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Out at the cabin site

fogtender

Now a Published Author
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Well this is a short version of getting my dozer out to the cabin site before I started building.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzlbtlEVW_4"]YouTube - Dozer at Totek[/ame]
 

AAUTOFAB1

Bronze Member
SUPER Site Supporter
Livin the dream:clap:i have the property,but not the funds or time for the cabin yet,can't wait to see progress on your site:smile:
 

fogtender

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Livin the dream:clap:i have the property,but not the funds or time for the cabin yet,can't wait to see progress on your site:smile:

Sorry about that, I guess I should have dated it.

That was about five years ago, I just found the video and posted it, the cabin has been long since built, this is a video I did of it and posted some time back.

Neat place just to sit and watch the wild life!


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QviduLZv5uU"]YouTube - Building in the Alaskan Wild[/ame]
 

shopman

Member
What an amazing place to have a cabin! I'm guessing your full-time place isn't that bad either... Would love to see your part of the country some day!

Great vids! :wow:
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
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What an amazing place to have a cabin! I'm guessing your full-time place isn't that bad either... Would love to see your part of the country some day!

Great vids! :wow:

Not my main cave you might say, but I love spending time there. In the spring and fall, it is on the main migration north route for the birds, so the sky at times kinda gets dark with them. The honking and quacking is great to hear...
 

mak2

Active member
Well, I always wondered why the hell anyone would live there. I think I get the idea now. Good thread.
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
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Well, I always wondered why the hell anyone would live there. I think I get the idea now. Good thread.

Well when I was living in the tent to build the place, I thought the same thing when the stove burned out and it was -40 and you had to get up to re-stoke the fire and go outside to get rid of the days coffee.

When you stood outside and looked up at the clear sky, you could see more starts than you ever imagined and the Northern lights would be dancing accross the sky.

Then the -40 was just a nuisance, and I would stay out til I was numb cold watching the sky!

Worth every moment of the journey!
 
Great videos and beautiful land. Thanks for sharing!


Side note...Into The Wild was a very thought provoking movie. For those of you that have not seen it, I recommend it.
 

fogtender

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Great videos and beautiful land. Thanks for sharing!


Side note...Into The Wild was a very thought provoking movie. For those of you that have not seen it, I recommend it.

I had flown over the bus a couple of times when he was there, once I did a flyby around a hundred feet because of the tracks I saw there. In no way did he want to be "Saved", he was hiding there.

He had also broken into some of the cabins in the area, so he wasn't nearly as "Noble" as the movie portrayed. One was a Park Service Cabin, and the others were private ones.

Here is a bit of the history of the bus... This is a short section of a Documentary that was done on the history of the bus before and after McCandless died there.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27n6ML0sGPY"]YouTube - The History of the Magic Bus (Stampede Trail, Healy)[/ame]
 
I had flown over the bus a couple of times when he was there, once I did a flyby around a hundred feet because of the tracks I saw there. In no way did he want to be "Saved", he was hiding there.

He had also broken into some of the cabins in the area, so he wasn't nearly as "Noble" as the movie portrayed. One was a Park Service Cabin, and the others were private ones.

Here is a bit of the history of the bus... This is a short section of a Documentary that was done on the history of the bus before and after McCandless died there.

YouTube - The History of the Magic Bus (Stampede Trail, Healy)

Wow...interesting. The movie left me with a very uneasy feeling and a feeling of sadness. I read some articles on it afterwards and saw the real pictures of him. Some say he was troubled and didn't want to be found. Forgive me, but if you've mentioned it before I didn't see it, but do you do that kind of flying for a living or for pleasure?
 

fogtender

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Wow...interesting. The movie left me with a very uneasy feeling and a feeling of sadness. I read some articles on it afterwords and saw the real pictures of him. Some say he was troubled and didn't want to be found. Forgive me, but if you've mentioned it before I didn't see it, but do you do that kind of flying for a living or for pleasure?

When McCandless was first found, his diary excerpts made the local papers here in Alaska. Was sad that he died, but he went places he really didn't plan on coming back from and only did so by the skin on his teeth you might say. Just his last scrape was more than his hide could handle.

The bus isn't all that remote, the locals stay there during hunting season, I stayed there a few times before it became "Famous", there is a road to it, and he followed the snowmachine tracks that went out past there, otherwise he would have never found it. It appears he showed up there in late spring when the temps were mild and the snowmachine seasons were ending because the snow was starting to decay from winter to spring. So there wasn't anyone else headed out that way until the river levels dropped back down from the snowmelt in the early fall. In the winter, the temps there hit -50 and that bus would have no way been warm enough for the clothes and supplies he had.

