The summer is at a close here in Alaska. The days are getting shorter, the nights longer and colder. The leaves on all but the evergreens are turning bright yellow and starting to fall to the forest floor. The fishing season is over. There are no more more clients coming, no more meals to prepare, no more work to be done.  It's time to go home.  Most of the crew members will make their way back to whatever part of the USA they came from and spend the winter doing whatever pays the bills. All, except for me of course....

What an experience this has been! The summer started by taking off from a small lake on a float plane in Anchorage .  Four hours later, after crossing miles and miles of tundra and a glacier scarred mountain pass, we arrived at The Royal Coachman Lodge. Pleasantly placed in the middle of nowhere along the Nuyakuk River, this small piece of property with access to America's largest state park was home for four months. There is no way to get here, no way to leave, except by plane. Our clients came weekly in groups of 8 to 12 to go fishing in some of the best game fish waters in the world; some of which can only be accessed by the same planes we used to get here. Our bush pilots are real pros and make half the adventure of being in Alaska just getting around. Imagine your typical runway at the airport....well, rivers just don't run perfectly straight for miles on end.  I've seen a our pilots take off on rivers that curve around like the dog-leg left at the golf course. It's fun to watch...a little nerve racking when you're in the plane. Wildlife viewing is great too... grizzly bears, moose, and caribou are quite common and I was extremely lucky to see a wolf pack feeding on a moose they brought down.  

But now the job is over and it's time to do something else. As you can imagine, after four months of working, I need a vacation.... stay tuned.