Fall Update
9/14/2009Sorry I have written anything in the last week, I was up north or Delta Junction on the Good Paster River. It was quite the adventure and a great trip in a very beautiful and remote part of Alaska. According to my estimates we made it about 75-80 mile upstream from the Big Delta Landing on the Tanana River.
We started out last Saturday evening and drove 320 miles north to Big Delta and launched our boat into the Tanana River. From there we travelled 5 miles upstream in the fog to the Good Paster River. This was fun and thought I would be able to find the mouth of the Good Paster fairly easily with the help of my GPS. Unfortunately my GPS chart plotter had no record of the Good Paster in the memory file. I had reviewed the google maps online so this helped me find the mouth.
The next stretch of river was very twisty and with 150 gallons of fuel on board we made our way up stream. A little over 2 hours later and 45 gallons of fuel lighter we made to 6 miles above the south fork and found a nice gravel bar to camp on. We set up camp there and got comfortable. It was truly beautiful and very hot, it must have been 65 every day.
The next couple of days we ran up and down the river, some times in the river and sometimes, like the day we ran into a raft coming downstream, we ended up in the wrong channel and high and dry. In the week up on the Good Paster the river slowly dropped a little over a 1.5 feet. It got really shallow. On the way out we rubbed the bottom several times, and there were miles of river that we ran in only 3 to 4 inches of water. One mistake and it was going to be a long was before we could get back on step.
I learned a lot about what my Wooldridge could do in shallow water situations, as well as my driving skills. At least one high and dry espisode was due to sun glare and missing the ripples in the middle of the river. Oh well, it was a lot of fun and what was supposed to be a hunting trip turned into a great camping trip.
Eric Bushnell Comment