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DigDug

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About DigDug

  • Rank
    Digging the Dirt (and rocks)
  • Birthday 08/25/1970

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Profile Information

  • Location
    Anchorage, AK
  • Interests
    Well - motorcycles (dirt-bikes) for one, SCUBA diving, Off road (4 wheel type), hiking, camping, exploring...
  • Gender
    Male

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  1. DigDug

    Merry Christmas!

    Doug, is that the lodge about half way in the middle of the Denali Highway, and the bar next to it is an old mobile home called "The Sluice Box" ? If so, I was there on my bike trip....see photos below. Most of the time I've been on the Denali Highway has been in the winter and I've never seen that place open. Not much is. We usually truck the sleds up to Cantwell and ride the 65 or so miles into Alpine Creek Lodge which is at mile 68. It's one of the few places that are open in the winter. They don't plow the Denali Highway and only occasionally groom it - so snow machine is the only way in. I highly recommend Alpine Creek Lodge for anyone doing a trip down the highway. It's a small, family run business and they provide great service! The one time I did the highway in the summer, we were fishing and camping so we didn't stop - but I know where the bar is.
  2. DigDug

    Merry Christmas!

    You don't!!! Or you DIG!!!! Actually, the Cub floats pretty well with the wide skis and light weight. There are times where you have to "stomp" out a little bit of a runway if you get sunk in too much, but a hundred feet or so gets you enough speed to "float" and build up takeoff speed. Heck, lightweight, I only need a few hundred feet to fly anyways! You can land on pretty much anywhere flat and big enough with snow cover. Ski flying definitely opens up the most number of potential landing spots. Frozen lakes, snow-covered meadows, swamps, heck, even most small runways have a packed snow/ice covering (although slick ice makes for fun and advanced planning when you don't have brakes). As far as that goes, many roads have enough snowpack on them to land (yes, it's legal to land on the roads up here - I've done it a few times on wheels in the spring). (cheesy picture, I know.) (float flying in the summer to go trout fishing) (beach landing at low tide to dig for clams)
  3. DigDug

    Merry Christmas!

    "the bikes are winterized" :good:/>/> Merry Christmas Doug. Those things look like lots of fun for sure! I'm afraid, though, that with a single/narrow track and ski, they'd be a nightmare in the deep/soft powder up here! Heck, if I could find one cheap, I'd give it a try though - I wonder if I'd still be street legal with that "mod"!!! I've never seen one up here to even try though.
  4. DigDug

    Merry Christmas!

    Yup. Still in Alaska! I'll have to dig through my external hard drives and find some good pictures, but here's something better. This was filmed by a riding buddy last winter on a 5 day trip we did to a lodge along the Denali Highway. He designs and sells GoPro backpack mounts (VuVantage) so it's an "ad" video, but I'm in it a few times (not filming, just in the background). It's so much fun to find areas like these with untouched powder to carve some turns in! Open it in YouTube and set it to HD to get the full effect!
  5. DigDug

    Merry Christmas!

    Nothing so extreme. A little StaBil in the tank and carb, plugged into the battery tender and put in the back of the heated garage. Thanks for the greetings everyone!
  6. DigDug

    Merry Christmas!

    Just a quick hello to wish everyone down south a Merry Christmas from the your neighbor up north! The bikes are winterized and put away, but the snow machine and Cub are going strong!
  7. DigDug

    happy birthday dug!

    Come on up!!! I'd suggest waiting until next spring if you want to ride bikes though! Still no snow on the ground down here, but it won't be long - it seems like the snowline is moving down the mountains every day. A big bike is probably the better bet up here. You wind up doing lots of miles to see the sights. I've definitely put more miles on the 950 than the 450, but that doesn't mean the little bike doesn't get dirty now and again!
  8. DigDug

    happy birthday dug!

