#6 Life in Alaska with Matt Snader #alaskaadventures

Ajouté : 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]So, you've met nice big fish and halibet and the bear. What about Bigfoot?

[00:00:05]>> I I'm not worried about going out in the woods and get ripped up by a Bigfoot.

[00:00:08]>> Sure.

[00:00:09]>> I I still uh kind of am skeptical, but there's been enough uh I know people firsthand that claim they have saw them. Yeah.

[00:00:20]>> And they're and they're not crazy people. So, >> all right. Well, good afternoon and welcome to the podcast. Today we are in the Sunshine State and um I have a guest with me today all the way from Homer, Alaska.

[00:00:39]>> Well, a little little bit north of Homer.

[00:00:41]>> North. Oh, yeah. What is the town exactly?

[00:00:43]>> Uh Clam Gulch. Yeah, it's close to Satna.

[00:00:46]>> See, when I think of you, I always think of Homer. That's because we went down and went fishing. Right.

[00:00:51]>> Right.

[00:00:52]>> But anyway, thanks for joining us today.

[00:00:54]And I have Matt Sned with me. And some of you may not know who that is, but others know very well who Matt is. He's written a number of books. He's got a monthly magazine that goes out. He's done some videos in the past. And so, we're going to talk a little bit about his life in Alaska and also some of the books. If you haven't read them, you need to check them out. And we're going to have a link here uh in Yeah. in the description. So, welcome, Matt.

[00:01:19]>> Well, thank you. It's great being here with you.

[00:01:22]>> Yeah. Yeah. So, we're enjoying the beautiful weather here and uh beautiful sunshine today. So, >> yeah, I'm really appreciating the warm weather. It's not It's not warm at home right now.

[00:01:32]>> Yeah. How cold is it there?

[00:01:33]>> Uh, well, I heard we just got like 2 feet of snow, so I don't know how cold it is, but it's obviously below freezing, >> right? So, how cold does it get there?

[00:01:42]>> Uh, -20 is about the worst we see at our place because our house is only 2 miles off the coast.

[00:01:48]>> Gotcha.

[00:01:49]>> So, that kind of moderates the climate.

[00:01:51]Yeah.

[00:01:51]>> Right. Right there. If you go My brother-in-law lives about 40 minutes from us. Yep.

[00:01:57]>> And they they've seen negative -40 this winter, right?

[00:02:00]>> Yeah.

[00:02:01]>> So, gets quite a bit colder.

[00:02:03]>> That's cold, but it is a drier cold, right?

[00:02:05]>> It it is, but it's you you can tell it's cold.

[00:02:07]>> I mean, it's still cold. Absolutely.

[00:02:09]Absolutely.

[00:02:10]>> That's not the windchill. That's the actual >> Right. Exactly. Exactly. So, um Matt, you like you weren't born in Alaska. You were a Pennsylvania guy, right?

[00:02:19]>> That's right. Yeah. I was born in Lancaster County.

[00:02:21]>> Okay. So, good old Yeah. Good old Lancaster County. So, what what takes you to Alaska? Like, why are you in Alaska? And how long have you been there?

[00:02:30]>> Well, my first question is I don't understand why everybody in Lancaster doesn't rush to Alaska and live there.

[00:02:36]>> But you probably don't want them to, do you?

[00:02:38]>> No, I don't don't really want them to.

[00:02:40]So, um, so it started out, uh, in 2013.

[00:02:44]We took our a family trip to Alaska and we were up there driving around and I think I remember where this happened. We were actually heading home heading towards I mean we were still in Alaska and my wife Marlene mentioned she said I I could live here.

[00:03:00]>> Nice.

[00:03:01]>> And and she said it in passing >> not like hey let's move next month >> but she didn't realize what effect that would have.

[00:03:09]>> Right. Exactly.

[00:03:10]>> It really resonated. I never let her forget that.

[00:03:13]>> Yeah.

[00:03:13]>> So we moved up the next year. So >> Okay. So you've been there 10 years. No.

[00:03:18]>> No. No longer than 10 years.

