Part two of Chignik Bay... Sorry, still no pictures. But I have some cool ones!!!!
-The stray dog is better at fishing than I am.
-Then again, he just dragged the already dead fish off the side of the stream... to the front door of the place we are staying. 4 dead fish won't attract bears. At all.
-I may have cell service, but I can not send a text
-Don't wander down the beach next to the cliffs when the tide is coming in.. unless you want wet feet.
-Finding fossils is still as awesome as when I was 5.
-When the cap is stuck on the water monitering well, running over it with the ATV will fix everything.
-Taking water level readings is harder when the water level meter was left in Anchorage.... Luckily, I know how to improvise.
-Benchmade knives are far superior to Smith and Wesson knives. They don't break when abused and misused. Then again, they also cost 4 times as much.
-The sunrises are awesome. The sunsets and stars probably are too. But I have no windows where I am staying. And am asleep by the time the sun sets.
Looks like the job is going to finish up early. So I will be home sooner than planned... if nothing changes :) Probably one more post like then and then some pictures when I am hommmeee!!
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Alaskan Adventures: Things Learned in Chignik Bay (Part one of maybe a few)
So I am working in Chignik Bay at the moment. I do geotechnical drilling for anyone that does not know. If you don't know what that is and want to know, google it! We have some ok internet that I use once in a while. Anyway, just figured I would share some things I have learned so far in a manner similar to my Chevak blog. :)
-Penair is easily confused. When I check in for the 3:30 flight, I do not want all my stuff to be on the 11:00 flight.
-The afore mentioned point caused me to be unable to locate my checked bag. It turned up later (before I ahd left the airport) in the baggage claim area. Good thing I was worried about it and checked.
-Shipping complicates things even more. When I say I want my stuff shipped on the 3:30 flight with me, it does not mean to ship it on the 10:30 flight. Also, when shipping sends me back to the terminal and tells me to "just let them know over there you have some stuff going cargo", when I go talk to the people in the terminal, it is not comforting that everyone seems to have no idea what I am talking about. They suggested I go talk to cargo....
-Luckily, someone in Chignik Bay got all my stuff and the drillers kindly put it in my room for me. Sometimes people are awesome
-Anchorage is small. Alaska is even smaller. I ran into a guy I went to school with and some guy that works in the building across from me who recognized me because of my truck whome I did not know in the King Salmon Airport
-Energy drinks cost about the same as the do in Anchorage. Cheese is $10. A pound of hamburger is $3.
-Just because the sun is shining when you leave in the morning does not mean it still will be a few hours later.
-It takes approximately 10 minutes to become miserably soaked when it starts raining and you are not properly equipped with rain gear
-Everyone's mood gets worse when they are not properly equipped in rain gear and are soaked.
-Pants weigh about 10 pounds more when they are completely saturated
-When renting an ATV, it is good to specify you not only want it to run, but you want it to have brakes
-Using small trees to stop a brake-less ATV when you are going down a hill is sometimes a must. Better a tree than the other ATV.....
-Using trees to keep a brake-less ATV from rolling down a hill has been dubbed "the Chignik Bay parking brake"
-When trying to kick start an ATV, it works better when the kill switch is not engaged and the key is on. (hey, I ride two wheeled toys.... not 4)
-The semi-automatic shifting on an ATV is almost as dumb as the "optional" manual shifter on cars these days.... Just be automatic or manual. please
-The semi auto shifting does almost compensate for the ATV having no brakes. I can almost stop when I want to.
-When the sun comes out, I can almost pretend I am in Hawaii... with a really loud drill rig.
-I am scared of bears. And am really happy I have a .44
-I feel super badass when riding down a dirt, potholed road, with no rain gear on, in the pouring rain, on an ATV with no brakes.
-This place is gorgeous. Too bad it rains a lot too
-When you talk to airport ops and close a runway, that does not mean that planes will not land on it. Some piolets don't bother to check in with the tower before just landing whereever the hell they want. You would think that the giant orange drill rig in the middle of it would say "maybe you should check and see if this runway is open" before just landing on it.
-Just because airport ops says no flights are scheduled for the rest of the day does not mean there are in fact no more flights. I runied some guy's day because he didn't get to leave because the runway was closed when his plane was unofficially scheduled to come in....
I will probably post a few more of these as the project goes on :) Oh, and there will be a post of only pictures... to make up for all the posts of only words.
-Penair is easily confused. When I check in for the 3:30 flight, I do not want all my stuff to be on the 11:00 flight.
-The afore mentioned point caused me to be unable to locate my checked bag. It turned up later (before I ahd left the airport) in the baggage claim area. Good thing I was worried about it and checked.
-Shipping complicates things even more. When I say I want my stuff shipped on the 3:30 flight with me, it does not mean to ship it on the 10:30 flight. Also, when shipping sends me back to the terminal and tells me to "just let them know over there you have some stuff going cargo", when I go talk to the people in the terminal, it is not comforting that everyone seems to have no idea what I am talking about. They suggested I go talk to cargo....
