally answered!! They do shit in the woods, so no need to ask that question anymore I have a picture to prove it!!





Then I drove on up to the local State Park at Chilkoot Lake and got this nice shot...to bad it was cloudy and overcast!



It will be a zoo around this town for the weekend there is a 150 mile bicycle relay race from Haines Junction to Haines lots of planned activities in the town square and the campground is full!!

Should be fun, stay tuned for the festivities...



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

June 12, 2013 - The most beautiful Drive!

Today I made arguably the most beautiful drive I have ever taken. I drove from Haines Junction in Yukon Territory to Haines Alaska. First the road was perfect and smooth and at every turn of the road was a more spectacular view, so expansive it was nearly impossible to capture with the camera. but if you get to drive to Alaska this is one road you do NOT want to miss. This year I have traveled all around Alaska and so far nothing else compares!

It is only about 150 miles or so, but you are surrounded by big jagged snow capped peaks the entire way and along the valley floor are wonderful small lakes and streams. I saw two nice healthy 2 year old black bears although they scampered into the woods the moment the truck got close.

I arrived in Haines at about 12:30 this afternoon and the first order of business was to hit the car wash and knock 50 pounds of mud and dusty dirt off of the RV and truck, the trip from Tok to Haines Junction had about 12 miles of muddy dirty unpaved road where they are resurfacing. So it was a mess, you can see some of it in this first picture.



After washing the truck and trailer, I drove to my new home, at least for the next couple of months. Oceanside RV Park, right on the water in Haines. It is a very nice RV Park and quite busy. I will be helping with a wide assortment of duties, from checking people in and directing them to their site and giving them local information. It should be a fun summer in an idyllic location, I am excited to get to experience the area.

This is the view from the campground!



Here are a couple more from the drive today!





I started my work right away and all is going very well. Nice people to work for and with and a very beautiful location. I can't wait to explore the area and this nice little Alaskan town.

Whales were breaching out front today and this evening the eagles were playing right in front of the campground. This is a special place!

Stay tuned as my summer adventures progress!



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

June 11-12 Travel Update and Road Conditions!

Sorry for the lack of updates while traveling these past few days, but things have been a little hectic. Once I spent the extra day in Fairbanks repairing the trailer brakes things are much easier, the trailer now helps the truck stop which is a huge benefit. It was worth the three hours crawling underneath the trailer. Anyway I spent a restful evening in Fairbanks remaining at the Wal-Mart parking lot, then got an early start for Tok Alaska first thing Monday morning the 10th of June. Easy drive in drizzling rain from Fairbanks to Tok on very good road, no problems. Pulled in to Tok RV Village for the night to try and hook up with some blog followers from the RV Forum, but they had already left. Did manage to find another couple from the forum and made some acquaintances.

Since I have quite a few lower 48ers heading North to Alaska following the blog I will give a road report for the roughest section of the Alcan.

Tuesday morning I left Tok for the long day 290 mile drive to Haines Junction. For North bounders you may want to reverse what I am writing.

Tok to US Border - Good Road with only one or two marked frost heaves.

US Border to Canadian Customs - about 20 miles

This is by far one of the worst sections of the Alaska Highway. Dirt and mud / gravel sections in several places where road construction is ongoing and just plain rough where there isn't construction. The dirt sections are actually graded and smoother than the paved sections. Most bad areas are marked with cones or orange flags but some are NOT due to proposed repair. There is one culvert being replaced and you have to stop and wait for one way traffic and a pilot car. I waited about 20 minutes. Muddy drive and very dusty during dry periods.

Once through Customs the road gets a little better for quite a ways but there are plenty of marked frost heaves and broken pavement. My top speed was about 50 and average speed for the day was about 40. Several sections put me down to 20-25 MPH.

Burwash Landing - just before (or after Northbound) there is a section being repaved that is dirt and gravel, smooth but muddy and dusty it is about 2 -2.5 miles long, not bad.

Burwash to Destruction Bay - fairly good road with well marked bumps and whoop di doos!

Destruction Bay - right in Destruction Bay they are repaving and another 2-2.5 mile stretch of dirt and gravel. Smooth but muddy and dusty.

Destruction Bay to Haines Junction - Good road with only one or maybe 2 marked frost heaves or pavement breaks.