[00:03:20]>> Okay. Well, >> so 2013 you said so 13 years. Yeah.

[00:03:24]>> Be actually 12 and a half about.

[00:03:27]>> Nice. So what do people do for work? Uh I mean in Alaska, isn't it just skiing and fishing?

[00:03:33]>> Well, we have to do a few more things than that.

[00:03:35]>> I got you.

[00:03:36]>> Uh so a lot of people are in construction. Most of my friends are in the construction industry.

[00:03:41]>> Yeah.

[00:03:42]>> In one way or another. My brother-in-law does garage doors.

[00:03:45]>> I have friends that build sheds.

[00:03:47]>> Sure. and and then there just regular building houses or >> Mhm.

[00:03:52]>> offices or whatever.

[00:03:53]>> Yeah.

[00:03:54]>> So, construction's a big thing. There's a lot of building going on there.

[00:03:58]>> Sure.

[00:03:58]>> All the time it seems like >> and and it pays well.

[00:04:02]>> Yeah.

[00:04:02]>> Um I know some people that are into commercial fishing, not as many.

[00:04:06]>> And then aviation would be another one.

[00:04:08]I have some friends that are airplane mechanics, >> fly airplanes, and those people I know are all like involved with missions.

[00:04:17]>> Okay.

[00:04:18]>> But there are a lot of uh regional carriers like small airlines, charters >> that you could find employment with as like a pilot or airplane mechanic.

[00:04:27]>> Yeah, I know. When I was at your church here a couple years ago, there was there was a guy there that was was a pilot or >> Yeah, there's several several pilots at our church. The one flies for Northern Air Cargo. He flies really big planes.

[00:04:41]>> Yeah.

[00:04:41]>> Um the other the other folks would all be uh you know flying like small >> I mean some of them are twin engine but they would all be smaller planes typically.

[00:04:53]>> Yeah. I think we need to watch our back here.

[00:04:55]>> Yeah.

[00:04:56]>> We got a body of water behind us and uh you know I keep my eyes out for alligators. You know I'm hoping to see one.

[00:05:02]>> Are you? Well, I see like five or six turtles right now, but uh >> yeah, I keep seeing the turtles swim past >> see a gator just yet.

[00:05:10]>> So, Matt, what do you do?

[00:05:12]>> Uh, so that's a complicated question.

[00:05:14]I'm sure my my daughters just told me today they hate when people ask them what their dad does for work.

[00:05:19]>> They do not know how to answer that.

[00:05:21]>> It's not an easy question. So, I I write books. Um, I used to have an advertising business that I sold in 2014. So, I don't have that anymore. Yep.

[00:05:31]>> Um, we have a couple Airbnbs.

[00:05:33]>> Yep.

[00:05:34]>> And, uh, and we have a magazine we write, we publish every month.

[00:05:38]>> We also have a bakery. I'm a partner in a a bakery in Satna. It's called the Farmhouse Bakery.

[00:05:44]>> Okay.

[00:05:45]>> Has a lot of traditional Menanite Amish type foods, baking, and that kind of thing.

[00:05:50]>> Yep. So, you don't really do chartering, you like fish, like fishing charters.

[00:05:54]People think I do because I have a boat and and I get calls all the time, but no, I don't do any chartering, right?

[00:06:00]I'm not not for hire >> and yeah, I don't like that pressure like people are I I can't imagine the pressure if they were paying a couple hundred.

[00:06:08]>> Exactly. Yeah.

[00:06:09]>> Where where you you know I I'd really feel like I let them down and you some days you just don't catch fish.

[00:06:15]>> Exactly. Exactly. Which we had that experience almost. We'll talk about that a little bit later. But what is the most interesting thing that you caught or the biggest fish you caught? Like I mean what's been your most standout experience?

[00:06:26]>> Uh definitely would be a halibit. So we caught the one it was a couple years ago. We caught a 185 lb halibit.

[00:06:33]>> It took us two hours to pull it in.

[00:06:35]>> Nice.

[00:06:36]>> And and that was that was definitely a highlight. They get a lot bigger than that. The state record is almost 500 lb.

