If you're on the LCML you may remember Mark Whatley's post about rescuing Jack (aka green73)'s FJ40 from Alaska's Knik River.

I have combined Mark's story with a few photos:

http://www.realcruiser.com/rescue/rescue.html

It's a great story and Gina's photos are awesome!

BTW, have you noticed green73's sig line:
"I used to be temporarily insane, now I'm just stupid":flipoff2: :rasta:

Preview picture:
http://www.realcruiser.com/rescue/rescue11.jpg

Enjoy

Thanks for posting that. I end up deleting 99% of stuff on the Big List and missed that one completely!

You Alaska guys are HARDCORE:eek: :D :D

Quite a good read! It's unfortunate for the owners for the rigs though, but at least they were recovered!

And yeah, you guys are seriously hardcore.. I don't do water crossings above the tub's door opening unless the water is WARM... yeah, I know... :rainbow: :D

Rewrite it and send it to Toyota Trails.

Great story and pics! Woeful ending for Jack and the pickup owner tho.

Morgan

Woeful ending for Jack and the pickup owner tho.

That's for sure.

But, there should be no doubt Jack will be back. Sooner than most would expect I'll bet.

When I saw his T-case split during ACT2001, I figured it would be the end of the week for him. But no way, he made the long trip back to town, pulled an all nighter to get a replacement installed, then got his butt back to the trail, and kept on wheeling!

I was impressed. :usa: :beer: :usa:

That's not me!!!!!:eek:

BUt Jack used to be my neighbor

Originally posted by green73
That's not me!!!!!:eek:

:emb4: Oooops :emb4:

Reading your posts will never be the same.

I should have looked closer at that picture of your green Fj40. All that snow on the bumper must have confused me. Just how many green 73 Fj40s are there in Anchorage? :rasta:

Let's not tell Jack, deal? ;)

Like the sign says "Newbie" here. :rolleyes:
(Can I borrow your sig line?)

:eek:

thats hardcore

bet it was FREEZING too!! :eek:

there are quite a few green 40s up here. I think Jack's is the most built though. I won't tell him either. Hell I stole the sig line from a "Space Ghost" cartoon.

that needs to be in trails!!!;)

Originally posted by orangefj45
that needs to be in trails!!!;)

It has been pointed out to me, after my post, that there was some interest there - and I may have screwed it up. :( I did get permission from the author, photographer and rescuee before putting the photos on the web. As noted above the story itself had already been posted to the LCML.

But, I'm still hoping the story and pictures will make it into the TT. I'd hate to have the pic's not in the TT just because they've been shared on the Web. Personally, I'd love to see the real photos (not the small lower resolution ones I posted) in print in the TT. I'd gladly look at them 6-12 more times, like I do with most of the stuff in the TT.

Meantime, I'm hoping for a TT write-up on the resurrection of the submerged criuiser. That might come in handy sometime. :rasta:

One thing is for sure we're very lucky to have Mark Whatley writing the tech exchange in each issue of the TT. :D
And, lucky to have Gina (this month's cover girl) contributing photographs. :flipoff2:

Heh, the weekend after that rescue, I was out at Knik, and made it to that soup pit he was talking about...I ended up getting 2 spare tires on rims out of there, I think they actually sheared off of somebody's axles...When I saw those things in there, I said "NO WAY" and turned back...

Glacial silt is NASTY stuff, like he said...better than sandblasting the inside of your axles, no matter how waterproof they are :flipoff2:

Oh, and you should see the pics of that Ford...All you can see is the tires sticking out of the water. And I've passed it a few times sitting outside that shop since then...TOTALLED. It looks like he tried to take on a tank and lost.

Oh, forgot...One reason there's so many green cruisers up here is Elmendorf Air Force Base has a "paint your car" class for 100 bucks where they supply everything, so a lot of people go to the class, and the color that the class provides is a green similar to the dark cruiser green. The point of the class is to learn to paint, then go over it with another color on your own, but nobody ever does :rolleyes:

So, you see more than a few older vehicles rolling around either in Elmendorf Green or Fort Richarson Blue :rolleyes:

I would say the green thing is true with mine, but it has 3 different shades of green, none of which are olive drab.:p

Bad ass! Nice job on the rescue. Beautiful looking area.

you guys are making me want to move up to Alaska! that looked like some awsome wheeling. Maybe I 'll make it up to Elmendorf someday!


Donald


:beer: :usa:

Great write-up & rescue!

Even though I only lived there a year, man I miss Alaska!

