Taku
2017 - 2: Preparation
May 12-14
Unfortunately, I didn't manage to take the time either during
this trip
or after to write a trip report. The weekend was dedicated to initial
preparations for a group of 17 family members (including everyone then
present except myself) that were meant to spend a weekend up there in
June. My parents headed up early, followed by Mike and I Friday
afternoon by a Ward Air amphib 206. Our main group tasks were
assembling the
floats in the water (pushing them into the river from staging them
upriver, attaching the three groups together, rafting them downriver,
securing them at the landing, and adding a walkway) and putting the
engine on the riverboat (which we never pushed in the water). Beyond
that we worked on a handful of other preparatory tasks. I cleaned the
outhouse, raked the area behind the cabin from all the wood cutting
debris, and restacked the wood and cleaned the back porch along with a
handful of other tasks I don't remember. The others worked on making
Alder habitable for Mike's family to occupy during the family weekend.
The martin has been making good use of it, continuing to urinate and
defecate on the floor, so they made an initial attempt to animal-proof
it. We also found a large cluster of marten scat just outside the door
onto the riverside top floor porch of the cabin. Chickadees kept flying
in to visit a corner of one of the original upright posts on the front
wall of Alder where it had been pecked away to reveal the beige wood
underneath. Insects? I hope that does not bode poorly for the strength
of
those walls. The weekend went fast and all too soon we were picked up
by helicopter for the flight to town.
Taku River at low tide