[00:06:44]>> But 185 lbs is pretty big. It's a lot bigger than normal.

[00:06:49]>> Wow. Like a normal size might be uh 15 lbs or 20 lb.

[00:06:54]>> Yeah. Yeah. And so what I mean how heavy a line do you need for something like that?

[00:06:59]>> Uh we you could catch something like that on 80 lb test lighter even if you were careful.

[00:07:04]>> Yeah.

[00:07:05]>> I usually use 100 lb tests on our reels.

[00:07:08]>> Yeah.

[00:07:08]>> I have one rod and reel in the boat with 250 lb test >> that will sometimes set up for big fish or >> uh sometimes you see salmon sharks swimming around.

[00:07:18]>> Gotcha. I'd love to catch one of them.

[00:07:20]You need a 20 foot steel leader.

[00:07:22]>> And so I try and keep that equipment on the boat so if we see a shark, we can quick get set up. But we haven't caught one yet.

[00:07:28]>> Haven't seen that yet. Huh.

[00:07:29]>> But that that would be my dream to catch a big salmon show.

[00:07:32]>> Yeah. So you also do hunting.

[00:07:35]>> Oh yeah. I love to hunt. Uh probably too much, but >> yeah. Oh, by the way, maybe this is a good place to mention this. So back last summer in summer of 25, so I will date it here. summer of 25, we came up to see you and we filmed five different music videos. But prior to coming, we So, I called Conrad Fischer, which is a friend of mine, and we wrote a song that I think should be the state song for Alaska. What do you think?

[00:07:59]>> So, too. Absolutely.

[00:08:01]>> Um, >> I'll vote for it.

[00:08:02]>> Yeah. Uh, but in that song, you know, we talk about the Adid Trail because that's a I mean, is that a pretty famous trail, right?

[00:08:09]>> Yeah. So that's the trail that the sled dog race it is is held on every year u that goes from Anchorage to Gnome. It's a little over a thousand miles and and the route can change year to year but it's typically 1,000 miles give or take a little bit.

[00:08:23]>> Yeah.

[00:08:24]>> I was say because you I mean you actually wrote I mean about the trail.

[00:08:27]Is it in the book?

[00:08:28]>> It's in the book a thousand miles on the Ditroad Trail. Gotcha.

[00:08:32]>> So our original goal we we were pretty naive at first. So we we have friends that live in McGrath, Alaska, which is on the Adid Trail. It's about 300 miles from Willow. So you can drive to Willow and then you need to drive snowmobiles the rest of the way.

[00:08:49]>> Wow.

[00:08:50]>> And so it's a it's called a groom trail.

[00:08:53]Like if you hear people So growing up in Pennsylvania, I think of a groom trail like something you'd see at a ski resort.

[00:08:59]>> Okay. Well, you go out there and and like the groom trail just means that one person rode a snowmobile through there before you, if that. So, >> wow.

[00:09:08]>> Uh, so we were d So, the first time we tried it, we ended up way over our head, literally in snow. Um, it required a higher skill set than we had. So, we only made it maybe a hundred miles in.

[00:09:22]And, and we actually got stuck and slept in a this little cabin we found for the night. And it was so cold. I don't know how cold it was, but there was a there was a little wood stove in the cabin and we had the wood stove running wide open and there was wood there and I had a bottle of Gatorade between me and the stove and during the course of the night it froze solid.

[00:09:42]>> Unbelievable.

[00:09:43]>> So, it was pretty cold that night >> and you don't know whose cabin it was.

[00:09:46]>> Well, we did cuz in the even so it's a long story. I have to read the book. But to to summarize real quick, the the uh the lodges along the trail are used to people coming through that don't know what they're doing.

[00:09:58]>> Sure. Yeah.

[00:09:59]>> Which we would one of those.

[00:10:00]>> You fell in that category.

[00:10:02]>> And so we show up driving brand new snowmobiles wearing brand new gear and they're like these people just they don't know what they're doing.