-Luckily, someone in Chignik Bay got all my stuff and the drillers kindly put it in my room for me. Sometimes people are awesome
-Anchorage is small. Alaska is even smaller. I ran into a guy I went to school with and some guy that works in the building across from me who recognized me because of my truck whome I did not know in the King Salmon Airport
-Energy drinks cost about the same as the do in Anchorage. Cheese is $10. A pound of hamburger is $3.
-Just because the sun is shining when you leave in the morning does not mean it still will be a few hours later.
-It takes approximately 10 minutes to become miserably soaked when it starts raining and you are not properly equipped with rain gear
-Everyone's mood gets worse when they are not properly equipped in rain gear and are soaked.
-Pants weigh about 10 pounds more when they are completely saturated
-When renting an ATV, it is good to specify you not only want it to run, but you want it to have brakes
-Using small trees to stop a brake-less ATV when you are going down a hill is sometimes a must. Better a tree than the other ATV.....
-Using trees to keep a brake-less ATV from rolling down a hill has been dubbed "the Chignik Bay parking brake"
-When trying to kick start an ATV, it works better when the kill switch is not engaged and the key is on. (hey, I ride two wheeled toys.... not 4)
-The semi-automatic shifting on an ATV is almost as dumb as the "optional" manual shifter on cars these days.... Just be automatic or manual. please
-The semi auto shifting does almost compensate for the ATV having no brakes. I can almost stop when I want to.
-When the sun comes out, I can almost pretend I am in Hawaii... with a really loud drill rig.
-I am scared of bears. And am really happy I have a .44
-I feel super badass when riding down a dirt, potholed road, with no rain gear on, in the pouring rain, on an ATV with no brakes.
-This place is gorgeous. Too bad it rains a lot too
-When you talk to airport ops and close a runway, that does not mean that planes will not land on it. Some piolets don't bother to check in with the tower before just landing whereever the hell they want. You would think that the giant orange drill rig in the middle of it would say "maybe you should check and see if this runway is open" before just landing on it.
-Just because airport ops says no flights are scheduled for the rest of the day does not mean there are in fact no more flights. I runied some guy's day because he didn't get to leave because the runway was closed when his plane was unofficially scheduled to come in....
I will probably post a few more of these as the project goes on :) Oh, and there will be a post of only pictures... to make up for all the posts of only words.
Alaskan Adventures: Chignik Bay Part 1
First off I would like to make a disclaimer. Well, before that I would like to start with a quote I heard recently. "Approach life like a dog; if you cant eat it or play with it, just pee on it and walk away." My general approach to life involves the first two options, quite often. To get to the disclaimer: my coping mechanism for doing what I do is to downplay the potential severity of the situation; ie, "play with it". To someone who does not know me, it quite possibly makes me sound kinda like an idiot who has no business doing whatever I am doing. When I am rock climbing, I will casually ask my belayer if they are ready to save my life. Or when I going hiking I will make a smart ass comment about a bear encounter. You get the idea? That said, when I make a comment like that on here, it is how I deal with the fact that if I, or someone I am trusting, screws up, someone could die. I completely understand the severity of the situation. it's just how I deal with it so I can keep doing what I do. I am not an idiot, or insensitive, or an asshole or whatever, it's just how I deal and try to make everyone around me feel more at ease.
Anyway, with that nugget of knowledge about me, on to the story.
My first out of town job that is officially mine to handle is in Chignik Bay. I am finding there are quite a few logistical hurdles involved in working remotely. I always tend to feel overwhelmed with thinking about logistics. Because I like to over think and over analyze everything. My unease has not been helped with the minor detail that the trip plan has changed probably thirty times in the month leading up to the project. Unfortunately, this seems to be common when trying to coordinate multiple people with tight and variable schedules.
By the time I actually left for my first trip to Chignik Bay, I was just happy that I was actually on the airplane. One less thing to change. I mean I was still concerned about actually getting on a flight home but ya know, minor details.
Anyway, the final plan that we went with was my boss, Craig, and I would go out to the site to recon the area and collect rock samples from potential material sites. I was not sent alone for several reasons. The first being that I am new. I like rocks quite a bit but I am still learning (and will always be) the art of identifying rocks. I am also learning how to pick out drill sites. For the most part it is pretty logical, but everyone has their own opinion on how to pick them and mine is currently a little more errrr, random, than most. The second being that this is a remote area. 50ish people live there. The wild animals in the area are not used to people and don't know to be scared of us. There are bears all over from what I hear. Luckily, my boss and co workers like me enough that they do not want me to get mauled by a ferocious beast. Collecting rock samples and looking at drill sites involves hacking through high brush with in areas the locals have informed us a sow and three cubs have been seen fairly regularly. Perfect.
With all this background, this leads me to the airport at 6 am on monday. I park and unload my two bags. Luckily, my boss is bringing most of the gear so I can travel light. I wander into the terminal. Ugh, Penair is as far away from where I parked as possible. I finally get to the ticket counter. I go to check in. Hi lady, ummm I want to check a gun what do I do with it? She gives me a piece of paper to sign and fill out. I read it. Awww shitttt. I have to have it in a hard, locked case. Totally forgot. It is currently in a soft, not locked case. I figure that I am not going to be able to talk my way out of it so I tell her to forget it and I will take it back to my truck. My boss is bringing his gun anyway. I hope.
