People You Should Know

During my travels I have always tried to meet and visit with interesting folks along the way. While I am not normally comfortable engaging with strangers, I have discovered that being willing to strike up a conversation often leads to some amazing stories. I've shared a few here.

Russell Rolf, captain of the Motor Vessel "Bella Rio" makes his living pushing freight up the lakes and rivers feeding inland from Bristol Bay into the Wood-Tikchik area of southwest Alaska. He is here in Aleknagik to move an excavator to an island up the lake a few miles. As we stood in the light rain and fading light of the August evening, Russell talked of growing up in the business and learning from his father and uncle as they drove plywood barges up-river delivering supplies and materials to the settlers, miners and lodge owners. I could sense his pride in the Bella Rio and his quiet competence forged in the beautiful but unforgiving place. August, 2017.

I am helping this young lady load a refurbished fishing net into a transport bag. She works for Sherol, the owner of the Silver Fin Lodge in Aleknagek. Soft spoken, quite shy, she worked constantly repairing the netting, floats and weights on the heavy fish nets.

My buddy Don Lee standing at attention with my dear friend and adventure travel partner Michael Phillips. We stayed at Don's lodge for several nights during our trip.
I've known Don for many years and always enjoy catching up with him. Don is an absolute legend in Alaska aviation with many exploits and adventures along the way. If you are ever in Talkeetna, go by and say hello.

As we prepared to leave Summit Lake, we decided to add some fuel for the flight to Port Alsworth. This is a classic "bush pilot" task and I thought this photo captured the moment well. Flying in Alaska requires a constant focus on fuel plannng. Fuel is hard to come by, especially when operating on straight floats. Kenai Penninsula, Alaska, August 2017.

This is an everyday ritual for floatplane pilots, particularly when the airplane has endured several Alaskan winter freeze-thaw cycles. Michael is hard at work this August morning in preparation for our flight across the Cook inlet and through Lake Clark Pass.