Alaska Cruiser Trek 2010
- Thread starter Mark W
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
Dan and I did a slideshow of the Trek at Metal Tech 4x4 here in Newberg. It was a lot of fun. I put the photos I used up on the web at:
Picasa Web Albums - Chad - Alaska Cruise...
You should be able to download the original size of the photos. Almost all the pictures are pictures that my dad took.
Chad
Picasa Web Albums - Chad - Alaska Cruise...
You should be able to download the original size of the photos. Almost all the pictures are pictures that my dad took.
Chad
Mark W
Yep, I really don't really care that much I guess.
- Thread starter
- #803
For the Trekkers who know the rig... and those who saw it at Ruby-con at the beginning of the month... this is what the "Blue Moose" looks like at the moment after meeting a brown moose on the way home. 
This pic was taken in pitch black just outside of Whitehorse as I was waiting for the wrecker. You can not tell from the pic, but the rig is just short of rolling over onto the driver's side, the tires have impacted a berm in front of it hard enough to pretzel both front springs, and I am about 20 vertical feet down a loose embankment of somewhere between 45*-60*. The fender is into the tire enough to lock it up (the wrecker pulled me sideways to get me level and then used the hook to yank the fender off the tire so I could drive up a gentler slop to the roadway.
The moose that I met is about 200 feet away, also down the embankment. That is his blood in the rig, not any sort of fluid from the vehicle. And that is only a tiny portion of what was shed on impact and immediately there after. Looked like it was quick for him at least. Just out of the picture is the culvert that I just barely missed. All in all it could have been a lot worse. But I still need to take a trailer back to bring her home.
Mark...
This pic was taken in pitch black just outside of Whitehorse as I was waiting for the wrecker. You can not tell from the pic, but the rig is just short of rolling over onto the driver's side, the tires have impacted a berm in front of it hard enough to pretzel both front springs, and I am about 20 vertical feet down a loose embankment of somewhere between 45*-60*. The fender is into the tire enough to lock it up (the wrecker pulled me sideways to get me level and then used the hook to yank the fender off the tire so I could drive up a gentler slop to the roadway.
The moose that I met is about 200 feet away, also down the embankment. That is his blood in the rig, not any sort of fluid from the vehicle. And that is only a tiny portion of what was shed on impact and immediately there after. Looked like it was quick for him at least. Just out of the picture is the culvert that I just barely missed. All in all it could have been a lot worse. But I still need to take a trailer back to bring her home.
Mark...
Ratpuke
SILVER Star
Glad you & Gus were OK. We have a lot of moose up here, especially a lot of dead ones. So many that we've got one on our official Swamp Donkey logo.
I vote for not parting the 62 out.... fix it up and you'll have a token 'Blue Moose' of your own.
Oh man,
After all that rig has been through! So glad you and dog survived.
Jebus, I hate those meeses to pieces.
After all that rig has been through! So glad you and dog survived.
Jebus, I hate those meeses to pieces.
Mark W
Yep, I really don't really care that much I guess.
- Thread starter
- #806
she has served one well... and hopefully will continue to. It was not the best choice for a road trip of that length and the wandering that we did while I was over there... a bit rougher around the edges than one of the '80s would have been... and sucked the fuel like a high test demon fleeing the underworld!. 
I broke a spring during Ruby-Con... of course it was the Beaver Creek- Burwash section of the highway that doomed them... I was driving back with logs lashed between the spring plates and the bumpstops to make sure that I did not break it again, or break the other one... she wheeled surprisingly well like that and even ran the road decently.
And the '80s on street friendly tires instead of the swampers would not have motored forward and reverse through the couple of mudholes on the ruby-con the way this rig did... they would not have gotten stuck as deeply either in the one that defeated her.
One of those swampers exploded for no detectable reason as we approached Hinton on the way back from the run. Sure glad I had a brand new swamper as a spare!
And I burned up a set of wheel bearings about 3 hours out of Fort Saint John on the way home. Less than 3000 miles on them too!
I have been running the Alaska Highway for 25 years and have never had a mechanical problem and only one other accident.... it all caught up with me this trip.
What amazes me the most about the moose encounter is that I did not roll. And roll bad. When I left the road surface and plunged over the side I thought it was all over... time really slows down when things like that unfold. I remember how sad I felt that Gus was gonna get hurt and be scared and maybe alone in the dark and trying to figure out how folks would be notified.... and thinking about how it was gonna play hell with my schedule and commitments over the next week if I got busted up or worse... this was in the second or two total time that I had from the smack into the moose and the smack into the bottom of the drop. Then I was sitting there taking stock and deciding what to do. Kind of a neat feeling to just ride it out and realize that you are calm and just dealing with it... I always wonder when I will get to the "loosing it" point.... not this time anyway.
I think that after this... I might put effort into treating this rig like less of a beater rather than parting her out to serve my other rigs. I'll have to wait until she is home to make that call I guess.
Mark...
I broke a spring during Ruby-Con... of course it was the Beaver Creek- Burwash section of the highway that doomed them... I was driving back with logs lashed between the spring plates and the bumpstops to make sure that I did not break it again, or break the other one... she wheeled surprisingly well like that and even ran the road decently.
And the '80s on street friendly tires instead of the swampers would not have motored forward and reverse through the couple of mudholes on the ruby-con the way this rig did... they would not have gotten stuck as deeply either in the one that defeated her.
One of those swampers exploded for no detectable reason as we approached Hinton on the way back from the run. Sure glad I had a brand new swamper as a spare!
And I burned up a set of wheel bearings about 3 hours out of Fort Saint John on the way home.
Less than 3000 miles on them too!I have been running the Alaska Highway for 25 years and have never had a mechanical problem and only one other accident.... it all caught up with me this trip.