[00:10:09]>> So they they said, "Hey, call us when you get to the next lodge." We were going to spend the night at Rainy Pass Lodge. And I said, "Okay, yeah, we'll let you know." And I thought, "That's weird. Why would they care?" But the reason they did is because if they don't hear from you, they call search and rescue. So, we uh hit the trail, got stuck in the cabin, and we weren't uh we had a lot of gear. We weren't like at risk to die or anything.

[00:10:34]>> And it was cold.

[00:10:36]>> So, that morning, some guy shows up in a snowman, but we were packing up getting ready to leave, and this guy comes on a sled, and we're like, "Oh, who's this?"

[00:10:43]Hopefully, he's the owner of the cabin.

[00:10:45]It's generally considered in rural Alaska like that, especially if you're out late at night, you have problems and there's a cabin that you can you're >> it's considered okay to go in and sleep in there. It's not like comfortable to do that. Yeah.

[00:10:57]>> Because you know, you could be in a bad problem otherwise.

[00:11:00]>> And so we weren't I was I was a little nervous, but I wasn't like worried I was gonna get arrested.

[00:11:06]>> Sure. Yeah.

[00:11:06]>> And so here was the guy that owned the cabin and he's like, "Hey, my name's so and so." And he's like he's like, "The police are out looking for you." And I was like, "Oh no." Like, "It must be really," My first thought was, "It must be really bad to like stay in this cabin." But that's not why the police were after us. They were the lodge. We didn't hear from us. And I had a satellite in reach so I could have communicated >> and we never got to the next lodge. So I was like, "Well, I'm not going to tell her we got it." Never occurred to me to tell her, "Hey, we didn't get to the next lodge, but we're safe."

[00:11:38]>> And so she figured we're out in the snow somewhere stuck.

[00:11:41]>> Hadn't heard from you. And they actually had a helicopter out looking for us and the state police were looking for us and it was very embarrassing.

[00:11:48]So >> overall though it sounds very exciting, right?

[00:11:51]>> Yeah, it was exciting. Yeah.

[00:11:53]>> Wow. So, uh, so how many miles is the Adid Trail? I think you mentioned earlier, but >> it's a thousand.

[00:11:58]>> It's 1,000 miles.

[00:11:59]>> Yeah. One way they run from Willow to Gnome.

[00:12:02]>> Yeah.

[00:12:03]>> One way is about a thou.

[00:12:04]>> It depends on the year, but generally a thousand.

[00:12:07]>> Sure. So, we only went uh so coming back out, we went a 100red or 200 miles maybe.

[00:12:13]>> Mhm.

[00:12:14]>> And so, we wanted to go the get the whole way to McGrath. Sometime I'd still like to drive the whole way to Gnome. But, >> sure, >> the next trip uh we ran right ahead of the Adid sled dog race, which is in March 2nd or 3rd or fourth, somewhere around there every year.

[00:12:30]>> It's it's I think it's the I forget.

[00:12:33]There's some kind of pattern where it's the first Friday or Saturday of March or something.

[00:12:39]>> So anyway, right before the trail, they run sleds the whole route and make sure everything's okay. Sure.

[00:12:44]>> And so it's it's groomed a little bit better than we had been trying to go and it wasn't groomed at all.

[00:12:49]>> Yeah.

[00:12:50]>> So we ran in and we got to McGrath and it was >> that trip went well. Uh we still I mean every trip has its weird quirks like you'll you'll hit overflow somewhere where there's water on top of the ice.

[00:13:05]>> Y >> uh and then the next year we did it again. Um and so all the all our trips added up to like 1,600 miles.

[00:13:13]>> Wow.

[00:13:13]>> But I I just called it 1,000 miles when they did a road trail to keep it simple and easy.

[00:13:18]>> It I mean it makes a good book title, >> right? But I mean, you know, when you're out doing something like that, I mean, it's not like here in the States where I mean, here in the southern states where >> hey, you know, you know, there's a town that's, you know, that's two miles up.

[00:13:30]Like, you're out in the wilderness.

