The Fly Fishing Blog

River Chest

The Beauty and Risk of an Excursion into Mother Nature's Frontier

To experience waking up to a morning in rural Alaska when the sky is a crystal deep blue, the air is crisp and cold, and the snow is glistening from the sun's reflection like a blanket of diamonds is a gift from Mother Nature.

On a day like today a person must get out, be free, and live.

Being an educator in a rural Yupik village in Alaska, or any community for that matter, a person has lessons to plan, papers to grade, and reports to write.  This is all part of the occupation.

I thought about these tasks over a quick breakfast and came to the conclusion…Not Today!

I called another teacher that I worked with named Todd.  He also enjoyed the calls from Mother Nature.  I asked him a simple question, "Want to go for a ride"?  He immediately came back with a simple answer.  He said, "Ten minutes".

We both came out of our separate duplex units about the same time.

We fueled our snow machines, made sure we had an extra gallon of gasoline, a spare drive belt, and our survival packs.  We were dressed for winter survival even though the day was sunny and bright.  We never forgot this was still "the last frontier" and things could happen very quickly here.  We also carried a valuable piece of survival equipment in rural Alaska; our rifles and plenty of ammunition.  We carried our rifles across our backs, with the slings across our chests.  That made the rifle an easy access if needed.

We both told our wives the general location of where we would be going and about how long we would be gone.  This is always a wise thing to do when traveling anywhere in bush Alaska.  It is also a wise thing to do if you are married.

We left the village and headed up our bush super highway; the frozen Nushagak river.  It was possible to hit speeds of sixty to seventy miles per hour on our snow machines.

With the crisp air biting at our cheeks and noses, we had covered our heads with our beaver hats, our eyes with our goggles, and the remainder of our faces with a wool scarf.  Our beaver hats were made by some of the native Yupik women.  The hats were made from beaver pelts that had been trapped and skinned by their husbands.  The women lined the hats with a flannel material.  They kept our heads and ears very warm.  Some of the women also made beaver mittens for the men who raced their dogsled teams in winter races.  Some of the races were the Dillingham Fur Roundup, the Kuskokwim 300, New Stuyahok Winter carnival, and the Iditarod.

We had both seen the results of frostbite on the faces of some of the native villagers.  The frostbite and resulting blisters were caused by the coolness of the temperatures and the wind chill.  Even on a nice sunny day, when the temperature was around forty degrees, the wind chill that resulted from going at any speed on the snow machine caused frostbite.

We traveled up the Nushagak River for about thirty minutes at a pretty fast rate of speed.  We then found a trail that led us off the river and up onto the flats of the tundra.

Once up on the flat tundra, a person could see for miles and miles.  We rode our machines out on the tundra for another half an hour.  We then stopped; turned off our machines, and sat back to enjoy what nature had provided us.

We were privileged to be seeing a beautiful white diamond landscape, with the sun about two feet above the far horizon.  As we sat back enjoying a small snack, we saw a small herd of Caribou running across the snow some distance from us.

They seemed to run with little effort across the snow packed tundra.  Their hooves were like snowshoes keeping them on top of the snow.  They were soon out of our sight range.

We soaked in the brilliant sun, the cool air, and the beautiful scenery for another twenty minutes.  Then it was time to be heading for home.

We retraced our tracks back to the river.  Once we were on the river itself we knew we had clear cruising all the way to the village.  We had traveled about a quarter of a mile when all at once my snow machine quit running.

We tried everything to get it started again.  We checked the fuel filter, the spark plug, and the fuel level.  Nothing worked.  We had no idea why the machine had stopped running.

Todd decided that he could tow me back to the village.  We tied a nylon tow rope we had brought with us to the back of his snow machine.  We then tied the other end to the front of my snow machine.  The rope was about one hundred feet long and about an inch in diameter.

We started out slowly and everything seemed to be working okay.  Todd sped up to about forty miles per hour.  With the muffling effect of our beaver hats, it was pretty hard to hear anything except the roar of the snow machines muffler.  Snow machines are generally pretty loud. 

We had driven this way for about ten minutes when one of my front skis caught an ice rut and flipped my snow machine onto its side.  I was thrown onto the hard ice.

I instinctively put my arm out to break my fall.  It broke my fall but also dislocated my right shoulder.  I slid on the ice for a short distance and finally came to rest.

The snow machine had bounced on its side a few times, hit a big chunk of ice just the right way, and righted itself.  The only damage was a broken windshield, a broken rearview mirror, and a few ice scrapes down one side.

Todd continued down the river towing a rider less snow machine.  He later told me he had not seen or heard anything.  He said he hadn't felt anything much different because the machines were bouncing anyways.

As I regained my composure, the excruciating pain from my shoulder heightened all of my senses.  I could see Todd moving down the river towards the village pulling my snow machine behind him.

I knew I had to do something.  My survival kit was on my snow machine.  So it was not going to help me.

As I collected my thoughts I knew I had to support my arm so the weight would not pull down on the joint.  When we left the village that morning I had put my rifle across my back with the sling riding across my chest.  I decided that since my rifle was still attached in this manner I could use the sling to brace my arm.