What amazes me the most about the moose encounter is that I did not roll. And roll bad. When I left the road surface and plunged over the side I thought it was all over... time really slows down when things like that unfold. I remember how sad I felt that Gus was gonna get hurt and be scared and maybe alone in the dark and trying to figure out how folks would be notified.... and thinking about how it was gonna play hell with my schedule and commitments over the next week if I got busted up or worse... this was in the second or two total time that I had from the smack into the moose and the smack into the bottom of the drop. Then I was sitting there taking stock and deciding what to do. Kind of a neat feeling to just ride it out and realize that you are calm and just dealing with it... I always wonder when I will get to the "loosing it" point.... not this time anyway.
I think that after this... I might put effort into treating this rig like less of a beater rather than parting her out to serve my other rigs. I'll have to wait until she is home to make that call I guess.
Mark...
Sounds like you and Gus made it in one piece. Glad to hear that. Good luck with the cruiser. If you need help my schedule is not good but I may be able to lend a pair of hands.
Pat
Pat
Glad no one got hurt. Hitting Moose seems like the chances of getting hurt are right up there.
Mark W
Yep, I really don't really care that much I guess.
- Thread starter
- #809
Thanks Pat. But the recovery will consist of towing a trailer over with one of the '8s and loading the '62 up for the trip home. She is sitting in the wreckers yard waiting for me at the moment. I just have to shuffle time and funds and figure out when I can get over there. It is about 900 miles between here and there.
Mark...
Mark...
Ratpuke
SILVER Star
I know that feeling all too well. 5 or so Winters ago I spun out on the ice in my BJ73 and was headed straight for a loaded logging truck like a curling rock gliding across the ice waiting to hit something. Time essentially stood still as I quickly came to grips with knowing how it was all going to end. I bid my loved ones goodbye. A weird calm overcame me and I was surprised when I missed the truck by less than a foot.
Moments you don't soon forget... and moments that help put your life, and the rest of it, into perspective pretty quickly.
Meese
Hey Mark-
Sorry to hear about the incident. I have had more than one deficate on my hood out of fear, right around there as well.
Hope you and the fam is well.
Justin
Hey Mark-
Sorry to hear about the incident. I have had more than one deficate on my hood out of fear, right around there as well.
Hope you and the fam is well.
Justin
Mark W
Yep, I really don't really care that much I guess.
- Thread starter
- #812
Thanks for the good wishes Justin. Gus was the only "person" with me. Gus is one of my dogs. A 2.5 year old 130LBS Great dane/ Mastiff cross. He was pretty spooked... more by the wrecker than the accident in fact. But neither of us was injured in the least.
The day and a half in a cheap hotel.... the $600 cab ride to the border... the 5 hours chilling with the Canadian customs officers waiting for my ride there...and Erin's 17+ hour round trip to pick me up.... those were what hurt..... and my rig still sitting there waiting for me to fetch it home.
I had hoped to use this rig to get to hunting camp this season. Not gonna happen. :
Mark...
Gus is one of my dogs. A 2.5 year old 130LBS Great dane/ Mastiff cross. He was pretty spooked... more by the wrecker than the accident in fact. But neither of us was injured in the least.The day and a half in a cheap hotel.... the $600 cab ride to the border... the 5 hours chilling with the Canadian customs officers waiting for my ride there...and Erin's 17+ hour round trip to pick me up.... those were what hurt..... and my rig still sitting there waiting for me to fetch it home.
I had hoped to use this rig to get to hunting camp this season. Not gonna happen. :
Mark...
Finally got around to picking through my photos and choosing a few to share.
First camp on the pre-run.
Mark in the pre-run gumbo.
Orange lying in wait.
A few pics from Glacier 13.
Darryl will be missed.
Glacier by the goldmine.
Ike learns that Iroks do clean for sh!t with a little wheel speed.
Dan's 40.5 crossing the Tok on the first day.
A few pics from Knik Glacier after ACT.
First camp on the pre-run.
Mark in the pre-run gumbo.
Orange lying in wait.
A few pics from Glacier 13.
Darryl will be missed.
Glacier by the goldmine.
Ike learns that Iroks do clean for sh!t with a little wheel speed.
Dan's 40.5 crossing the Tok on the first day.
A few pics from Knik Glacier after ACT.
AWESOME pics... 
Thanks mate
Thanks mate
cool pics. Mark younger moose? Glad you are alright!
Mark W
Yep, I really don't really care that much I guess.
- Thread starter
- #816
Yep smaller moose that I almost missed. An ARB bumper probably would have taken the hit without taking the fender with it and I probably could have kept it on the road without the sheet metal embracing the tire... which would have kept me from destroying the front springs... and I could have continued on home with it.
Curtis.... glad to see some of your pics... you've got some good ones it looks like.
Mark...
Curtis.... glad to see some of your pics... you've got some good ones it looks like.
Mark...
......
Curtis.... glad to see some of your pics... you've got some good ones it looks like.
......
I really should get the bulk of them up on Photobucket one of these days....
Nice pix Curtis. Any of your "back woods washing machine"?
Nice pix Curtis. Any of your "back woods washing machine"?
Afraid not. It didn't work out as well as I hoped, think I overloaded it. The clothes in the bottom were still folded up when they came out, same as when they went in. I'll have to try again some time though.
Then there was the constant drizzle the worked against the backwoods dryer
Afraid not. It didn't work out as well as I hoped, think I overloaded it. The clothes in the bottom were still folded up when they came out, same as when they went in. I'll have to try again some time though.
Then there was the constant drizzle the worked against the backwoods dryer
I'm givin' you an "A" for effort just the same! It made my day/nite/whatever....