[00:13:31]>> Yeah. There's there's a 100 miles or more between checks or lodges >> and then also you're in the debt of >> you're in the Yeah. And it it could be negative. We don't like riding if it gets colder than -30. Yeah. So like on our way back from McGrath the second time we drove back through >> and it was -30 and that that was if it would have been any colder we would have just waited a day or two.

[00:13:56]>> Um cuz you have equipment break any any problem you have is greatly amplified.

[00:14:02]>> Exactly. But yeah, so um last summer we were up there and you were very kind and took us out. We did some fishing and we did some filming for, you know, for some of the music videos and we had a like a great time. I'm, you know, as I think back across the I think the worst day then was my best day now, you know, as I think back across it.

[00:14:25]>> But we went out I mean, you have to help me out. We drove through the long tunnel and then went out um a fort something.

[00:14:31]>> Whittier.

[00:14:32]>> Whittier.

[00:14:32]>> Yeah, it was a fort in a sense. It was an old army base. But >> yeah, Whittier, the town of Whittier.

[00:14:37]one way tunnel 2 m long.

[00:14:40]>> But we went out to a big glacier. Well, we saw a couple glaciers, right? But the one really big one, >> Blackstone Bay glacier. Yeah, >> it was cold. And by the way, if you want to see videos of that, you can look at How Great Thou Art and a song titled Alaska that that'll be coming out really soon. It'll probably be out by the time you see this video. Um, but we have >> a behind thescenes video of that.

[00:15:02]>> Oh, yeah. That's right. The behind the scenes. But you know what I found fascinating is as we came up to the glacier uh I was getting cold like I was feeling the co and it's not like we were you know 500 ft from it. We were a couple miles from it yet. Right.

[00:15:18]>> Yeah. Yeah. The glaciers really impact the weather.

[00:15:22]>> Yeah.

[00:15:22]>> So like the weather in Alaska is unpredictable. Yeah. And part of it is because you have these huge mounds of ice >> and and huge. Like when we say huge we mean like >> huge.

[00:15:32]>> Hundreds of feet tall. Yeah.

[00:15:34]>> And then you have the sun come out and it gets warm and you get these thermal currents interacting with the cold from the ice and you can get crazy weather happening real fast.

[00:15:43]>> Yeah. Yeah. And then we would get I mean, you know, as we were maybe a couple miles from the glacier, the big chunks of ice floating in the >> floating in the u Yeah. in the water there >> in the bay. And that ice is thousands of years old.

[00:15:55]>> Yeah, that's crazy. I like Yeah, it's unbelievable.

[00:15:59]>> Yeah, even Ken Ham would say that. It's not like an evolution thing.

[00:16:02]It's literally thousands of years old.

[00:16:04]>> Yeah.

[00:16:05]>> So, we were out there. We were on the Snater Raider, which I understand you're getting a new boat, and I want to ask you about that a little bit later, but we were out on the Snater Raider, >> and you know, I'm going to tell it myself a little bit here. We're cruising across the water. It's foggy. We've already fished a little bit. We're not having a very good day. So, everybody's kind of, you know, down under a little bit. I need to go to the restroom. So, I'm in the restroom. And this is the kind of restroom where you walk in and back out. Like, it's pretty tiny. Right.

[00:16:31]Right.

[00:16:32]>> And so I'm in there and you know, we're riding across the water and I've got my knee propped up against the wall. You know, I'm trying to be careful here and all of a sudden, I mean, I thought we had an accident. Like it was a loud noise and the boat just came down a very sudden stop. And I was positive that we hit another boat or we ran into a whale or something. I didn't know what happened.

[00:16:55]>> Well, boats do hit whales sometimes.

[00:16:57]>> Yeah, I'm sure. But then what exactly happened? And I don't even know know if I like Did we hit a chunk of wood or something?

[00:17:03]>> Um, was was that before we we filmed you singing? We hit a log.

[00:17:08]>> Yeah. Yeah, that was >> hit a log and and that was the hardest ever hit a log.

[00:17:13]>> So, >> it freaked me out. I I thought, "Okay, we're we're all dead. We're going to sink right now.

[00:17:19]We're all dead."

[00:17:22]>> That was just a blip on the radar.

[00:17:23]>> I got you. I got you. But anyway, we we kept moving around and trying different spots and it looked like we were going to be skunked.

[00:17:31]>> Yeah, we had caught a few fish, but they were all very small.

[00:17:34]>> Yeah. And then all of a sudden, we got out and and and yeah, Lucas got some really good uh you know, footage of the scenery there and birds and and Yeah. Uh sea creatures, whatever. Uh but then all of a sudden somebody landed a good hook and then we just like we were just nailing them one after another. We just did really well. I mean ended up doing good.

[00:17:57]>> Three in a row. Are we going to tell them how big they were or should we save that for the behind the scenes?

[00:18:02]>> Sure. Why not? What was the biggest one?

[00:18:05]Cole. Cole caught the biggest one.

[00:18:06]>> Yeah. 85 lbs.

[00:18:07]>> Man, >> which which is which is a good size halibit.

[00:18:10]>> That's huge. Like Cole's Cole's six feet. So he's same height as I am. and and uh he held the halibet up and he was like he's holding that thing right here and it's just off the floor of the boat like just off the floor. So it was basically 6 ft long >> probably. Yeah.

[00:18:28]>> Um but he's holding that and then I think the biggest one I caught was like 25, right? Or was it 35 maybe?

[00:18:35]>> I think it was >> Oh yeah. Joshua, he's sitting back here.

[00:18:37]Joshua. Joshua, your biggest one is how big?

[00:18:40]>> 25. I think Josh caught the biggest one before we hit those three in a row and we caught them back to back. It was within like 20 minutes.

[00:18:47]>> Oh, it was crazy.

[00:18:48]>> And the crazy part is I thought, well, here we found a great spot, >> right?

[00:18:53]>> So, I think it was a God thing because I went back to that spot three or four times and haven't gotten a bite there.

[00:19:00]>> So, yeah, we we done fished it empty.

[00:19:04]>> We've cleaned it out.

[00:19:05]>> That's hilarious. So, um Oh, yeah. By the way, tell me about the boat. So, you know, you had the Snater Raider.

[00:19:11]>> Oh, yeah. I actually just sold it.

[00:19:13]>> Okay.

[00:19:14]>> And and I felt sad when I sold it. I wish I wish I could have just kept it cuz I really like the boat.

[00:19:18]>> Yeah. It's a great boat.

[00:19:19]>> Yeah. It's a It's a 28 foot long Raider Hall. So, that's where the name came comes from. It's a Raider boat.

[00:19:26]>> Yeah. And it's it's in three or four of our music videos and in the behind thescenes thing. Yeah.

[00:19:32]>> So, if anybody wants to see it, you can check it out.

[00:19:34]>> And And that one has twin 300s on.

[00:19:37]>> Yeah. and handled the water great. I've taken it to Kodiak multiple times. Took it over to Kodiak and shot Kodiak bears with it. Wow. Like f had fantastic like like when you say this is a once in a lifetime moment. I've had several of those that boat.

[00:19:54]>> So what what kind of bear?

[00:19:56]>> Uh Kodiak bear. So it's like >> so that so that is its own kind of bear.

[00:20:01]>> Yeah, that's a subspecies of brown bear.

[00:20:03]>> I got you.

[00:20:03]>> So like a grizzly bear is a subspecies of brown bear I think. Maybe or maybe it's the other way around, but they would be similar to polar bears. They're they're really big. They're not white, but they're as big as a polar bear.

[00:20:14]>> So they're So they're big.

[00:20:15]>> Yeah, they're the biggest biggest ones.

[00:20:17]>> Oh, wow.

[00:20:18]>> Besides polar bears.

[00:20:19]>> So have you ever had a close call with a bear, grizzly, whatever?

[00:20:23]>> We've encountered them while we were hunting deer. Not hunt like we didn't want to see them. We >> sure >> they're the most threatening when you're cutting up deer cuz they really like to eat deer. So, >> and they smell it and >> Yeah. So, the the only place to find deer close to our place, well, aside from Prince William Sound is is Kodiak or the Kodiak Islands, like a fog neck.