I slowly moved my hand, about an inch at a time, up towards my rifle sling.  I could only move my arm about an inch before the pain became very intense.  Then I would have to let it calm down a bit before I could move it again.  This seemed to take forever.

My hand finally rested in the rifle sling.  It helped to relieve some of the pain.

I decided I needed to get up and start walking down river towards the village.  The sun was starting to set, it was colder than it had been, and I was afraid I was starting to go into shock.

I was hoping that someone would come by on their snow machine, since this was a very traveled trail, or that Todd would realize I wasn't riding behind him anymore and he would turn around to come looking for me.

I walked for about an hour.  The rifle sling helped but the pain was increasing with each step that I took.  The bouncing that was produced from my steps increased the pain.

I was starting to think I would have to walk all of the way back to the village when I heard the sound of a snow machine and saw its headlight off in the distance.  I kept walking towards that headlight with a purpose now.

The sound of the machine became louder and louder.  Within a few minutes, Todd pulled up beside me.  I was sure relieved to see him.  I immediately sat down on his seat.

He asked me what had happened.  He said that he had turned around to see how I was doing about fifteen miles down the river.

He said, "I was shocked to see a rider less snow machine behind me."

He had stopped the machines, saw the broken windshield and ice scrapes on my snow machine, and figured out what had happened.  So he untied my snow machine and headed back to find me.

I told him I had to get back to the village to see the nurse's aide as soon as possible.  I told him I had dislocated my shoulder, I felt like I was going into shock, and I wasn't sure if I was going to pass out or not.

I got onto Todd's snow machine behind him.  I hooked my good arm through his rifle sling so I wouldn't fall off; even if I did pass out.

We passed the spot where Todd had untied the two snow machines within fifteen minutes and arrived back in the village within a half an hour.  Todd had kept the speed of his machine at a constant rate of fast.

Todd took me straight to the clinic.  The nurses' aide contacted the doctor at the hospital in Dillingham, Alaska by radio.  The village telephones only worked within the village at this particular time.

She was instructed by the doctor to give me some strong pain relievers.  She was also directed to give me an injection of a muscle relaxant in the shoulder area.

As I became mentally in and out, she put my shoulder back into place with Todd's assistance.  I remember it hurt like the dickens for a short period of time and then instantly felt better.

One of the villagers who had a pickup truck took me back to my duplex.  Todd followed on his snow machine and informed my wife what had happened and that everything was okay.

I slept very well that night.  When I woke up the next morning I was sore in places I never knew I had.  I had to wear an arm sling for about a week but all in all things worked out on the positive side.  They could have ended a lot worse but oh what a beautiful day in the last frontier.

Todd and one of the villagers towed my snow machine back to our duplex.  We later found out the reason the machine had stopped operating was because of a broken spark plug wire.

We were prepared for about anything except that.

Three weeks later, on a weekend, my telephone rang.  I answered it and Todd said, "Want to go for a ride?"

My reply was, "Ten Minutes!"

About the Author

Steven R. McCain was born in Pocatello, Idaho in the fall of 1949 during a blizzard. Pocatello was and still is a college and railroad community.
Steven's father was a collegiate athlete and later became an educator and coach. His mother was also a college graduate in Journalism.
After moving around the Pacific Northwest with his family,Steven R. McCain eventually graduated from high school in 1967. His dreams of participating in collegiate athletics led him back to Pocatello where he was an accomplished athlete in football, waterpolo, swimming and diving. Steven represented his college at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships held at the University of Utah.
The earning of an athletic scholarship allowed him to graduate with his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education.
After graduating, he pursued a career in education and coaching. This eventually led to the earning of his Masters of Arts Degree and his certifications in five fields of study in the Education field.
He spent the past thirty six years as a teacher, a coach, and a person that young people could look up to.
Steven R. McCain has retired from teaching/coaching and lives with his wife of thirty nine years in the beautiful college community of Boise,Idaho.
He is involved in the writing of children's stories, running in the beautiful foothills and on the greenbelt of the community, and the lives of his grandchildren.
As a footnote, his son has moved back to Alaska and is raising his family in this beautiful landscape.

Hair on my chest, stomach, back, and shoulders...?

I am a hairy guy. I enjoy doing things which require me to be shirtless in front of people. I have shaved but this leaves my skin feeling like sandpaper AND I break out. I have waxed it but it only lasts one week and I break out during that week! based on the cost, that is not very good. I also did a bunch (8+) of laser sessions and even though I have light skin and dark hair, the hair only became finer, but didnt go away at all. My friends always want to be to go to the beach, river, pool, etc and I usually say no and if I do go, I never take my shirt off. does anyone have any suggestions? has anyone else had laser and not had any results? I wish I was married so I could not care what anyone thought but I am a young single guy so I kind of have to conform to society so i can hopefully meet a smart and beautiful woman.

Nair is a good temp fix. waxng ad nair are probably your best bet