For tha last 2 fall's the old lady and I were going up to chicken AK for caribou. Basically its a drive up, unload the ATV's and go in 30 miles or so and look for caribou. Sounds simple and fun right? well if it wasnt for bad luck we wouldnt have any luck. the only saving grace for the last 2 years was that we were not in anchorage, and I love exploring new areas.
Anyways 2 years ago we were riding inamongs the remnants of a forest fire, still a few hotspots but nothing to worry about. got in about 15 miles and I threw the back chain on my polaris. Figured no big deal, just throw it in 4wd and continue on, that wasnt gonna happen, I lost my 4wd (broken wire) got that working and continued on. Stopped to make camp and then I noticed the sledgehammer. When I threw the rear chain, it cracked my transmission. I was dead in the water. Needless to say I wasnt gonna go in any farther, so the old lady hooked up the towstrap, I threw the trailer behind the polaris and she pulled me out. We had a great time, it just didnt work out.
Last year we decided to try a different place north of chicken. One of my buddies went along. So I borrowed a buddies 6 wheeler. I knew it was gonna be another bad year when I was about 180 miles out anchorage I blew the front seal out of my transmission on my truck. No big deal, I bought alot of ATF. I'm going hunting. Made it to Tok for the night, next day continued on. Made it to the spot to park the truck and went in on ATV's. you want to talk about mud. It took us about 2 hours to go 3/4 mile. anyways we get to a spot and made camp. woke up the next day to smoke and a busted 6 wheeler. it seems the boundary fire shifted and we had zero visability, plus 2 hubs on the 6wheeler were stripped out (tires were at a pretty bad angle).
if it wasnt for the smoke I woulda just parked the 6 wheeler and rode double but I knew we were close to the fire and the way the wind shifted, it gave me a reason to be concerned. So we packed up and limped back to the truck. To add insult to injury, we seen alot of fresh bou tracks where they walked on our tracks coming in. they were there we just couldnt see them.
went back to Tok, bought some hubs from the local polaris dealer and fixed the 6 wheeler, then I threw the serpentine belt on my truck. thank goodness Napa is open 7 days a week there. we still had a blast seeing new territory.
moral of the story. make the most of the bad things and have fun no matter what and proper maintenance.
Anyways 2 years ago we were riding inamongs the remnants of a forest fire, still a few hotspots but nothing to worry about. got in about 15 miles and I threw the back chain on my polaris. Figured no big deal, just throw it in 4wd and continue on, that wasnt gonna happen, I lost my 4wd (broken wire) got that working and continued on. Stopped to make camp and then I noticed the sledgehammer. When I threw the rear chain, it cracked my transmission. I was dead in the water. Needless to say I wasnt gonna go in any farther, so the old lady hooked up the towstrap, I threw the trailer behind the polaris and she pulled me out. We had a great time, it just didnt work out.
Last year we decided to try a different place north of chicken. One of my buddies went along. So I borrowed a buddies 6 wheeler. I knew it was gonna be another bad year when I was about 180 miles out anchorage I blew the front seal out of my transmission on my truck. No big deal, I bought alot of ATF. I'm going hunting. Made it to Tok for the night, next day continued on. Made it to the spot to park the truck and went in on ATV's. you want to talk about mud. It took us about 2 hours to go 3/4 mile. anyways we get to a spot and made camp. woke up the next day to smoke and a busted 6 wheeler. it seems the boundary fire shifted and we had zero visability, plus 2 hubs on the 6wheeler were stripped out (tires were at a pretty bad angle).
if it wasnt for the smoke I woulda just parked the 6 wheeler and rode double but I knew we were close to the fire and the way the wind shifted, it gave me a reason to be concerned. So we packed up and limped back to the truck. To add insult to injury, we seen alot of fresh bou tracks where they walked on our tracks coming in. they were there we just couldnt see them.
went back to Tok, bought some hubs from the local polaris dealer and fixed the 6 wheeler, then I threw the serpentine belt on my truck. thank goodness Napa is open 7 days a week there. we still had a blast seeing new territory.
moral of the story. make the most of the bad things and have fun no matter what and proper maintenance.