I get checked in and throw my gun in my backpack and go find coffee and my boss. I let him know I am actually here since I left my regular cell phone in my truck and I am not sure if he has my work cell or not. I explain my gun situation him. He has his, excellent. I wander back to my truck and put it under my seat. I get back to the gate just before it is time to board. As I get on the plane, they hand out earplugs. Well, that is considerate. It is a decent sized plane, like regional jet sized, except it has propellers. We have an uneventful ride to King Salmon. I read my book.
We land and the weather is nice, minus the swarms of bugs. It is about 9:00 at this point. Our flight to the Bay is not until 3. We collect all of our baggage and Craig goes to ask if we can get on an earlier flight. We manage to get onto the 10:30 flight. We wait in the terminal for a while. At 11:30 we are starting to wonder what is going on. I mean, planes running late is normal. Finally, at noon, the plane shows up and we are ready to board. It is s very full flight so I get to sit in the co-captain seat. This is really cool for all of 20 minutes..... until I fall asleep. I guess the sound of the propeller and having slept for about 3 hours the night before does that. I wake up when we make a stop at some unknown location before continuing to Chignik Bay. The piolet calls for the weather.... It is getting stormy toward the Bay. We fly low... at about 4 to 600 feet. The plane lurches around a fair bit. Mind you, this is a Cessna Caravan, an old small plane. My boss says that while it isn't a great ride, it certainly isn't the worst.
After lurching through a fair bit of rain, we finally land in Chignik Bay. It looks just like all the pictures I have been staring at for the last few weeks! We get out and get drenched as we wait for all of our baggage to get unloaded. We get a ride to our housing and get all of our stuff put away. We talk to the people in the city office about the project and the arera. They are confused because they thought we were coming later in the week. I know I sent several e mails that got responses saying we would be there monday and the drillers were coming friday... Oh well, they still have somewhere for us to stay. They are curious as to what we are doing with the runway and warn us that there are a number of bears in the area. Sweet. We rent a truck, which turns out to be a dodge, probably from the 70s with brakes that barely work.
Now that we have a vehicle, it is time to work! We put on rain gear and head out into the storm. In no time at all, I am soaked though my rain jacket. It is really more of a wind jacket that is somewhat waterproof. Luckily, my rain pants, which I borrowed from my roommate, are more waterproof. This is the last time I am too lazy to unpack and repack my rain gear for a trip... my real gear is siting back at the office waiting to be shipped.
We walk over sand dunes and try to find good locations to drill for a few hours. Craig flags some spots before we call it a day. I spend the rest of the evening reading and watching TV before passing out at 8.
During the night, I hear the wind and rain outside. The next morning, the weather is significantly worse than the day before. It is raining sideways. I get the feeling that this place is really pretty.... if I could see the scenery through the rain.
We spend the day in the bear infested overgrown brush with machetes and one gun since I had to leave mine :( I really have a lovely time seeing how big of a (small) tree I can hack down with mine. We mark some more test holes and collect some rocks to take back to test. We also come to the conclusion that there is no way we are getting a drill rig onto the hill behind the airport. Well, there goes a quarter of the test holes on this project. It is becoming apparent that things are not done changing on this project yet. Actually, I am guessing things will be changing until it is completely done.
Anyway, I am getting tired of writing this and you are probably getting tired of reading it :) So long story short, We get up the next day and make it out on the first plane. It is actually the first plane that has come by since we got in due to weather. We stop at Chignik Lake (another village about 10 miles away) to look at a material site. We collect some rock samples and I find some fossilized shells in one of the rocks. Sweet! I take a few fossils for my (super small) collection.
We make it on the plane out and get back to anchorage at 8. I unpack all my stuff, clean what I need, and pack it all up to ship the next day. I'll post up some pictures eventually :) they will probably get their own post.
Anyway, with that nugget of knowledge about me, on to the story.
My first out of town job that is officially mine to handle is in Chignik Bay. I am finding there are quite a few logistical hurdles involved in working remotely. I always tend to feel overwhelmed with thinking about logistics. Because I like to over think and over analyze everything. My unease has not been helped with the minor detail that the trip plan has changed probably thirty times in the month leading up to the project. Unfortunately, this seems to be common when trying to coordinate multiple people with tight and variable schedules.
By the time I actually left for my first trip to Chignik Bay, I was just happy that I was actually on the airplane. One less thing to change. I mean I was still concerned about actually getting on a flight home but ya know, minor details.
Anyway, the final plan that we went with was my boss, Craig, and I would go out to the site to recon the area and collect rock samples from potential material sites. I was not sent alone for several reasons. The first being that I am new. I like rocks quite a bit but I am still learning (and will always be) the art of identifying rocks. I am also learning how to pick out drill sites. For the most part it is pretty logical, but everyone has their own opinion on how to pick them and mine is currently a little more errrr, random, than most. The second being that this is a remote area. 50ish people live there. The wild animals in the area are not used to people and don't know to be scared of us. There are bears all over from what I hear. Luckily, my boss and co workers like me enough that they do not want me to get mauled by a ferocious beast. Collecting rock samples and looking at drill sites involves hacking through high brush with in areas the locals have informed us a sow and three cubs have been seen fairly regularly. Perfect.