Beautiful? Only if you look a mile away:mad:

The 'trailhead' he refers to is called 'Jim Creek' and I've seen it described as a 'Post-Apocalyptic Pre-Nuclear Wasteland'. It is TRASHED:mad:

The cops finally started patrolling on four wheelers on weekends to try to keep kids from dumping cars...the first weekend they were patrolling, one of 'em got hit by somebody, and one officer was dragged under a car for over 50 feet...Before the beaver ponds, if your rig gets stuck, you either leave a person there to guard it or you write it off as torched.

On the semi-plus side, everybody knows it's the punk kids and the drunks that do that, so the efforts are not to close the place but increase awareness of the laws and such. Which is the way it should be:)

Originally posted by TheDragoneater
Beautiful? Only if you look a mile away:mad:

The 'trailhead' he refers to is called 'Jim Creek' and I've seen it described as a 'Post-Apocalyptic Pre-Nuclear Wasteland'. It is TRASHED:mad:


That's a fact, I remember the same from our trip last summer. The Alaskans do seem to approach this kind of problem differently than us outsiders.

The run up to Knik Glacier is awesome but it is "urban" by Alaska standards. There are more hardcore and beautiful places if you're willing to drive a while. During the two months in Alaska last summer, I found the thought of driving a few hundred miles to trail was no big deal. Heck, that would be reasonable for a beer run. The place is BIG, I miss it too.

I really enjoyed roaming around the Eureka Highlands, not exactly hardcore, but the vastness makes up for it. Knowing you may be only one of a dozen people to go down a trail all year is pretty hardcore itself. The only tracks are caribou or occasionally a tundra buggy.

Henry generally won't run any photos that have been on the web in TT. I don't know about this one. Those photos are awesome. I can feel the cold in my bones looking at that water. The difference between Hardcore in Alaska and Hardcore in the lower 48 is that you are definitely playing with your life if you screw up. Down here it is getting to be that help is only a cell phone call away. I think it was Mudrak that called Morgan to bring him some tires on the Rubicon last year or the year before. I doubt Jack had that option on his misadventure. Their rigs are set up a lot different. That is one of the things that I think is cool about seeing different rigs at events as you get to see ideas and mods from different locales.

Alaska's getting 'urban' as well...There's cell phone coverage at the top of Mt. McKinley! :eek: :eek:

I think out where Jack's rig was, there might be a LITTLE coverage...I had about 75% coverage out by the beaver ponds, which is WAY better than last year, where I had to stand on a hill with an analog phone to get any signal, even near the trailhead.

"I'f you're gonna be stupid, you've gotta be tough" is the usual motto followed up here, along with "It's just another Great Alaska Wilderness Experience" :D

All in all, though, if you just follow the basic rules every everywhere follows, the odds are high that you'll come out pretty well even in event of disaster:)

But wading into a glacial river like that to free a rig...That's...wow.:eek: :eek: :eek:

I'd disagree, Eric. A friend at work nearly died in the desert when his cruiser broke down. There are lots of places in Idaho without cell phone coverage.

Yes, but I carry water. Lots of water. With water you can survive a long time in the desert. I really miss having Creig around. When he was here I always had a back up. I'd tell him where I was going and when he should look for my Cruiser in the driveway. He was pretty good. Fortunately, I only needed him to bail me out once and that was complete stupidity. Also, It isn't near as remote as Alaska. And although we have extreme weather, it is a lot more forgiving. We generally know when a storm is coming. It just doesn't come over the top of the mountain and pounce on us. Another thing is we are much more populated. You have a much better chance of running into someone or being able to walk to help. And I'm not being naive thinking you can't get hurt in Idaho. Heck, you could kill yourself walking down the stairs in your house if you aren't careful. I just think that risks are at a higher level up there.

I was stationed at Elmendorf in the late 80's.We would hit Knik as much as possible. Hate to hear it's getting trashed. Can you still ride behind the Int. Airport? Lotsa fun back there in the day.

I love it when newbies dig this stuff up!!!

That is a cool picture!

Originally posted by bogginnut
I was stationed at Elmendorf in the late 80's.We would hit Knik as much as possible. Hate to hear it's getting trashed. Can you still ride behind the Int. Airport? Lotsa fun back there in the day.

I don't think so! There is a trail around the airport that joins up with Kincaid Park (maybe there area you are talking about) that is just to the osuth of the airport. Tons of cross country ski trails in there for the winter! Maybe one of the local ANC guys will answer up! I'll be in ANC on Fri, I'll ask around!

Nice sink hole. What is that, like 3 feet from shore? :eek:


http://www.realcruiser.com/rescue/rescue7.jpg