I went north, the followup to I'm going north.

[matt s]

This is the followup to this thread.

My buddy John and I bailed out of work at noon on Friday and spent the next four days exploring and camping the areas in and around the Denali Highway. One good stuck resulting in a flat, several stretches of "Oh ********" driving, but overall fun and no real carnage.

On to the pics!

The rig loaded and at the end of our first trail.

John glassing for game early one morning

A young moose grazing by the roadside

5am sunrise, gotta get up with the critters.

In the checkout line for groceries we found some American flags for a buck. So we mounted them to the gas can racks for the trip. Gotta fly the colors.

A not so soft furry Friend.

A softer furry friend

The rig on top of a huge old tailing pile from an old gold mine.

More to come...

 

[matt s]

Continued..

One of my pups standing in the creek next to the sand bar we intended to camp on. Looming thunderheads made us reconsider the intelligence of that plan and we camped elsewhere. Waking up wet and flowing down river would sure ruin a nights sleep.

Water crossing sequence. Nothing crazy but still fun! Photo credits go to John for these three.

My two girls on top of a ridge we hiked up.

Chillin

A swan on the nest calling their mate. John would be happy to point out that as soon as I packed up, the mate flew over and landed in a dramatic way right in front of the next. All I could do was shrug and say at least we got to see it.

This was weird, we has seen no humans in hours and suddenly there were unshod horse surrounding the truck and blocking the trail. Later we ran into the miners to whom the horses belonged. Nice people and they gave us some local first hand knowledge about trails in the area.

Sunset on the final night.

Thanks for looking. I hope you all got out too!

-Matt

 

[kletzenklueffer]

Nice place to cruise around in a K5. Love the Blazer. I had a 72 that I miss near every day. It got 6-8 mpg, so I had to sell it, and I don't miss that side, but it was a lovely beast to drive.

 

[stolenheron]

porcupine and dog pics were fantastic! :Wow1:

 

[matt s]

Nice place to cruise around in a K5. Love the Blazer. I had a 72 that I miss near every day. It got 6-8 mpg, so I had to sell it, and I don't miss that side, but it was a lovely beast to drive.

I know about the gas. We saw 8-10 mpg off road and 12.5 or so highway. All of that fully loaded with gear, 3 dogs, and two big guys. I thought it was decent considering all the above. They are a lovely beast to drive!

 

[upcruiser]

Amazing shots! I have this growing hunger to get up that way. Love the Blazer too, one of my favorite body styles of all time. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Ryanmb21]

Nice trip report, I dig.

 

[ExpoGeorgia]

Beautiful pictures Matt! It goes to show what amazing landscapes often go unexplored by society. Also, I like your K5. How is it on the trails pertaining to capability, reliability, and size?

 

[Haggis]

Awesome report. Love the critters, the dogs and the rig. Thanks for sharing those things with us. :elkgrin:

 

[matt s]

Hey thanks everyone it was a great time.

Beautiful pictures Matt! It goes to show what amazing landscapes often go unexplored by society. Also, I like your K5. How is it on the trails pertaining to capability, reliability, and size?

It's very capable. I it's not locked but in low range with a posi it does very well. I run 33 9x5 AT's and the blazer did very well in soggy spring thaw conditions. Cut to the bottom and chugged right through. There were sections of soft rock (rock suspended in mud) that concerned me in terms of shredding a tire, but that didn't happen. The only time we got stuck we happened to stop on what seemed a solid section of trail and promptly sunk it to the axles. The holes are sneaky sometimes. A little digging and brush stuck under the wheels did the job.

As to size, well it's a full size but I fit on most trails. Also with 104 inch wheel base it turns very quickly. Big plusses are I can sleep in the back (2 guys fit just fine), fix nearly anything wrong myself (simple machine) and it's a tough old rig so it's pretty hard to hurt. Mine is very reliable. It has issues here and there but it always runs and goes. I actually have worked hard at getting out all the 40 year old truck gremlins. It has paid off.

 

[Raw7s]

you know those dogs were having a blast

great pics, I hope I can make it out there sometime

 

[GTABurnout]

Love the pics, hate the copyright directly in the middle of the shots, not really needed.

 

[Jferg]

Great pictures! (I too do not care for the copyright stamp on them)

 

[Backwoods Rambler]

Great pictures! (I too do not care for the copyright stamp on them)

Sorry, but I have to x3 this sentiment. Although I'm not a professional photographer, so maybe there's mroe to it than I know.

great report though, I'd love to visit Alaska some day.

 

[matt s]

Sorry about the copyright stamp. These are not any photos that I have any concern of theft (they are really just snaps from the trip), it's just the default on my website. I used to have them on the bottom, but people (customers and others) would crop it out and steal the shots.

EDIT: I have pulled the copyright notice from that gallery. You may have to refresh your browser.