With all this background, this leads me to the airport at 6 am on monday. I park and unload my two bags. Luckily, my boss is bringing most of the gear so I can travel light. I wander into the terminal. Ugh, Penair is as far away from where I parked as possible. I finally get to the ticket counter. I go to check in. Hi lady, ummm I want to check a gun what do I do with it? She gives me a piece of paper to sign and fill out. I read it. Awww shitttt. I have to have it in a hard, locked case. Totally forgot. It is currently in a soft, not locked case. I figure that I am not going to be able to talk my way out of it so I tell her to forget it and I will take it back to my truck. My boss is bringing his gun anyway. I hope.
I get checked in and throw my gun in my backpack and go find coffee and my boss. I let him know I am actually here since I left my regular cell phone in my truck and I am not sure if he has my work cell or not. I explain my gun situation him. He has his, excellent. I wander back to my truck and put it under my seat. I get back to the gate just before it is time to board. As I get on the plane, they hand out earplugs. Well, that is considerate. It is a decent sized plane, like regional jet sized, except it has propellers. We have an uneventful ride to King Salmon. I read my book.
We land and the weather is nice, minus the swarms of bugs. It is about 9:00 at this point. Our flight to the Bay is not until 3. We collect all of our baggage and Craig goes to ask if we can get on an earlier flight. We manage to get onto the 10:30 flight. We wait in the terminal for a while. At 11:30 we are starting to wonder what is going on. I mean, planes running late is normal. Finally, at noon, the plane shows up and we are ready to board. It is s very full flight so I get to sit in the co-captain seat. This is really cool for all of 20 minutes..... until I fall asleep. I guess the sound of the propeller and having slept for about 3 hours the night before does that. I wake up when we make a stop at some unknown location before continuing to Chignik Bay. The piolet calls for the weather.... It is getting stormy toward the Bay. We fly low... at about 4 to 600 feet. The plane lurches around a fair bit. Mind you, this is a Cessna Caravan, an old small plane. My boss says that while it isn't a great ride, it certainly isn't the worst.
After lurching through a fair bit of rain, we finally land in Chignik Bay. It looks just like all the pictures I have been staring at for the last few weeks! We get out and get drenched as we wait for all of our baggage to get unloaded. We get a ride to our housing and get all of our stuff put away. We talk to the people in the city office about the project and the arera. They are confused because they thought we were coming later in the week. I know I sent several e mails that got responses saying we would be there monday and the drillers were coming friday... Oh well, they still have somewhere for us to stay. They are curious as to what we are doing with the runway and warn us that there are a number of bears in the area. Sweet. We rent a truck, which turns out to be a dodge, probably from the 70s with brakes that barely work.
Now that we have a vehicle, it is time to work! We put on rain gear and head out into the storm. In no time at all, I am soaked though my rain jacket. It is really more of a wind jacket that is somewhat waterproof. Luckily, my rain pants, which I borrowed from my roommate, are more waterproof. This is the last time I am too lazy to unpack and repack my rain gear for a trip... my real gear is siting back at the office waiting to be shipped.
We walk over sand dunes and try to find good locations to drill for a few hours. Craig flags some spots before we call it a day. I spend the rest of the evening reading and watching TV before passing out at 8.
During the night, I hear the wind and rain outside. The next morning, the weather is significantly worse than the day before. It is raining sideways. I get the feeling that this place is really pretty.... if I could see the scenery through the rain.
We spend the day in the bear infested overgrown brush with machetes and one gun since I had to leave mine :( I really have a lovely time seeing how big of a (small) tree I can hack down with mine. We mark some more test holes and collect some rocks to take back to test. We also come to the conclusion that there is no way we are getting a drill rig onto the hill behind the airport. Well, there goes a quarter of the test holes on this project. It is becoming apparent that things are not done changing on this project yet. Actually, I am guessing things will be changing until it is completely done.
Anyway, I am getting tired of writing this and you are probably getting tired of reading it :) So long story short, We get up the next day and make it out on the first plane. It is actually the first plane that has come by since we got in due to weather. We stop at Chignik Lake (another village about 10 miles away) to look at a material site. We collect some rock samples and I find some fossilized shells in one of the rocks. Sweet! I take a few fossils for my (super small) collection.
We make it on the plane out and get back to anchorage at 8. I unpack all my stuff, clean what I need, and pack it all up to ship the next day. I'll post up some pictures eventually :) they will probably get their own post.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Ruger 44 Super Redhawk Alaskan Review
This isn't really a story of my normal blogging style. This is a review... that will hopefully help someone like me make a decision....
I am writing this in an attempt to help other people who are looking for a bear gun and are looking for reviews of 44s and somehow stumble across this site. Some background on my shooting experience: I started shooting a few years ago. 90% of my shooting has been with my 10/22. I have shot a few of my friends' handguns of varying calibers, a few larger rifles, and a shotgun once or twice. I was certainly apprehensive about being able to comfortably shoot a 44. I was mildly concerned that my gun was going to go flying and hit me in the face or something... I am an average size female, generally considered to be pretty bad-ass and tough in attitude.
