We made it to Fairbanks that afternoon. We didn't know anyone in town, but Cyrus found a couple guys that were working on a gold claim out in the middle of nowhere. A bush pilot named Les has been flying them supplies every week or so. We got in touch with him, who met us at a coffee shop in town. He's a really cool guy. Used to be a missionary in Africa, he's now a bush pilot in his early 50's. He just rode a brand new Harley Davidson from Ohio to Florida, to Alaska. That was in May, and he said throughout the entire trip he hit only 30 minutes of rain. That kind of upset me, since we'd probably been through over 20 hours of it already.
We'd never met Les before, but he said we could stay at his place that night, just outside of town. As we followed him on our bikes, Cyrus' throttle cable broke. I stayed with his bike while Cyrus took mine to a Harley shop nearby to find a new cable. Finally we got to Les' place, which was a really nice log house. We'd be staying outside in an old school bus that he'd turned into a pretty nice camper. We were invited inside to join the family in celebrating Les' birthday, so we got some free cake and ice cream, which was much appreciated. I got to use their washer that evening and washed my clothes for the first time in 20 days. That's got to be a new personal record. I only had two sets of clothes, and I was wearing every bit of it when it was cold. You'd be surprised how quick you get used to the smell when you're on the road that long.
In the morning I went looking for a new rear tire. The Harley shop didn't have one, but they pointed me to a smaller shop where I found one that would work. I then rode to Les' hangar nearby, where he let Cyrus and I work on the bikes. We both changed our oil and filters, and then used an engine hoist to raise my bike so we could remove the rear wheel.
At that point I realized I didn't have any way to get the wheel to the shop so they could put the new tire on. I just walked to the corner and stuck my thumb out. In 15 minutes or so, a guy with a truck gave me a lift to the shop down the road where I dropped off the wheel/tire and walked back to the hanger. A little later Les returned and we decided we'd like to spend a week with Cyrus' friends, out in the woods where they were panning for gold.
Les gave us a great deal by only charging us for the fuel that it would cost him to drop us off. We loaded the plane and took off from a small, gravel runway that was nearby.
He was a true bush pilot. Never filed a flight plan or got on his radio, just taxied down the road and took off. We flew for about 30 minutes to the south where they had personally cleared a runway 1800 feet long. The landing strip started at the edge of a cliff, which I could have sworn we were going to fly right into. But he pulled up at the last minute and set down on a grass strip, just wide enough for the wheels. The edges of the runway had lots of small trees and bushes that barely cleared the wings. The runway then went downhill slightly and turned a bit to the right, so he had to steer along it as we came to a stop next to a small shack.
That's the runway in front of the cabin, and the Totalanika River behind it.
I met William and Dan, two guys who were friends with Cyrus' family and had been working there for less than a week, checking the river for gold. They stayed in the shack in the picture above, and they had room for us, but we decided to stay in a different shack, about a hundred yards away, down an ATV trail. It was pretty cool; about 20' x 20' with four beds, a propane stove and a couple lights powered by a solar panel on the top of the cabin.
The cabin was covered with barbed wire to keep bears from getting too close and pushing their way through the walls... that was comforting.
There was no cell phone reception and no satellite phone. It felt great to be that secluded. We checked out the Totalanika River and tried fishing, but the water was still too murky from some recent rains.
Forgotten River Towns Tour
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