I got a dozer stuck a little over 40 years ago at my first house here in Alaska. It was just a small low area. I had to cut trees and buy a good chain that I never used again but I got it out. Thank God form the angle blade which I hooked the chain to and eventually worked the tracks onto some trees I cut down.

@Neveragain572 I bet that was stressful! When a dozer is stuck, that's a really tough one! I'm glad you were able to get it out without bringing in another big machine. The soil in alaska can turn to a bottomless pit so fast.

@@northtoalaska2022 I was young and got over it. A few pieces of Marston Mat would be nice. I used to see a lot of it around but not lately.

We were happy to get out of the muck too! 🙂 thank you for watching

Yes! Us too. It was several hours, but we managed. Thank you for watching!😀

Thanks, Chuck! I am a very patient person, and it was not my first situation being stuck. We used to go get stuck for fun many years ago in off-road vehicles. So we are pretty prepared for this type of stuff. Believe it or not, I did not get to the point of needing to say the "bad" words here 😂 thanks again for watching. We are glad you enjoy our videos.

In all honesty, the move to alaska has been really smooth and uneventful in terms of bad luck for us. The worst issues we have encountered are being stuck in the mud multiple times in vehicles. The soil is really unstable here, especially since it has rained for months with almost no break. Thank you for the good luck wishes!

Hey James 👋 the tooth bucket we have works really well for pushing yourself out of bad situations. This root grapple doesn't do much to help. Unfortunately, it mostly just gouges the ground out even on stable soil... this was some really mucky soil. Thanks for watching 🙂

@@northtoalaska2022 so glad you got it out without incident, always a bonus 👍😄 I love the looks of your property, so fun

Thank you for your kind words! It was several hours of work, but it worked out. Thank you for watching!

Thank you! It took several hours, but we did it! We think it might have been another spring head as wet as it was. We had a few dry days, luckily! ❤️

That's for sure! The ruts just keep getting deeper 😅

Oh my! It's not a fun job to dig out of a manure pile! The old case machines are really simple and great!

Thank you!

Thank you 🙂

Thank you 🙂

Yes! We have had so many of those recently. Luckily, those two days were dry and sunny! 😀

It was a challenge! Thanks for watching 🙂

Yes! There's nothing like a little excitement for the day. A lot of challenges here to overcome, it keeps things interesting. Thank you for watching 🙂

Haha! It was not painfull but i did break a good sweat that day, which is unusual since it has not been over 65° all summer here in Southern Kenai. Thanks for watching!

Thank you!

Unfortunately, this model skid steer is not a great candidate for the extra weight of steel tracks. The undercarriage is just not strong enough. The only person braver is the one to attempt the same job with their back and a shovel!

@@northtoalaska2022 I was amazed you even got it out of there good job

I would go out and buy my own dozer before calling for help. 😂

Thank you! It is quite steep there! The video just doesn't do it justice. The stuck side of the skid loader was nearly all clay, and it wanted to suction the machine in. Luckily, the other side was fairly stable ground 😀

Thank you!

The grousers are a great add-on for situations like this! We looked into purchasing a set for this case 1845c many years ago. But we mostly used it for snow clearing at our last property, and we were having issues breaking drive chains in the gearcase when pushing a 9 foot blade with heavy snow. With that being said, we decided not to add the extra weight of tracks to the drivetrain to try and extend the durability of the drive chains. Thanks for watching 🙂

@@northtoalaska2022 I've had zero isssues with my Cat, probably jinxed myself A 4WD tractor would be a good addition, light foot print. All youtubers have TYM's, LAMO

I would be willing to bet your caterpillar has a stronger undercarriage than this old case, so you probably won't have an issue. Case should have upsized the drive chain on the early models. It is really common to break the primary chain with heavy use, and they are not fun to replace. I'm not a fan of the mini tractors. After operating deer, kubota, and Chinese models, they were all tipsy when not on level ground with weight in the bucket. Ideally, a tracked skid steer and a mini excavator would be a great combo for a homestead in alaska that has no need to pull farm implements. But that's a large investment and not in my price range 😅

@@northtoalaska2022 My Cat 248B is a 2006 ish, purchased it new I’ve had the tracks for at least 10 years and have done/abused things the skid steer wasn’t supposed to do 😀. Fingers crossed. Totally understand the money. We enjoy your videos as a fellow KZfaqr I know how videoing adds to the task so keep plugging away

Great idea! Now that the trail is clear, I will probably let the Forrest over take it. I hope to not need the machine down there in the future. The ground is very unstable in that area. After further investigation, it looks like 6 or 7 spring heads seep from that hill side and flow down to our creek in small streams.

Luckily, we have everything we needed to get it out. We think that there may be a natural spring head under the ground there that made the ground completely saturated, and we couldn't see it until we were in it. Thank you for watching 😀

Yes, it sure did sink!

Thank you! 😀 And yes! We are glad that we had the equipment to get the skid loader out. The winching equipment has come in handy a few times, even before our move here. We are glad that the winch on the side by side was able to get it out. The ground was getting quite soft.

It was not a great situation 😅 but the work must continue, so we got it out of there!

The grousers are a great add-on for situations like this! We looked into purchasing a set for this case 1845c many years ago. But we mostly used it for snow clearing at our last property, and we were having issues breaking drive chains in the gearcase when pushing a 9 foot blade with heavy snow. With that being said, we decided not to add the extra weight of tracks to the drivetrain to try and extend the durability of the drive chains. Thanks for watching 🙂

It was a workout!

❤️❤️❤️🙂

That would make for a very useful winching device. I may try to make one of those in the future. It could come in handy quite often here!

The prices today on equipment and most other items like vehicles are very high, it really puts them out of reach for a lot of people. A new bs26 like your neibors have is about 45,000 usd. This skid steer we use was about 10,000 usd 9 years ago. In 500 hours of work time, we have only been stuck twice with the skid steer. If your ground is as soft as it sounds, you may really have to go with a track machine. They float on top of the soft soil a lot better. I'm not sure if it is a possibility for you, but the used heavy equipment market is really reasonable in lower 48 states of America , it may save alot of money to trailer a used tractor or equipment home to canada from far away. That was why we decided to haul this skid steer 5000 miles up to alaska.

@@northtoalaska2022 Sounds like you did really well with your skid steer and I wish for you that it will last another 9 years :-) I have rented a haul before but it is very expensive especially if you put any (lie over 50) miles on it. We only have a car but the next vehicle will be a SUV and a trailer. I hope to get a tractor in the next years and an excavator has been a dream of mine for quite some time. We will se how things develop. All the best for you two and greetings from Nova Scotia

I really hope you can find a good deal on a tractor or excavator 🙏 it is tough with the high prices today... thank you for the good wishes 🙂 and we wish you luck in your endeavors!

@@northtoalaska2022 Thanks! Yes, I think that we will start looking for a deal (used) tractor next year. We have started to build another house and hope to finish it next year so maybe with the additional rental income we will buy a tractor (also can claim it against the rental income then). Cheers!

The grousers are a great add-on for situations like this! We looked into purchasing a set for this case 1845c many years ago. But we mostly used it for snow clearing at our last property, and we were having issues breaking drive chains in the gearcase when pushing a 9 foot blade with heavy snow. With that being said, we decided not to add the extra weight of tracks to the drivetrain to try and extend the durability of the drive chains. Thanks for watching 🙂

We needed a trail down to our natural water spring. There is footage of the spring head undeveloped in this video. If you are interested, We have another video to release next week where we develop the spring head for water supply on the homestead. It is producing over 1500 gallons per day of clean water 😀 thank you for watching!

After having offroad adventures being one of my main hobbies most of my life I have unfortunately been in much worse situations. We came to Alaska with enough winching and recovery equipment to recover our 35k lb motorhome out of a swamp if need be but luckily we were able to move onto our property using an ice trail in the winter, and now have a proper road constructed to leave any time of the year. The ground in our valley here is unstable for a tire machine, we have found around 13 spring heads coming out of the hillside that feed the creek, it keeps the ground soggy when not frozen over in that area seen in this video. Thankfully most of our ground is much higher up than this location and dry.

I looked into buying a set of over the tire steel tracks for this machine about 8 years ago. Unfortunately, they are a death trap on ice, and this machines main purposes while I have owned it, is for snow removal, maintenance on gravel roads, and loading logs for firewood. It has done a few hundred hours of dirt work since I brought it to alaska, but prior to that, next to no dirt work . I know that a regular tracked skid steer is better in the dirt, but the price point is horrendous in comparison to what I paid ten years ago for this machine. I would never add over the tire steel tracks to this model machine because I have found that the undercarriage can not handle that much extra weight. I was able to break the drive chains in the gearbox, just pushing wet snow with a 9 foot plow, no abuse, no tire chains, just rubber tires. The extra weight of steel tracks would cause a lot of extra maintenance that I have no time for. There is a company called logering that makes a bolt on rubber track conversion with gear reduction that replaces the wheels entirely and they take some strain off of the drive chains that would be great to own and I may purchase for dirt work one day if i can locate a used set. But they currently cost more than I paid for the entire machine, and this is too much to justify when it does not make me any money. This machine spends most of its life in the yard waiting on the next homeowner project and not on a jobsite every day. Thank you for watching. I hope you enjoyed 🙂

@@northtoalaska2022 Makes sense. I was just watching you get stuck in the mud. One time thing and I understand what you’re saying. Thanks. 🙂

Haha, I wish we would have invested in a track model prior to the high current prices on the used market. Maybe one day, if this one has a catastrophic failure, it will be time for an upgrade. Thanks for watching!

We put logs and lumber under the sunken tires about three times in this video. They sunk completely into the ground and disappeared under the muck. That is when we switched to the trailer ramps to use as traction boards. Thanks for watching 🙂

Haha, yes, it was!

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That is where we developed our spring, check out our other videos for more details 😀

Great idea! Sometimes, being caught up in the moment of a stressful situation, it is tough to think of the best solution 😅

@@northtoalaska2022 Absolutely sometimes ya gotta think 🤔 Outside the box 😁👍🏼

👍👍

Yes, we do have brown and black bears here, the moose have been known to stomp humans and pets too. Overall our experience with the wildlife has been peaceful. Our dog Is very protective and tries to run off any animals that come around us when working outside so we have not had any close encounters. Unfortunately, someone about 2 hours from us was just mauled by a brown bear a few weeks ago, so it is best to be safe.

Hey Norman, I am all too familiar with the stuck in mud , blowing differentials , and needing a winch on the rear. We have a hitch mounted winch to use for situations like that after finding out the hard way many years ago it was a tool to not go deep in the woods without!

Always good to have a winch or a set of come alongs if you're gonna go out in the Bush I used my winch many times to turn my 19 foot travel trailer around because I got in too tight of a spot in the logging roads plus I used to pair a come alongs to roll my S-10 4 by 4 back up onto its wheels when it flipped over on the side with a load of wood started up and drove away course after I put the wood back in@@northtoalaska2022

Unfortunately, this is the only path available it is in between two very steep hills. The trail is only temporary to develop the water source. When complete we will allow nature to overgrow the trail.

It is a tough decision depending on primary usage and budget. A Compact track loader has a big advantage for dirt work and forestry work. If I ever bought one to use in Alaska it would need all-terrain tracks or a spare set of snow tracks because it would be moving snow on ice 6 months out of the year and dirt tracks are terrible on ice. I do not use mine to generate income so an expensive CTL sitting around only doing homeowners' chores would not be a wise decision in my case. With that said when I bought this 10 years ago it was a lot more affordable in comparison to a decent track loader. My primary usage back then was for loading firewood and plowing my private road in winter. I never imagined I would have it out working in the forest like this back then. I can say this tire machine does well plowing snow. It never has an issue moving deep stuff. Chains on the tires help a lot in the snow and mud, and it gets around well enough for me in the mud that I would not rush to upgrade to a track machine mainly because of cost. Both work out well but if you have a lot of dirt grading to do track loader is the much better choice if it is in the budget.

@@northtoalaska2022 thanks for your in-depth response. love your channel, best of luck!

👍👍👍

It is made by hoskings holsters in Idaho they have a great product and website 👍

We have 10

Hi! Thank you for watching! Our names are Katie and Chris - we post it in the description of each video😀

I think you are trying to say we need a track machine for this job? We would gladly take one if they were not 30k to 50k for a decent used one in the current market. This is a debt free homestead we are working on. The skid steer does not make us any money, although it has paid for itself time and time again over the last 10 years and many jobs it has completed. We make it work for what we need done, and it saves a lot of money without having a 50k track machine sitting idle 90% of its life in the back yard. Thanks for watching

Yes, it is a 29 good eye. 10mm is on the lighter side for moose and brown bear defense. But it's better than being vulnerable and defenseless. We carry larger caliber protection in higher population brown bear areas.

Good choice I carry my 29 or my 20 10mm all the time. Can’t wait to see more videos, great show

Thanks! We are glad you enjoy the content 😊

I may be blind and missed it but is there a video of you guys introducing yourselves and explaining your backstory and the reasons you choose this awesome lifestyle.. everyone I’ve been to Alaska or Montana it’s been a dream to do the same thing.. Vermonter here..

@joshuacorrow6796 Unfortunately, we do not have a video explaining how we ended up in alaska or who we are, but we will do something like that over the winter. We originally had no interest in doing youtube videos when we started this adventure, but we made a few short update videos for our friends and family that are back on the east coast and we were encouraged by a few close friends to make a documentary type series of what we are doing here so we are giving it a try. Our first few videos on this channel were actually the updates for our family, so we did not have the need to address who we were or what we were doing. We started with a dream just like you. Originally, we tried to buy land about 6 years ago in montana! The timeing was no good, and it did not work out for us. Recently, prices of land in montana have become out of hand. So we switched our search to alaska. Should have done it years ago, but it is quite the challenge to move 5000 miles away. We will share more of our story with everyone soon! We are rooting for you to achieve your dream as well! Thank you for watching our content. 🙂

It is really tough to choose music to go with the machinery. Classical just would not be a fit. We are working to find more neutral sound for our videos 🙂

Unfortunately, this was the only path available it is in between two very steep hills. We did not show all of the down trees in the video but that is what primarily needed to be moved out of the path to access the bottom of the hill. The trail was only temporary to develop the natural water spring. When complete we will allow nature to overgrow the trail because it will no longer be needed. In our part of Alaska, we have to dig 5 to 6 feet below grade for any amount of free gravel or stone. The top 5 feet are sand and clay then topsoil. We do not have the proper equipment to do this. I don't believe the video does the steep grade involved here any justice.

@@northtoalaska2022 fair enough. since you have hills, it might be worth opening a gravel access. but you can use wood, sawdust and sand to make packed roads sitting above the soup. i would use the trees you fell and roots as the first layer. make boxes or rails roped together under sand and clay if you cant get to rocks and gravel. you need to get rid of the water so it stays hard. but keeping the road significantly above the drainage will make a big difference. sorry not trying to criticize. i enjoy your content.

Glad to hear you like our content! Unfortunately, we do not describe the situations in the best detail. And it is even tougher to do in the text without expression 😅 I am sorry about that. I try to explain the best I can. We have come to find that the bottom of this hill has around 8 or more spring seeps underground making most of the ground saturated and almost impossible to work on. It is tough to differentiate springs from drain water here because it would not stop raining this past season. The bottom of the trail where we got stuck is a fine line to walk. According to the state of Alaska, we are not allowed to grub and dig in any natural water areas to drain them because it is a protected wetlands habitat. We do have a permit to develop our spring but we are not to disturb the other natural waterways that feed our creek. I often think building a corduroy-type trail over the soft ground at the bottom would be great but I do not want to violate the law by doing so either. Our permit gives us 2 years to complete the spring development then DNR will come out to inspect and make sure we did not "destroy" the wetlands or cut off a water source before issuing our permanent water rights to the property deed for water usage. They take any water usage and wetlands seriously here. Other than that you have a free run to do whatever you want on your property. We recently rented an 8k lb class track mini excavator to attempt to cut a shorter trail straight from our cabin build site down to the spring and trench in a water line. We found that the hill grade here was so steep the track machine could not even climb the hill. We are going to need to rent a 30k lb class steel track excavator to complete the job. That is going to push the project completion back to next summer we are just running out of time with the ground freezing up and we have a lot of projects going on at the same time that need to be completed. Alaska has been full of challenges but we are living, learning, and working day by day until we reach our goals.

@chrisoakey9841

Yes, it is. We have bears traveling through our location, and it is better to be safe than eaten by one. 🙂