Beluga Lake Fishing
Trip Photos
Before I start, I need to give credit
to and thank Dad's friend, Gary Landes for
making this trip possible. He is not the pilot (coincidentally named Gary also) in these
photos, but knew him and he owed my dad's friend a favor. This trip
would have normally cost major $$$$$. Thanks again Gary!
This fishing trip was by far the best day up here yet.
We went on this trip yesterday (Sunday, August 9). We flew out of Anchorage (Lake Hood) at 8am and arrived at Beluga Lake
at 8:30am. Beluga Lake is about 70 miles west of Anchorage and is at the foot of Beluga
Glacier. The mountain range that were close by were part of the Alaska Range, which were about 20 miles away but look
like there right there. This mountain range includes Mount Spurr,
which is an active volcano and has recently got national attention because of
its activity. Gary (the pilot and owner of the plane) pretty much dropped Me,
Lauren and my dad off and took off and came back to pick us up at 3pm. That
seems like a long time, but it really wasn't because it's so beautiful up
there.
I was going to name this web page 'Week 2 photos,' but
the only pictures I took this week besides the Beluga trip were on Friday at
Hooters in Anchorage. This is Iva, my favorite bartender in Anchorage, DUH!!!!! There are some pretty
cool bars/clubs downtown, but I always started out here for a couple of beers
before I went out. She's from the Czech
Republic, and didn't want
to marry me or bear my children-lol.
These photos are in the morning before takeoff. The one
on the left is of the plane that we flew in, a Cessna 185-4 seater, and the
photo on the right is when we were taxiing before takeoff. Notice all of the
planes on the shore? This particular lake is the world's largest float plane
lake, with planes taking off and landing every 1-5 minutes. We sat here the
other day just watching the planes, some of the pilots are fucking crazy! This
lake is located right next to Anchorage International and another smaller
airfield, with smaller planes. It's amazing how organized it has to be because
you'll see a small float plane, a medium sized passenger plane, and a 747 in
the same airspace! Anchorage International tower handles all 3.
These photos are during the flight out to Beluga Lake.
The one on the left is obviously Dad and Sis (looks like they're in the back of
a Volkswagon Bug), and the one on the right is of the City of Anchorage in the morning. Our house is about
15 miles past Anchorage in the mountains in the
background (Eagle
River).
These are pictures of the Little Susitna River, known
as the 'Little Su.' Nothing miraculous about this river, just looked cool. The
photo on the left is of the Little Su on in the morning and the one on the
right is of the Little Su in the afternoon (the large body of water past the
river is the Cook Inlet).
This picture is of a mountain called Mount Susitna,
or the 'Sleeping Lady' because of how it looks. You can usually see this
mountain from Anchorage
as it's not that far away.
Picture of some glacial silt built up on the Big Susitna
River (aka 'Big Su').
Most of the rivers up here are gray becuase they are made up of water from the
snow run off from the glaciers plus the fine powdery silt. You don't want to
get stuck in this kind of stuff!
We're on approach for Beluga Lake-the
spot where we fished all day. The photo on the left is of the Beluga Lake,
mountain range, and Beluga Glacier. The photo on the right is a close up of
Beluga Glacier. The point that comes out on the bottom of the lake is where we
fished all day. There is a creek that runs back called Cold Creek.
Another pic of the float plane at Beluga in the morning
when Gary
dropped us off. Not that exciting but I put it in here anyway!
This is a picture of Mount Spurr,
the active volcano. You'll notice this view in most of the fishing pics. Just
last week and hole was found at the top of the mountain, as it melted a large
portion of the glacier to make a lake Click Here to
see some recent Spurr pictures.
Some other random plane on another point. Again, I put
this on BIC (because I can). It was actually some guy by himself just fishing
in the morning (what a life). Mount Spurr in the background.
The photo on the left is of the Dad, fishing on a bank
off of Cold Creek. The one on the right is of him and Lauren, just chillin'.
This was kind of a cool pic-the Dad, silhouette.
Lauren and Dad fishing. Dad caught the only 'catchable'
fish of the day. The fish were jumping all day in front of us, but not biting.
You can't see it but Dad was strapped with a 44 magnum with bear loads (the
black straps around his shoulders), just in case we had some 'unwanted
visitors'. Some other guys were telling us that a bear had been hanging out
here a couple of days before.
Pic on the left-swan on the lake. There were also Loons
on the lake, which would go under water and fish for 1-2 minutes at a time.
Photo on the right is of Gary, Dad and Me at the end of the day just before
leaving.
Coming back to Anchorage
at about 3:30pm.
Here's two pics of Lake Hood,
which I mentioned earlier. The pic on the left is of the east part of Lake Hood
(this part of the lake we took off and landed at) and the pic on the right is
of the west part of Lake Hood-loaded with float planes-notice Anchorage
International right next to the lake. No, you can't wakeboard on this lake-very
cold and very busy with airplanes.
Lake Hood again. I
actually took this picture before the two above.
On approach at Lake Hood.
The landing was pretty rough, no, it was very rough! Notice the wind ripples on
the water and the planes lined up to take off. The wind was going up to 25
knots (don't know what that is in MPH, but it was bumpy) during the landing.
The end of the day-see what catching one fish can do to
you!
Click here to see the Hooters
photos
Click here to see week 1 photos
Click here to go to the
Beluga movies page
Click
here to see Portage River trip photos.
Click here to see week 3 photos
Click here
to see Lauren’s Pop Warner page
Click here to see the Little
Susitna River fishing trip photos
Click
here to go to the Main Page