No flying is just my hobby, and a mode of transportation when I want to get out to my cabin or somewhere else that the world can't find me...
 
When McCandless was first found, his diary excerpts made the local papers here in Alaska. Was sad that he died, but he went places he really didn't plan on coming back from and only did so by the skin on his teeth you might say. Just his last scrape was more than his hide could handle.

The bus isn't all that remote, the locals stay there during hunting season, I stayed there a few times before it became "Famous", there is a road to it, and he followed the snowmachine tracks that went out past there, otherwise he would have never found it. It appears he showed up there in late spring when the temps were mild and the snowmachine seasons were ending because the snow was starting to decay from winter to spring. So there wasn't anyone else headed out that way until the river levels dropped back down from the snowmelt in the early fall. In the winter, the temps there hit -50 and that bus would have no way been warm enough for the clothes and supplies he had.

No flying is just my hobby, and a mode of transportation when I want to get out to my cabin or somewhere else that the world can't find me...

Interesting...thank you!
 

2dawgs

New member
intothewild.jpg

I've been out to that bus, took a nice moose out of the area too... Fog was your place up for sale this year? Looks familiar.
intothewild.jpg
 

squerly

Supported Ben Carson
GOLD Site Supporter
Wow, great thread! I have some backwoods experiance but nothing like this. Built a log cabin in Oregon in the late 70's but while we had snow to deal with it sure wasn't -40. Thanks for sharing. :smile:
 

2dawgs

New member
Yes it's for sale, but it's North of the bus by Twenty some odd miles!
Right, north of the bus. I thought it was the one I saw advertised, almost called ya on it, but I have no idea how I'd get across the Nennana in the summer, I don't fly. Is there a southern access route to avoid the river?
 

FrancSevin

Proudly Deplorable
GOLD Site Supporter
Great vids Fog. doing a similar thing in the MO Ozarks.

doesn't get to -40F but we started with a pickup with a cargo cap. Now we have a 30 foot RV with everything. wifey could not do without the comforts whilst i built the cabin.

So, I spend my time there keeping the damm machinery going so she is comfortable. since she has a warm bed, shower and microwave, I am skipping the cabin and building the barn first. I got the roof on the utility Generator, windmill, solarr, inverters, batteries and water tank) shed just last weekend.

M dozer, a 350 Case, is also equpped with a backhoe. Good thing as everything here is rock.

No pictures yet to show. Just blisters and sore knees.

Your work has me inspried to "get 'er done"

franc
 

fogtender

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Great vids Fog. doing a similar thing in the MO Ozarks.

doesn't get to -40F but we started with a pickup with a cargo cap. Now we have a 30 foot RV with everything. wifey could not do without the comforts whilst i built the cabin.

So, I spend my time there keeping the damm machinery going so she is comfortable. since she has a warm bed, shower and microwave, I am skipping the cabin and building the barn first. I got the roof on the utility Generator, windmill, solarr, inverters, batteries and water tank) shed just last weekend.

M dozer, a 350 Case, is also equpped with a backhoe. Good thing as everything here is rock.

No pictures yet to show. Just blisters and sore knees.

Your work has me inspried to "get 'er done"

franc

Sounds like an adventure! Look forward to seeing the photos!
 

fogtender

Now a Published Author
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Right, north of the bus. I thought it was the one I saw advertised, almost called ya on it, but I have no idea how I'd get across the Nennana in the summer, I don't fly. Is there a southern access route to avoid the river?

Yeah, but I never used it but once. Have to cross the same river that stopped McCandless from leaving the bus, but it is wider and easy to cross on a fourwheeler.
 

rlk

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
Fog, when it's -40 degrees, how do you work outside? Heck, I'm uncomfortable working outside at +40 when the wind is blowing.

Bob
 

fogtender

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Fog, when it's -40 degrees, how do you work outside? Heck, I'm uncomfortable working outside at +40 when the wind is blowing.

Bob

Well dressing for it makes a big differance! You wear boots that are rated for the cold and multiple layers of clothes that you can add or take off as needed.

But it's a different lifestyle to say the least. Normally if the weather is that cold I don't make plans for working outside except to fetch firewood or coal. The normal exception is the weather turns and drops to those temps and your stuck in it, so your always ready for it.

The other exception is when someone is missing or overdue, I will go out and look for them, even flying the plane at those temps is on an "as needed" basis if someone is in those temps, is not fun, but either is attending funerals.
 
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