Camping in an Alaknak Tent

Last summer I took my family hiking up at Mirror Lake.  Not only was it summer, it was the middle of July.  The elevation is 1,050 ft.  It was cold and rainy.  The family brought jackets but were not prepared for this. Even us die-hard campers and fishermen were cold.  My wife let me know right then and there that she could not go camping, even in the middle of the summer, without a tent that had a heater.  Not only a heater like I use for my other tents, but a wood burning stove tent. 

 We looked at a few that would work and ended up getting an Alaknak from Cabela’s.  It is 12 X 23 feet and has the capability of housing a wood-burning stove. 

While first setting it up in the backyard for a sleepover with my grand-son Josh, he exclaimed “This is as big as our first house”. 

Gary helped me set it up.  He said it reminded him of the tents in the Hobbit.  You approach it from the outside and it doesn’t look like much.  Then you go in and it’s humongous with all these cool features. 

Josh was able to put his various toys in all the cup holders spread throughout the tent.  There are four windows on each side. 

The vestibule itself is plenty big enough for two cots which serves well to store and protect supplies like waders and coolers.  With just the two cots, we felt like the area with the wood stove was perfect as a dining room; room enough for table, chairs and everything.  One thing I liked the most was how easy it is to set up.  Easy enough for one person, although it helps to have help.  

After the practice at setting up the tent with Gary in the backyard, I was ready to take it out camping for real; in the fall with freezing nights.  Nick called and said he was going to be in Yellowstone and could meet me for a few days on the Green River below Fontanelle. 

I invited Gary over again to help me “burn in” the stove so there wouldn’t be paint smell and smoke inside the tent the first time it was used.  We burned through a bundle of wood in 2-3 hours which served perfect for the burn in. 

Loading the SUV with all the additional camping supplies like wood and the wood burning stove along with a disassembled pontoon boat proved to be challenging but doable. 

Going straight from work, I met Nick and Alex at about 6:00 at the Weeping Rock campground.  We found a site with a tent pad big enough for the Alaknak and had it set up by 7:00, right when it got dark.  The evening was gorgeous and we set up a campfire for Alex to fix us bratwursts for dinner.  With the clear skies we took a few moments now and then to look at the constellations.  

 We set up the three cots, table and stove.  Since it was so warm that evening we didn’t start the fire in the stove, although it was cold the next morning.

Inside the tent we used the propane heater to take the chill off and used the propane stove to boil water for the oatmeal.  The next evening we did start the fire in the stove, even though again it was a warm evening.  

The stove did a wonderful job keeping the tent nice and toasty.  I checked on the spark arrestor a couple of times and it did the job.  The roof protector also worked well and there wasn’t any concern about the safety of the tent.  

We were able to cook dinner, cans of stew, right on the stove.  It took about the same amount of time to get the stew boiling as did the propane stove. The tent was nice and warm in the morning which made it so much easier to get up and fix breakfast.  The only downside was that the fire needed attention quite often during the night to keep it going.  We boiled water right on the stove for the oatmeal.  The following evening, since it was warm again, we didn’t keep the fire going all night but rather, got the fire ready to start so that in the morning, before getting up, someone could easily start the fire, go back to bed and the tent would be warm by the time we got up.  

Crowds and Raccoons On First Section Below Fontenelle

The first section below the dam closes to fishing the end of September to protect the spawning kokanee.  We were able to see the bright red Kokanee swimming upstream, similar to the salmon in Alaska.  

During the month of September this stretch seems to be the most popular section to fish, not only because of the good fishing but there are fewer weeds in the river to contend with.  Floating this stretch of river we found people in every fishable spot.  

One spot in particular not only had fisherman lining the shore but also an audience.  Up on the ledge above the river were several trucks lined up with spectators in front watching the fishing.  Some of these fellows Ron and I spoke with the day before.  

They highly recommended this spot, with details regarding the large fish they’ve caught from this spot and the particular methods that were successful.  The most successful being large split shot with a night crawler.

That evening while getting ready to go to bed (sleeping bag really) I sat my toothbrush down on the picnic table seat and while I turned around to rinse my mouth out a raccoon grabbed my toothbrush and spilled over my glass of water.  

Its mate was under the picnic bench and both of them looked at me with their beady eyes as if to say, we’re raccoons, this is what we do.

Later on that night after it turned completely dark I shined my flashlight at a large hoot owl in a nearby tree.  It swooped down right above my head.  I could feel the swoosh of the wind.  If I would have been wearing a hat, it would be gone.