Crossing the marsh

And the views

The views were incredible.  Here they are on top of the ridge.  When they were cutting their way through the thick brush they were tying pink and green strips of cloth to mark their trail.  Dave is apparently color blind but the bears weren't.  When George and Dave would backtrack George noticed they were missing all the green strips.  Apparently the bears liked those and would pick them off the trees and brush. 

Are we there yet?

They loaded some equipment on a sled to pass over the brush easier.  You can see they are loaded down and will be camping out on this run.

An old Ididarod Shack

The guys found an old ididarod shack on their way.  The pipes they found were all riveted.  The windows had saw blades to keep the bears out.  Pretty much a "fixer upper." 

Still having fun

Eating alfresco

This is a pretty funny story.  When George left for the trip I tried to offer to send some spam and extra food, but he insisted that Al and Cleta were feeding them.  I still packed some really good beef jerky and a little can of fruit in his back pack.  I always send peanut butter and jelly but I don't think the had it in the back pack.  Well, rather than going with my gut feeling and sending the can of spam I let it go.  Now fast forward to a hard day of going through thick brush and working their butts off, dead tired and now it's time to eat.  Starving George asked Dave what Cleta had sent them to eat.  Dave digs in the bag and unwraps some... hash browns.  Yep, that's it.  Hash browns and nothing else.  I have to say I am surprised at their resourcefulness, but I suppose starvation will bring out the creativity in anyone.  George took the beef jerky and combined it with the hashbrowns and cooked up some steak and taters.  And they topped it off with the little can of fruit.  Here they are with 2 forks between them and 1 pan.  They divided the grub in half and passed the pan back and forth sharing their meal. 

Dave will tell you George is a great cook.  Here they are, the best of buds enjoying their hearty meal in the wilderness. 

The campsite