"Mancation" 08 (men's vacation)

Finally. I had been telling my good friend Bart Neyman about my Alaskan exploits for several years. He, like all others never having visited the Great Land, was growing tired of the stories and passing them off as exaggeration. Well, now he knows its all true.

Bart and I made our way northwest in August to join my lifelong friend Andrew Warren to make good on a "mancation." A few pals doing nothing but hiking, fishing, camping, hunting, etc... To say we had fun would be a serious understatement.


Matanuska River winding into the sunset
Quartz Creek, Kenai Peninsula

Roadside vista from Seward Highway


We started out after chum and pink salmon in Bird Creek which feeds the Turnagain Arm. It took a bit to get Bart dialed in on the whole salmon snagging thing. Once we got him going, we couldnt pull him away from the river.

double on chums

Bart lands a Pink

One ugly face (you pick)

doubles on Pinks

And then the real fun started...
We continued on to the Kenai Peninsula to fish the confluence of the Russian and Kenai Rivers. This is the most productive Sockeye fishery in the world. It is a dream destination for a fly-fisherman. Arriving in Cooper Landing, we got some grub, set up the pop-up, built a fire, and started talking about the day and the days to come. I am not someone who ever thought about fly-fishing back here in NC. I do, though, have a bunch of fun punking out all those who spend hours in the NC mountains to catch fingerlings. I usually start out by saying, "Oh, you fly-fish? I have been wanting to get into that, but I dont know where to start here in NC." Then they go on and on about their success and secrets. After this goes on for a bit, they drop their biggest fish story. This is usually where I mention my few trips to Alaska to fish. Yes, 24" Rainbows every day, 16" keeper limit (have to be smaller than 16" to keep), fish for 5 hours and catch 20 fish - all too big to keep, Dollys, Char, Greyling, Etc... Kicking dozens of salmon out of the way to get to the trout...The looks are priceless. It is an ambush for thunder-stealing, but I love it.

Bart's anticipation was at a high as we marched down the stairway to heaven (stairs off the parking area down to the river). It was a foggy morning with the mist covering the water. Bart, Andrew and I donned the waders and slipped into the pristine water. This is not the most remote place in AK, but it is one of my favorites. I look forward to every time I fish this awesome place.

Bart has a fish-on in the Russian

Bart with a whopper of a Red Salmon

Bart with the trip's second biggest Rainbow


Me with the BIGGEST Rainbow of the trip...

A grizzly joined us at mid-day


Another good Rainbow

Andrew with a Silver Salmon caught on light line and tackle (we thought it was a mammoth rainbow until it hit the beach)

Andrew with a nice Dolly Varden

Bart had the hot-hand on the gnarly Reds

My much acclaimed and hard-earned COHO Salmon

We took an afternoon to hike up the Slaughter Creek Trail to see the views. We spotted caribou, black bear, and Dall sheep among others. We should have brought the rifle as we spotted a really nice blackie in range, with the wind in our favor...big time regrets there.

The view from Slaughter Creek. Overlooking the the Kenai River flowing out of Kenai Lake.

Andrew, Julie and Isaac

Myself, Andrew, Isaac, Stephanie, Julie, and Grampy on the bank of the mighty Kenai.

Julie and some of her family joined us in Cooper Landing to eat at Gwin's Sushi Bar (my favorite restaurant). Afterwards, we went back to camp to prepare for one more morning of fishing and getting back on the road towards Anchorage to clean up, wash some clothes, and road it out up to the Denali Highway.



The second leg of our Mancation took us into the interior. We set out for the Denali Highway. We were on a quest for remote greyling fishing. We found it.

Our ride with pop-up in-tow. Andrew is glassing for Moose.

We drove deep into the night on some sketchy tires on the pop-up. It is a relic of yesteryear. The tires were too. As we reached the Denali Highway, we no sooner asked how much further in we wanted to drive before camping when, POW! flap flap flap flap flap flap....blown tire. How about here??! It worked out perfectly. A little work with the jack and we had replaced the tire with a pile of firewood. We slept like bugs in a rug. Well except for Bart. It was quite a bit colder there and he was not in on the finer techniques of staying warm during cold weather camping. Night #2 and he was set to go.


Views of the interior


Let the greyling begin...

We started out on Rock Creek. This is a roadside run that looks devoid of life. But, Andrew showed me the way, and within 5 minutes, I had a greyling on the line. These are awesome little fish. They are like a trout with a sailfish fin. We fished this creek for several hours until our stomachs were screaming for lunch.

Afterwards, we hiked a couple of miles into Landmark Gap Lake and fished the creek that flowed from it. We absolutely destroyed the greyling here. It was ridiculous. Top water flies, sinkers, whatever you threw, they ate it. We had a blast.

Bart with his first Greyling

Nice pic of a Rock Creek Greyling

Fishing on Landmark Gap Creek
Doubles on Rock Creek Greyling


Enjoying unspoiled creation at Landmark Gap Lake

It was a hard trip to beat, but I'll definitely have to try some day. Did I mention that I really love visiting Alaska? It is as God intended the world to be. You need to visit someday....if you already have, then take a buddy...

The next morning, we decided to try our hand on Tangle River. We were growing tired of taking fish off our lines. We hammered the fish on this short little river. After inhaling several million gnats, we headed in for breakfast/lunch, a new tire, and a long drive back to Andrew's house. We bought two tires at Tangle River Inn (only civilization for 3 million miles) and prayed our way back to Anchorage as they looked worse than the one that blew out.

We made back, did the gift shopping and city touring, and wound things up. A long flight back to NC found us yacking our jaws for months to those unable to join us on the trip. None of them believe us either, they will just have to see for themselves.

Unbelievable trip, good friends, good food, awesome camping, out of this world fishing, pristine creation, bears, caribou, sheep, good weather, and unforgettable memories etched in the stones that line the river bottoms - I can almost feel them under my boots. I cant wait to go back...