American Creek – Katmai National Park
- This topic has 22 replies, 14 voices, and was last updated Jan 9, 2011 at 9:01 am by
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Finally getting to look at my 12 gigs of RAW files.
I had an opportunity to fly out to American Creek and fish with Grosvenor Lodge manager Ray Irvin. It was an epic day!An early morning departure from Brooks Lodge to American Creek.
The upper end of Naknek Lake with the Bay of Islands in the distance.
American Creek is spotted off to the right.
We make a pass by the creek to make sure there are no floating debris on our runway.
After safely landing…we meet Ray….and load the jetboat for a nine-mile ride up to Three Forks. Note the narrow “runway”.
The ride up to Three Forks was eye-opening:
It’s much more difficult to tie on a fly with someone looking over your shoulder.
Caught a few of these:
You need to be vigilant in watching your back….not always easy when the fish are biting and your trying to thread a fly.
Very seldom do you have the stream to yourself.
The day came to an end all too soon.
Time to load the plane and head back to the lodge.
Bad ass, Steve.
That last shot has me puzzled; I could make the blur go to the right with a rear-curtain flash sync setting, but I can’t figure out how you made it blur to the left as well.
Thanks….I must confess….I was bored and experimenting (motion blur) with Elements 7. Filter – Blur
I want to learn how to do it the “real” way. 🙂
It was a great trip but the weather sucked. Very little good light for photography….mostly clouds and rain.
I’m gonna convert some to B&W and see how they look.
Great stuff.
Looks like an amazing trip. Had this been 2007-2009 my old roommate/college friend would have been the ones cooking your meals for you at the lodge. She always had some amazing photos from up there and some huge rainbows too!
Just a tip on PSing your motion blurs, first paint the airplane out of the photo, apply the blur, then recomposit the plane back in. That’s an obviously unnatural motion blur (you missed a spot between the landing gear and the plane!)
Love the end of the day shot with all the cubs.
http://society6.com/grainfarmer Fly Fishing and Landscape open edition Photography prints.
http://grainfarmer.vsco.co/ iPhone photos
http://instagram.com/chad_simcox InstagramThanks Chad….I’m way behind the learning curve and will try your suggestion. Post-processing is almost as much fun as taking the photos!
Which lodge did your friend work at? I was at Brooks in ’08 for a week and got to know most of the staff. The majority of the visitors only stay for the day…or maybe an overnighter. I was there for eight days so I got to know most of them. We would gather at the bar each night and re-hash the day’s events over an Alaskan Amber. I also got to know some Brits that were there from the BBC….doing a documentary on salmon. It was a great trip. I’m kicking myself for not finding that place when I was much younger and single. Of course I would probably be a true trout bum as a result with no wife, no kids and no 401K.
Drifter that was an awesome report. I have not been around here in quite a while and only had 10 minutes to burn today and you made it worth every second! Thanks!!!
Thanks guys.
M.G….yeah…the weather sucked while we were there in late July. My wife said she would have gone crazy if all those floatplane crashes had occurred while we were there.
As a side note….I have actually flown on the Branch River Air Beaver with Marco as the pilot….back in 2006. Last I checked….they still had not found that aircraft. Disappeared somewhere in Katmai N.P.
Steve,
I think she was at Brooks that season. I know she worked there and the main lodge. Her name is Lindsey, she has blonde hair. She’s done seasonal work since ’06 and has held many different jobs. I think she would have been a cook by then, but may have been doing house cleaning work up there.
I have yet to make it up there, but plan on it at some point in my life…-Chad
http://society6.com/grainfarmer Fly Fishing and Landscape open edition Photography prints.
http://grainfarmer.vsco.co/ iPhone photos
http://instagram.com/chad_simcox InstagramChad…all I can say is do it! The place is addictive.
If Lindsey was there in ’08 she’ll remember…it was the summer of “The Crash”. We were sitting at the breakfast table one morning while it was drizzling rain and foggy (what else)….and this floatplane comes skidding up on the beach…..she’ll remember it.
Thanks guys.
M.G….yeah…the weather sucked while we were there in late July. My wife said she would have gone crazy if all those floatplane crashes had occurred while we were there.
As a side note….I have actually flown on the Branch River Air Beaver with Marco as the pilot….back in 2006. Last I checked….they still had not found that aircraft. Disappeared somewhere in Katmai N.P.
They have called off the official search, but the families have put up a reward for finding the plane, so there are probably some people still looking for it.
M.G…..I’ve been trying my best to keep up with search efforts. I’m assuming that any wreckage will soon be covered in snow and any chance of discovery will be erased until next summer. Please let me know if you hear anything. I usually check http://www.adn.com as well as http://www.alaskadispatch.com at least once a week.
Here’s a photo of Marco and the Beaver after dropping us off on Nonvianuk Lake in ’06. Sad.
Just got an email from my fishing buddy on the AK trip. He ran across some video that we had forgotten about. It would be comical if I wasn’t so freakin’ scared 🙂
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