Raise the Argo!

So the story goes...there I was, after an enjoyable morning glacier hike with a few clients, walking toward the Matanuska intent on crossing yet again and making my way home for an afternoon of fishing, hiking and a little work, when Davis, the Nova shuttle driver, pulled up in his tracked Argo and offered a ride. I put the kayak on the back of the vehicle, crawled in and we puttered down towards my standard put-in. Davis offered to drive me right up to the very bank of the river, and I thought a little Argo ride might be the ticket for that particular day. As Argos are an amphibious vehicle, the ride included a small slack-water crossing, nothing too crazy. This time, however, the Argo bobbed decidedly the wrong way and before I could fully understand what we were getting into, we were bobbing into the main current of the mighty Matanuska, cold glacier-fed water and all. A quick glance at Davis confirmed that no, this was not a planned occurrence. I took the time to zip my life jacket and focus on the task at hand, which was to keep the aquatic (but not river-worthy) vehicle from upending in the fast and variable current. Riddick shot me a dirty look as he ran along the shore with us, but was soon forced to endure the sight of us floating around the bend.

I acted like a rafter and high-sided for all I was worth. I felt relatively comfortable as I had a kayak and was wearing a life jacket, but Davis seemed to have a whole bunch of things on his mind on top of worrying about swimming 35 degree ice water as we moved farther and farther away from Hick's Creek. Treads churning and plowing through a wave train, Davis turned to me and said 'if this thing goes over I'm coming in that boat with you,'. I nodded my agreement. Anyway, just as we were settling to the unprecedented routine, the river braided and we washed onto a gravel bar, stuck in the middle of the river. But hey! I had my kayak, so after an hour or so later of hiking and hitchhiking we were back around the fire at Nova Hick's Creek camp laughing about it. I decided to stay roadside of the Mat that evening. The next task was to recover Davis's small but expensive ATV. There was no road or trail where the Argo ended up, which meant we had to suck it up and drive the Argo back into the Mat, on purpose this time.

The players, right to left....Galen, Davis, Gareth.

Galen offered to help Davis recover his Argo, and Gareth and I discovered that we had nothing better to do. I brought Riddick along too to make up for his being ditched earlier.

Gareth



Starting to figure things out

Galen gives it a try

And Riddick hung out in the boat, waiting for dinner

Again, just figuring.....

Davis drove as far down river as he could, to minimize the time floating in the main current

It was a funny little scene, overall

You can take the man out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the man

Galen rowed, Gareth minded the line between the Argo and the boat, Davis drove and I shot photos. Galen's idea was to use the boat to ferry the Argo around in the current, which worked pretty well.

This is stricly an improvised technique. It is good to have raft guides involved on things such as this.

Probably not in the owner's manual

.....and Riddick sat in the boat.....

Lend a hand

What was that all about, anyway? Right after this, I dropped my camera in the Mat river, but it was found eventually

Davis had a .44 revolver, so far Riddick isn't a big fan of firearms

After loading the boat and rehashing, it was all over. Just another day in the valley.