Anyway, as I am going to a bear infested area to work the next few weeks, and bearspray is a pain to ship and completely illegal to fly with at all, I ended up buying my first handgun. After a few weeks of asking everyone I could what their preference was for bear protection, I finally came upon the Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan. (specs here) I was highly concerned that the ultra-compact size was going to make it completely unmanageable to shoot. I figured it would be a "shoot once a year just so I don't forget what to expect if I do actually have to use it" gun. I read a ton of reviews about it. Most of them said it was a manageable gun.I was skeptical since all of the reviews seemed to be from guys who shoot a lot of guns.
Anyway, so I take my new gun to the range to shoot. My mom also comes with a 357. I shoot the 357 a few times and remember that it is not the most pleasant gun ever to shoot. I apprehensively eye my 44 laying on the bench while feeling my wrist stinging a little from the few shots I just took with the 357. I guess I ought to shoot it; that is what I came for afterall.
I load up the gun with some 240 grain bullets. I cock the hammer, take a breath, and squeeze the trigger. The gun goes off and I hit the target. Not only do I hang on to the gun with ease, I am convinced that it feels better than the 357 I just shot. I shoot the next 5 rounds happily. I hit the target every time, 15 yards away. I take a short break and watch my mom shoot. I load up again and shoot 6 rapid shots. I only hit the target with one, but it doesn't feel bad at all. I put a total of 20 rounds through the gun. My wrist and arm are still feeling great by the time I am done. With the exception of the rapidly fired shots, all of my shots land on the target. I am not a bad shot, but I am by no means ready to go shoot in a competition or somthing. I can usually hit a shot gun shell with my .22 at 20 yards or so. (no scope)
Overall, I highly recommend this gun. I am by no means an expert on guns, or all that experienced with guns at all. However, shooting this gun was fun. I didn't want to stop. The recoil was not bad at all. I will have to try it again with higher grain bullets and see how that affects it. The accuracy was good as well. From what I have heard and read, I was concerned the shorter barrel was going to make it difficult to aim. This was not so at all. The grip felt good in my hand and the weight of the gun makes it feel incredibly solid. The trigger pull is smooth and I feel like this is a gun I will be using for the rest of my life. I would recommend this gun to anyone looking for a bear-defense gun. As a disclaimer, I can't compare it to other 44s as it is the only one I have shot.
EDIT: since the original post, I have shot the gun a bit and am still pleased with my purchase. I got some 340 grain bullets for it and those make a huge difference. It is still manageable but just barely. My buddy that was with the range with me said it looked like it almost came out of my hand. (I had a pretty firm grip on it so that wouldn't happen) Definitely packs more of a punch. Also, I have taken this gun with me all over Alaska. (Chignik, Kodiak, Cooper Landing...) Have not had to use it luckily. We were working on a beach near a salmon stream in Kodiak at dark so I brought the gun. I (stupidly) left it in its holster after these outings and when I got home, it had a few surface rust spots on it from the saltwater. I cleaned it up and oiled it really well and it's good as new now.
Also, when I carry this gun, I usually keep it in a galco holster and put it in the side pouch on my work backpack. The backpack tends to get thrown around and somewhat abused. Probably not great for my gun and should come up with a better way to keep it. I am saying this because I broke the rear sight on the gun. Funny thing is I was looking at the sight the day before I did that and thinking about how fragile it looks. Anyway, I am going to replace it with a williams firesight. It looks a little more sturdy than the original equipment. Will update with results when I get it and use it some.
I hope that someone finds this review helpful in making a decision on a 44 :)
I am writing this in an attempt to help other people who are looking for a bear gun and are looking for reviews of 44s and somehow stumble across this site. Some background on my shooting experience: I started shooting a few years ago. 90% of my shooting has been with my 10/22. I have shot a few of my friends' handguns of varying calibers, a few larger rifles, and a shotgun once or twice. I was certainly apprehensive about being able to comfortably shoot a 44. I was mildly concerned that my gun was going to go flying and hit me in the face or something... I am an average size female, generally considered to be pretty bad-ass and tough in attitude.
Anyway, as I am going to a bear infested area to work the next few weeks, and bearspray is a pain to ship and completely illegal to fly with at all, I ended up buying my first handgun. After a few weeks of asking everyone I could what their preference was for bear protection, I finally came upon the Ruger Super Redhawk Alaskan. (specs here) I was highly concerned that the ultra-compact size was going to make it completely unmanageable to shoot. I figured it would be a "shoot once a year just so I don't forget what to expect if I do actually have to use it" gun. I read a ton of reviews about it. Most of them said it was a manageable gun.I was skeptical since all of the reviews seemed to be from guys who shoot a lot of guns.
Anyway, so I take my new gun to the range to shoot. My mom also comes with a 357. I shoot the 357 a few times and remember that it is not the most pleasant gun ever to shoot. I apprehensively eye my 44 laying on the bench while feeling my wrist stinging a little from the few shots I just took with the 357. I guess I ought to shoot it; that is what I came for afterall.