Tip - I know your RV Looks terrible dirty in Haines Junction, don't bother washing it as it will look even worse after your next section of highway. Tok RV Village has an on-site RV Wash station so stop there and wash it down for the remainder of your trip, generally the roads in Alaska are in much better shape than what you are getting ready to go through.


Today I am heading from Haines Junction to Haines Alaska....stay tuned for pics and details of this scenic drive.

Here are a couple pics from the drive from Tok to Haines Junction!

Here is a 5 shot panorama of Kluane Lake....beautiful spot!



And another single shot....



Stay tuned for my arrival in Haines! I am excited to be back here!




Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

June 9th - Fairbanks Update - Repair Day!!

Today is a leisure day after a full morning of work! Yesterday I was determined to fix my trailer brakes, you may recall the snow and slush on the ALCAN tore the wiring lose and I had to cut it free, it was dragging behind the trailer when I pulled in to Llaird Hot Springs. Too much snow and slush and ice to try and fix it there, plus the wire was all frayed and bad from dragging for who knows how many miles. When in Anchorage a couple weeks ago I picked up the supplies I needed to make the repair.

Yesterday afternoon I got all the supplies and my tools out and was all prepared to make the repair, stripped the wire ends in the comfort of the trailer and just as I was headed outside a short rain storm came by and put an end to my effort, no sense getting soaking wet while making the repair. Left the tools out overnight and made it this mornings project. Clear sunny and cool day today with enough wind to keep the mosquitoes as bay. Fresh brewed coffee to start the morning and a nice bowl of oatmeal gave me the energy to crawl my fat old man ass under the trailer on all four corners and get the job done. Had some cleaning up to do with regard to the old wiring so end result is basically 95% new wire for all four trailer wheel brakes.

3 hours of effort rewarded with brakes operating at 100% efficiency. Should make stopping a whole bunch easier on the remainder of this trip and beyond. So I am staying in Fairbanks another night and plan to relax and watch some TV this afternoon and prepare a nice dinner for tonight. Thanks Wal-Mart for the nice parking space with electric, although they swear it is turned off!!

No pics again today, nothing special about a Wal-Mart parking lot, but I have plenty of good company! I have visited with a few of my neighbors. Several are here in RV's because the town of Gallena is still flooded and a few here have lost their homes and are waiting for the water to go down and mud to dry up to to go and start to rebuild or repair. Sad for them. But right now this morning there are 12 RV's here and every afternoon about another 5 or 6 pull in for the night.

Tomorrow I will leave here and head to Tok...some RV forum members there and I have been invited to visit, so will spend the evening there and then drive on to Haines Junction on Tuesday or Wednesday. That includes crossing the border back into Canada and one of the roughest sections of the ALCAN, so it will be a slow go and will stop to take some pictures and catch up on some photography.

Thanks for following along! Stay tuned for more Adventures!



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

June 8th Fairbanks and the "Rest of the Story"

Well, I suppose I can now tell the rest of the story of my Denali Adventure. We all know when I arrived it was still cold and snowing and tough conditions, but I was not happy with what I saw. The "camp" was a disaster, snow piled everywhere and no running water, thank goodness I had my trailer, because the "crew" facilities were a joke. Beat up leaky cabins all located in literally the middle of a junk pile.

As the snow began to melt the huge piles of snow were actually piles of junk. Old boats, old school buses, old camper trailers, old cars and trucks etc. All used for storage...which was where the tools and extra parts were to try and piece the boats back together for the summer. I understand in remote Alaska you don't throw anything away that may be of use at some point in the future...if you need something it is a long way to get a new part, so you salvage from your scrap pile, but it needs to be organized and not just left in piles to rot away.

I was NOT HAPPY, but bound and determined to tough it out Alaska style. Until the river went crazy and flooded the river camp. At that point in time I knew it was not going to be a good safe summer, so when the owner started talking about money problems and having to cut back...I decided it was time to bail. So I told him I would take some time off and see how things were going and if they didn't get better I would move on...well it didn't get better so he asked me if the offer was still on the table for me to leave and I took the smart and safe way out and told him I would end my season right there, to pay me for time served and I would be on my way, check cleared and was deposited yesterday so I figured I could wrap up the real story.