    Ken - nice to hear from you. My plane is a 1961 Piper PA-18 Super Cub. 160 horsepower, two seats of Alaska fun! It's got 31 inch bush tires for the gravel stips and sand bars, floats for the lakes, and I just picked up a set of skis for the winter landings out in the bush and up on the glaciers. It's not the prettiest plane on the ramp but it will do far more than I'm willing to do with it just yet! I was surprised at just how little of the state you can get to by bike/jeep/atv/etc. An airplane is really the best "SUV" to have. That and the snow machine. When the lakes, rivers, and marshes freeze up and get a few feet of snow, you can get around pretty well. Plus they're so much fun to ride! For big game, I use a Remington 700 chambered in 300 WinMag. Easy to find good ammo in the stores up here and a nice flat-shooting round. I'm not sure when I'm going to be back that way again. I changed jobs once again and am now spending most of my time flying the desk. I still get to fly with the AF a few times a month, but the trips are few and far between. I'd love to get down and do some riding with you guys when the schedule (work and play) allows!
  9. DigDug

    happy birthday dug!

    Wow, I ought to read the threads a bit more often on here. Thanks (only 2 months late)! Actually, I had a good birthday, I was out on a Caribou hunt. They were a little rough to find this year - winter was rough on the herd so they were scattered around - but I got one and put over 200 lbs of meat in the freezer! Things are going well up here for me. Not as much time on two wheels playing as last summer - more on three wheels and two floating things. I still got to commute to work quite a bit on the bike though!
  10. DigDug

    DRZ Rifle Mount

    Other than the big Ruger symbol on the bag, this would be the ticket for ride/shoot outings: Ruger 10/22 takedown It takes less than 10 seconds to assemble and shoots just as good as my normal 10/22. If you want something more than a 22 and want to leave the scope on, pick up a Kolpin Gun Boot These things are tough. Plus, you can put a lock on it if needed to be legal. They seem to be the hot ticket up here...
  11. DigDug

    GPS purchase advise

    You'll be fine - I picked up a Montana last fall and have used it on my snowmobile all winter. I can pretty much guarantee my gloves are at least as thick as what you'll be wearing, and the screen works fine with them. They even work great through the screen protector. Once in a while, you'll hit the wrong button if your gloves are a little "floppy" in the fingertips, but it's not unbearable. I have mounts for the Montana for my bikes, and as soon as the snow and ice melt enough to ride, I'll mount them up. I really like the Montana - it's my new favorite. It does custom maps like the newer models, the screen is a great size (although the unit is a bit bigger, you may have to fiddle to figure out an unobtrusive place to mount it on a smaller dirt-bike style dualsport), and the mount is bullet proof! You'd have to beat the living crap out of it for it to come out of the rugged mounts Garmin sells. The battery is lithium-ion rechargeable so while you're riding, you're charging the battery - plus you can put in AAs if you want instead. I bought mine on a whim from the snowmobile dealer. It came with the sled-specific wiring harness and mounting bracket for the same price Garmin lists it as for just the GPS. Plus, the dealer was having a 20% off sale that day. But yes - they are pricey units if you pay MSRP!
  12. DigDug

    Online Data Storage/Backup

    I use carbonite. It works well enough for me. It's relatively cheap and just keeps backing stuff up in the background. (I believe you need one of the upgraded plans if you want to backup videos also) Dropbox is great if you want cloud storage - I use skydrive for that - same type of service that allows you to put a folder onto the cloud for access everywhere. Carbonite is different in that it backs up all your stuff and you get unlimited storage capacity for one computer (but not external drives). They also have iphone and android apps that both allow you to access your files on the go as well as back up pictures and files from your phone automatically. The mobile apps are free with a paid desktop subscription. Be advised - that initial backup can take a while if you have lots of stuff!
  13. DigDug

    Wanted: GPS Route for CA to Cabo

    Be careful with old SCORE tracks. They sometimes go through private property and SCORE pays the landowners money for that right for the pre-running and race only. Heck, when we were pre-running for the 500 last year (during the designated pre-running period even), we came across a closed gate. Apparently, the rancher said some pre-runners hit and killed one of his dogs so he wasn't going to let SCORE use his land. It was back open the next day, probably because SCORE ponied up the extra money he wanted.
  14. DigDug

    Old School SDAR video

    That was a pretty awesome SDAR ride! How the heck did you find that video on YouTube? I got an email a few weeks back saying that my Google videos needed to be migrated to YouTube. So I followed the instructions. I guess it worked! Hey Crawdaddy, remember this one?
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