I load up the gun with some 240 grain bullets. I cock the hammer, take a breath, and squeeze the trigger. The gun goes off and I hit the target. Not only do I hang on to the gun with ease, I am convinced that it feels better than the 357 I just shot. I shoot the next 5 rounds happily. I hit the target every time, 15 yards away. I take a short break and watch my mom shoot. I load up again and shoot 6 rapid shots. I only hit the target with one, but it doesn't feel bad at all. I put a total of 20 rounds through the gun. My wrist and arm are still feeling great by the time I am done. With the exception of the rapidly fired shots, all of my shots land on the target. I am not a bad shot, but I am by no means ready to go shoot in a competition or somthing. I can usually hit a shot gun shell with my .22 at 20 yards or so. (no scope)
Overall, I highly recommend this gun. I am by no means an expert on guns, or all that experienced with guns at all. However, shooting this gun was fun. I didn't want to stop. The recoil was not bad at all. I will have to try it again with higher grain bullets and see how that affects it. The accuracy was good as well. From what I have heard and read, I was concerned the shorter barrel was going to make it difficult to aim. This was not so at all. The grip felt good in my hand and the weight of the gun makes it feel incredibly solid. The trigger pull is smooth and I feel like this is a gun I will be using for the rest of my life. I would recommend this gun to anyone looking for a bear-defense gun. As a disclaimer, I can't compare it to other 44s as it is the only one I have shot.
EDIT: since the original post, I have shot the gun a bit and am still pleased with my purchase. I got some 340 grain bullets for it and those make a huge difference. It is still manageable but just barely. My buddy that was with the range with me said it looked like it almost came out of my hand. (I had a pretty firm grip on it so that wouldn't happen) Definitely packs more of a punch. Also, I have taken this gun with me all over Alaska. (Chignik, Kodiak, Cooper Landing...) Have not had to use it luckily. We were working on a beach near a salmon stream in Kodiak at dark so I brought the gun. I (stupidly) left it in its holster after these outings and when I got home, it had a few surface rust spots on it from the saltwater. I cleaned it up and oiled it really well and it's good as new now.
Also, when I carry this gun, I usually keep it in a galco holster and put it in the side pouch on my work backpack. The backpack tends to get thrown around and somewhat abused. Probably not great for my gun and should come up with a better way to keep it. I am saying this because I broke the rear sight on the gun. Funny thing is I was looking at the sight the day before I did that and thinking about how fragile it looks. Anyway, I am going to replace it with a williams firesight. It looks a little more sturdy than the original equipment. Will update with results when I get it and use it some.
I hope that someone finds this review helpful in making a decision on a 44 :)
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| target from my first outing. all 15 of my aimed shots hit :) |
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Climbing Mountains: O'Malley via False Peak
So I got it in my head that I should climb another mountain before heading off to Chignik Bay for work. I ran into a friend on Friday night and we ended up talking about how she has not been rock climbing in a while... which lead to my talking about mountain climbing... and her agreeing to go on a hike with me on Sunday before I head out on Monday. I told her I wanted to climb O'Malley and that it should be about 3 hours to the top. Meet me at my place at noon on Sunday and off we will go....
So at noon on Sunday she shows up at my house. I show her the map of the 5 routes that I have found that people usually take up the mountain. Of course, I have no desire to take the "easy" route that most people take. We end up choosing to take the "Northwest" ridge route. Supposudly it is not the easiest way up, but it is not the hardest either.
We drive up to the Glennalps trailhead. It is a beautiful day so parking is horrible. After driving around the parking lot for a while and watching people who got there after me slip into spots, I get impaitent and make my own place at the end of one of the rows. We get out of the truck and start toward powerline pass. We have a nice downhill walk for a bit before we have our first turn to make. I follow the signs to Williwa Lake trail. We cross a bridge and continue on a boardwalk before we start to go up.
I spot the obvious trail on the saddle between Little O Malley and False Peak and head toward it. Some guy warns us that there is a moose up around the corner. I pick a little side trail to try to avoid it. 50 feet later, we run into the moose having a snack. I pull out my bear spray, hey it will work on moose too, right? Luckily, he moves along pretty fast and we skirt around him with no msihaphs. We scramble up the trail and in 45 minutes, we have reached the turnoff to the ridgeline.
The ridgeline starts off decievingly easy. There are a few little rocks and a nice trail to follow. However, we reach the first peak and are faced with craggy rocks all over and no obvious trail. My approach to the situation is up and over the rocks. Chealsea is not so excited about this idea so I let her lead, assuming (correctly) that she will probably pick a safer route. We slowly make our way to the left of the rocks down and around the false peak. On the other side, we pick up the trail. In hindsight, we can see that it went around the other side of the peak.