He took me up on my offer and now I am in Fairbanks at the Wal-Mart parking lot and will catch up on laundry here and do some shopping before heading down to a month long gig at a beautiful campground on the water in Haines, Alaska. It is a 642 mile drive from Fairbanks and it will take me a few days, I am going to enjoy the trip this time with most of the snow gone and ice there should be some interesting scenery along the way, so stay tuned for some more adventure.

Before leaving I took a walk around with my new little GoPro camera to try it out, real wide angle lens so no real close up pics, but this will give you an idea of the "camp".

My trailer beside the crew shack and office - I am parked on top of the septic system, note the vent stack which gave a certain tang to the air around my trailer, but at least I could use my own bathroom and not the porta potti or shared sometimes working bath in the crew shack...





Storage Trailers for tools and supplies...













So I will chalk this up to a learning experience and be happy to move on, I did want to run the river, but wanted to do it safely and in good equipment...the bailing wire and duck tape was getting a little worn.

I am happy to be gone and look forward to the rest of my summer, the change in location will be a welcome relief!

HERE is where I will be soon! Click the word HERE for link!

Stay tuned for more of my adventure....



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

What's the Plan - June 7th 2013.

Well, at least I have a plan. I have had several job offers, but none real appealing. Boat jobs are very hard to find as most have already been filled for this season.

I was all set to make a very leisurely trip back down to the lower 48 with "time to smell the roses" so to speak this time around and land in Montana and spend the rest of my summer along the river fishing and hanging out with my good friend Jim Flinchbaugh, but another opportunity got in the way, at least a short term delay anyway.

Today I hope to head up to Fairbanks, do a little shopping for the trip and get myself refreshed. Then I am heading down to a place I swore I would return to - Haines, Alaska. It involves about a 742 mile drive from Cantwell and back through Canada as far as Haines Junction. I have been invited to work as a camp host for about a month which will give me time to explore the area and take a few pictures. I was in Haines several years ago while on a cruise and swore I would return someday and when this opportunity came up it was just too hard to refuse. I will also take the opportunity to visit Skagway and hopefully get some face time with any available openings for this season or just as importantly for next season. I love this area of Alaska and would love to spend a season on it's waters. My ideal position would be either a photography tour or a whale boat / sightseeing tour...both type tours are prevalent in Skagway due to the huge cruise ship presence.

No pictures today but expect a few on my drive North later tonight.

Just wanting to keep people updated as to my plans.



Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest

June 3rd - Season Ends before it Starts!

Time to regroup and try and salvage what is left of the summer. Sadly my position here in Cantwell came to an end yesterday. The river camp is flooded and the main cabin is now under water and as of yesterday it was raining and the river was continuing to rise. The real dilemma is the fact the extremely early very warm weather has begun to melt the snow with a vengeance and the melt which normally takes months is now happening in weeks. Which means although the river is extremely high now it will be very low in another few weeks and almost impossible to run. So the owner of the company decided it was best to trim down and plan on maybe just running one boat and if that doesn't work shut it down completely for the season and try and minimize his losses.

As a business person I can fully understand the decision, it will take 3 weeks to clean up the mess from the flood and hard to justify payroll with no income....so I am left trying to salvage the remainder of my summer.

I have checked and virtually all of the boat captain positions around Alaska are filled. I do have an opportunity at and RV Park in Anchorage and maybe one in Skagway but it is not much money and quite frankly Anchorage is not very appealing. It just may be time to enjoy a very leisurely drive back to the lower 48 and seek something down there. I have all my feelers out and many inquiries have been made.

This very well may be an opportunity to get South and be in prime position for a great winter job someplace special. Generally when finishing the season up here in late September it is too late for the good winter jobs....may be a sign to make some changes in my itinerary. Then again, who the f... knows??

Forgot to mention it is raining like a bastard out which ain't gonna help and my plans to crawl under the trailer and re-wire my trailer brakes and plug on the truck is not very appealing...laying in a mud puddle to fix the trailer may just have to wait.

No pictures today I am too pissed off...which needs to change!

Oh alright, a bus driver emailed me this yesterday of me holding one of the puppies at the dog sled camp!





Stay tuned changes seem to be happening daily!


Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest