Alaska Cruiser Trek 2010

[D'Animal]

I will bring a log to the campfire.

FYI:
We will be having an unofficial ACTrekkers campfire meeting at this year's Surf N Turf.
Topics will include:
Preparing your rig,
preparing yourself,
uncertainties and expectations: friend or foe?

and the always interesting...
"who IS Whatley" and "what's up with RatPuke"

Expect to get the super secret/inside/offline/confidential info direct from the mouths past trekkers.

Of course, "kill you if I tell you" stories will be omitted for your living pleasure.

Carry on...

 

[Mace]

I just wanna know what the secret handshake is

 

[80nick]

thanks for those '03 pictures! man, i just realized that was 7 years ago we were up there for the ACT. i wanna go back up for sure. as far as shipping goes, screw it, drive the whole thing up and back. our adventures outside of the ACT were just as memorable. so much to see and do.

nick

 

[80nick]

here are some pictures of the plane crash sight. i think these are from Greg Hayden's wife's site??

ACT 2003 (Pg. 1)

nick

 

[Mark W]

I think that is Kathy's site, yes.

Nick was here in 2003... the Trek with the most problems... but some of the best stories afterward Although 2002 had it's moments too


Mark...

 

[RockDoc]

To pre-empt Jim's insanity.... the answer is "solvent abuse."

cough, cough, cough, dry heave

 

[80nick]

I think that is Kathy's site, yes.

Nick was here in 2003... the Trek with the most problems... but some of the best stories afterward Although 2002 had it's moments too


Mark...

there were no problems! trucks break, equipment fails, weather changes, roads & rivers move, etc. etc. if you can not smile through all that, and with a positive attitude then maybe the ACT is not the right event for you.

i will say this; today i told my wife that the Trek was happening again in 2010, without any hesitation she said "are we going ?" Ok, we drove from Sonoma, California all the way up, and all the way back, roughly 6800 miles roundtrip. We did numerous side trips in Canada and Alaska. whatever problems you are talking about, i would not take them back, they are all part of the memory. who was it that said: true adventure is just disaster averted?

so, what's the deal, you got an open spot........

 

[Mark W]

"An adventure is merely a disaster survived" But you were close

Nick has it right. Whatever is... IS... so enjoy what you can and accept the rest.

Nick we have a (short) waiting list right now. We had to bump the limits even so. We have 20 rigs committed for the Trek this time around. Most from Outside.

Drop me a line if you are serious about coming up and I'll fill you in on what's going on.


Mark...

 

[RuffinIt]

Interested

My girlfriend and I would be very interested. We were planning on heading up to Alaska in 2010 as a sort of initiation for longer overland trips (South America and hopefully Africa eventually) in the future and would love to tag along. I have a fully locked 80 with 35" MTR's, about 4 inches of lift, ARB, 12,000 lbs. Warn, etc.

I am not above offering bribes.

rtylerwinslow AT aol DOT com

 

[Ratpuke]

Eureka Roadhouse

Here are some pics I took at the Eureka Roadhouse this summer. Would like to see the sno-cats in action!

 

[Ratpuke]

A few more from this summer

...seeing as I haven't really posted any of the pics from this summer anywhere.

a) forest fire haze
b) Mark's 40
c) Mark working at his shop

 

[Mark W]

Ah yes, one of my High Tech and High Dollar custom jobs for a picky customer.


You KNOW you have some better ones than THAT.



Mark...

 

[Mark W]

These shots are from this last weekend. This is not the area we will be playing in, but it is a typical "Alaska Stuck"


Complacency on a dark night and a changing river channel led to a 4 foot drop off of a bank that was not there a week before.

The mirror beside my head is about 6 feet off the ground normally, I am not standing there, but rather floating in the drysuit. The water is about 35* F. A bare hand hurts immediately when you reach into it, and goes numb DAMN quick.

The entire engine, up to the top of the carb had to be drained of water.

Mark...

 

[Ratpuke]

Meh. Been done before.

 

[jonb96150]

You guys are trying to scare us off aren't you? My 70 sure does look smaller all the time.

Off topic but that pinion angle hurts my eyes.

 

[Ducks]

Yah know if you wanted to detail your 40, you could probably take it to a car wash or something. I guess this is the Alaska way for a "deep clean". The underside of your 40 sure does sparkle, though.

These shots are from this last weekend. This is not the area we will be playing in, but it is a typical "Alaska Stuck"


Complacency on a dark night and a changing river channel led to a 4 foot drop off of a bank that was not there a week before.

The mirror beside my head is about 6 feet off the ground normally, I am not standing there, but rather floating in the drysuit. The water is about 35* F. A bare hand hurts immediately when you reach into it, and goes numb DAMN quick.

The entire engine, up to the top of the carb had to be drained of water.

Mark...

 

[Mark W]

Meh. Been done before.

You do have a point. I don't think anyone has posted pics if me wrenching on a toilet before. Wrenching on a POS, probably, but not a toilet. Just make sure that you do not allow yourself to get defined by your work or toilet pic will be all that anyone ever asks you for.

Maybe we need some road kill shots to prep everyone for the run north?


Mark...

 

[Mark W]

You guys are trying to scare us off aren't you? My 70 sure does look smaller all the time.

Off topic but that pinion angle hurts my eyes.

We will almost certainly be crossing stuff that comes darn close to or does top the doors of the lower rigs. But no plans for 6+ feet depths!


That pinon angle is steep. Not as much as is appears in the picture, but it is steep. The high deflection Ujoints setup keeps it happy as a daily driver and exploration rig though. Kevin uses the hell out of his rig.


Mark...

 

[Ducks]

The Alaska Ferry schedule for summer 2010 just came out today. Would we be able to make it to Haines, AK by 3:15pm (departure is 5:15pm) on Monday, July 5th?

 

[jonb96150]

We will almost certainly be crossing stuff that comes darn close to or does top the doors of the lower rigs. But no plans for 6+ feet depths!


That pinon angle is steep. Not as much as is appears in the picture, but it is steep. The high deflection Ujoints setup keeps it happy as a daily driver and exploration rig though. Kevin uses the hell out of his rig.


Mark...

After posting that I started wondering if maybe the camera angle exaggerated the pinion angle.