After many cycles of losing the trail, carefully treading over the rocks to get around the false peak, finding the trail again on the other side of the peak, and then seeing yet another peak in front of us, more ominous looking than the last, we lose the trail for good. (One of these peaks is a peak that is actually called "False Peak" FYI...) Being the adventurers that we are, we keep pushing forward, assuming the trail will manifest itself in front of us like it has before. No luck. I decide to may a carron in case other people have the same experience and are not so tenacious. I wonder if anyone has been this way in a long time. Or ever. Chealsea concludes that whomever was making the trail must have been teleporting. There has only been an actual thing resembeling a trail about a third of the way. I mean this is fine with me, I know the direction we are going and can see Flattop and the way back to my truck so I am not too concerned.
It might have been a little easier if there were no clouds up where we were. It is a beautiful day, but the mountain tops have some clouds on them. (I actually end up a little sun burned) We can see the main trail below us. When there are no clouds. Unfortunately, at the time we lost the trail, there were a lot of clouds. Just when we were starting to get concerned that we had missed something, we see a saddle in front of us. And it looks like another trail joins the ridge we are on! I look at the map. Yes! That appears to be the main route. Or the Northeast Ridge route. Or some route on the map... It is a little hard to tell which is which with the lowered visibility.
We even see other people walking along the trail! Awesome!! 3 hours into the hike, we head down to the saddle and merge back on to the main trail. We see a guy hiking a little ways in front of us and follow him. The trail is about as fragmented as the one we were on before. We would pick it up for a hundred feet or so before losing it again. At this point, I am leading and pick a new approach: head up. I lose the guy in front of us behind some rocks, never to find him again. Weird, I wonder where he went....
After some trail making and a few more false peaks, we finally come to a rock that is taller than all the rest. I scramble over to the surrounding rocks to make sure they really are lower and it is not just my perspective. Well, it is unmarked but it is definately the highest rock for miles and it shows signs of wear... this must be it! Finally, exactly 4 hours into the hike, we make it!
We have a snack and talk about how badass we are for taking the sweet ridge route before heading back. We decide to take the main trail through "The Ballfield" We have had enough rock scrambling for one day. We make it back to the saddle with no major problems. Descending from the saddle is fun though. A few hundred feet of loose scree. We both fall a few times trying to get down. Why would anyone want to go up this?!?! Our route was SO MUCH better. And more fun.
We make it to the bottom of the saddle, only a little more dirty than before. There is no obvious trail. Awesome. We pick a path that seems to be the right direction. The rocks here look like people have walked on them, right?? I am starting to see a pattern in my mountain experiences... (read about east twin peak :) ) We do eventually find a nice path to follow which leads us back to the turnoff we took to get on the ridge.
The whole valley that this alternate path was in is really cool. It is called the ballfield and is just covered in rocks. Some of them fell from the mountains, but it looks like a lot were deposited by glaicers. The sides of the mountains are almost perfectly smooth until about a thousand feet up, where they become all jagged. It looks like a glaicer just came through, scraped off the sides of the mountains, and deposited a bunch of rocks and silt in weird mounds. Accodding to Chealsea, it kind of looks like Mars, but greener. Also, there are a few large boulders in the area, which look like they might be good for bouldering. If anyone more interested in bouldering than sport climbing actually reads this and is interested...... Walking along it, we could see just how long and awesome looking the ridge we took is. From below, we could see two people start down the ridge path before turning around.
Continuing on, we slide carefuly down the slope toward powerline pass, seeing more and more people as we go. We cross over the bridge and are on the final streach home! Some random guys decide to ask about our hike. "So like, where did you go?" "O'Malley" "Is that like, that peak over there?" They point in the right direction. All you can see from this angle is False Peak. "Kinda, we went like 4 peaks past that one" They are properly impressed. We wish each other a good day and continue on.
10 minutes later, we are back at my truck, which is looking rather lonely in the emptying parking lot. Luckily, I have not been towed or ticketed! Overall, an excellent hike. about 7 hours total. The rock scrambling was fun but less terrifying than that of East Twin Peak. I will post up some pictures when I get back from Chignik Bay and have my phone again.... :D And then I will blog about Chignik Bay (part 1)!!! Be excited?!?!
For the webpage where I got most of my info for the hike.... click here! Really, it's good info!
Edit: Pictures! In no particular order... views of the foggy ridge and from the top and such :)
So at noon on Sunday she shows up at my house. I show her the map of the 5 routes that I have found that people usually take up the mountain. Of course, I have no desire to take the "easy" route that most people take. We end up choosing to take the "Northwest" ridge route. Supposudly it is not the easiest way up, but it is not the hardest either.
We drive up to the Glennalps trailhead. It is a beautiful day so parking is horrible. After driving around the parking lot for a while and watching people who got there after me slip into spots, I get impaitent and make my own place at the end of one of the rows. We get out of the truck and start toward powerline pass. We have a nice downhill walk for a bit before we have our first turn to make. I follow the signs to Williwa Lake trail. We cross a bridge and continue on a boardwalk before we start to go up.
I spot the obvious trail on the saddle between Little O Malley and False Peak and head toward it. Some guy warns us that there is a moose up around the corner. I pick a little side trail to try to avoid it. 50 feet later, we run into the moose having a snack. I pull out my bear spray, hey it will work on moose too, right? Luckily, he moves along pretty fast and we skirt around him with no msihaphs. We scramble up the trail and in 45 minutes, we have reached the turnoff to the ridgeline.
The ridgeline starts off decievingly easy. There are a few little rocks and a nice trail to follow. However, we reach the first peak and are faced with craggy rocks all over and no obvious trail. My approach to the situation is up and over the rocks. Chealsea is not so excited about this idea so I let her lead, assuming (correctly) that she will probably pick a safer route. We slowly make our way to the left of the rocks down and around the false peak. On the other side, we pick up the trail. In hindsight, we can see that it went around the other side of the peak.
After many cycles of losing the trail, carefully treading over the rocks to get around the false peak, finding the trail again on the other side of the peak, and then seeing yet another peak in front of us, more ominous looking than the last, we lose the trail for good. (One of these peaks is a peak that is actually called "False Peak" FYI...) Being the adventurers that we are, we keep pushing forward, assuming the trail will manifest itself in front of us like it has before. No luck. I decide to may a carron in case other people have the same experience and are not so tenacious. I wonder if anyone has been this way in a long time. Or ever. Chealsea concludes that whomever was making the trail must have been teleporting. There has only been an actual thing resembeling a trail about a third of the way. I mean this is fine with me, I know the direction we are going and can see Flattop and the way back to my truck so I am not too concerned.
It might have been a little easier if there were no clouds up where we were. It is a beautiful day, but the mountain tops have some clouds on them. (I actually end up a little sun burned) We can see the main trail below us. When there are no clouds. Unfortunately, at the time we lost the trail, there were a lot of clouds. Just when we were starting to get concerned that we had missed something, we see a saddle in front of us. And it looks like another trail joins the ridge we are on! I look at the map. Yes! That appears to be the main route. Or the Northeast Ridge route. Or some route on the map... It is a little hard to tell which is which with the lowered visibility.
We even see other people walking along the trail! Awesome!! 3 hours into the hike, we head down to the saddle and merge back on to the main trail. We see a guy hiking a little ways in front of us and follow him. The trail is about as fragmented as the one we were on before. We would pick it up for a hundred feet or so before losing it again. At this point, I am leading and pick a new approach: head up. I lose the guy in front of us behind some rocks, never to find him again. Weird, I wonder where he went....
After some trail making and a few more false peaks, we finally come to a rock that is taller than all the rest. I scramble over to the surrounding rocks to make sure they really are lower and it is not just my perspective. Well, it is unmarked but it is definately the highest rock for miles and it shows signs of wear... this must be it! Finally, exactly 4 hours into the hike, we make it!
We have a snack and talk about how badass we are for taking the sweet ridge route before heading back. We decide to take the main trail through "The Ballfield" We have had enough rock scrambling for one day. We make it back to the saddle with no major problems. Descending from the saddle is fun though. A few hundred feet of loose scree. We both fall a few times trying to get down. Why would anyone want to go up this?!?! Our route was SO MUCH better. And more fun.
We make it to the bottom of the saddle, only a little more dirty than before. There is no obvious trail. Awesome. We pick a path that seems to be the right direction. The rocks here look like people have walked on them, right?? I am starting to see a pattern in my mountain experiences... (read about east twin peak :) ) We do eventually find a nice path to follow which leads us back to the turnoff we took to get on the ridge.
The whole valley that this alternate path was in is really cool. It is called the ballfield and is just covered in rocks. Some of them fell from the mountains, but it looks like a lot were deposited by glaicers. The sides of the mountains are almost perfectly smooth until about a thousand feet up, where they become all jagged. It looks like a glaicer just came through, scraped off the sides of the mountains, and deposited a bunch of rocks and silt in weird mounds. Accodding to Chealsea, it kind of looks like Mars, but greener. Also, there are a few large boulders in the area, which look like they might be good for bouldering. If anyone more interested in bouldering than sport climbing actually reads this and is interested...... Walking along it, we could see just how long and awesome looking the ridge we took is. From below, we could see two people start down the ridge path before turning around.
Continuing on, we slide carefuly down the slope toward powerline pass, seeing more and more people as we go. We cross over the bridge and are on the final streach home! Some random guys decide to ask about our hike. "So like, where did you go?" "O'Malley" "Is that like, that peak over there?" They point in the right direction. All you can see from this angle is False Peak. "Kinda, we went like 4 peaks past that one" They are properly impressed. We wish each other a good day and continue on.
10 minutes later, we are back at my truck, which is looking rather lonely in the emptying parking lot. Luckily, I have not been towed or ticketed! Overall, an excellent hike. about 7 hours total. The rock scrambling was fun but less terrifying than that of East Twin Peak. I will post up some pictures when I get back from Chignik Bay and have my phone again.... :D And then I will blog about Chignik Bay (part 1)!!! Be excited?!?!
For the webpage where I got most of my info for the hike.... click here! Really, it's good info!
Edit: Pictures! In no particular order... views of the foggy ridge and from the top and such :)
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| Normal route up that doesnt look so fun... |
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| Anchorage from the ridge |
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| from the top |
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| from the top |
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| Carron |
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| Ptarmigan! |
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