[00:20:46]And >> what adds a lot of excitement is you never know one of the when one of these things is going to come out of the bushes and try and take the deer you just shot and you're cutting up.

[00:20:56]>> So, >> so a knife in one hand and what I mean what in the other hand?

[00:21:00]>> A rifle or a big handgun. Often we'll have somebody stand there and watch the bushes while somebody's cutting the We've never had a a deer get stolen, but we've had them come up and like watch us like you know that they know that there's treats there when you leave cuz you let the deer carcass there. You cut the meat off.

[00:21:18]>> So they're just waiting for you to leave.

[00:21:19]>> They're waiting for you to leave. And that's kind of unnerving because he like what if he gets impatient and uh you know they're they're hard to kill if they're wound up. Like I've heard it takes a minute for them to die if they if they're full of adrenaline.

[00:21:34]>> Oh yeah.

[00:21:35]>> You can blow their heart up and they'll still go for a minute or more wide open.

[00:21:39]>> They can do a ton of damage in 60 seconds.

[00:21:41]>> You basically have to shoot their brain their their you have to shoot their brain or their their spinal cord if you want to stop them right away.

[00:21:49]>> Wow. And that's a really small target when they're running around and when you're all worked up.

[00:21:54]>> For sure. So >> because the bear is not the only thing that's got the adrenaline going, >> right? Right. There's just they they like you can go in an airport and you can see the bear mounts in anchorage >> and when you see them in the woods, they seem three times the size.

[00:22:10]>> I'm sure there's just something about them running around right in front of you where you're just like it feels like like it's elephants or something. Yeah, I'm sure.

[00:22:20]>> So, >> wow.

[00:22:21]>> So, um so I want to get to some of the things that you have coming up, but >> um yeah, before we do that, like so there's this thing that goes along, I think, with uh yeah, with Alaska, >> uh and especially One Island, the whole thing about Bigfoot.

[00:22:36]>> Oh, Bigfoot.

[00:22:37]>> So, you've met nice big fish and halibet and the bear. What about Bigfoot?

[00:22:42]>> So, people ask me, do I do I think Bigfoot's real? That that is a difficult question.

[00:22:48]>> Sure.

[00:22:49]>> So yeah, there is a town uh a ghost town and we actually went and slept there.

[00:22:55]Nothing strange happened.

[00:22:56]>> Okay.

[00:22:56]>> Cole was along your son Cole. Um >> and supposedly the town was evacuated in the in the 1940s because of of Bigfoot attacks or Sasquatch attacks they called. And it seems like utter lunacy.

[00:23:11]Um, but there's um interviews online of of the people that lived in the town, videos of them doing interviews saying how they it was killing people and ripping them apart.

[00:23:23]>> Wow.

[00:23:24]>> So, that is I find fascinating.

[00:23:26]>> Yeah.

[00:23:27]>> I I'm not worried about going out in the woods and get ripped up by a Bigfoot.

[00:23:31]>> Sure. I I still uh kind of am skeptical of the whole Bigfoot thing, but there's been enough uh I know people firsthand that claim they have saw them and they're and they're not crazy people. So, >> yeah, >> I either have to say, "Well, these I I don't know what box to put."

[00:23:52]>> Yeah. You don't know what to do with it.

[00:23:53]So, >> yeah, it's an interesting subject for sure.

[00:23:56]>> Right. Um, >> well, no, I just had to ask you that because I mean I know it, you know, it Yeah, it kind of floats around. Yeah.

[00:24:02]>> And also knew you guys went to the island.

[00:24:04]>> Yeah.

[00:24:05]>> But um >> Well, it's actually a port. Yeah. It's on the mainland, but it's right at the end of the peninsula.

[00:24:10]>> I gota >> um >> So, so you have a new boat on the uh Yeah, on the horizon.

[00:24:14]>> I do, Lord willing. Um yeah, I I'm super excited. Never thought I'd ever in my life be able to get a boat like this.

[00:24:23]>> Wow. Um, it uh it's 40 it's going to be 40 feet long, have three 300 horsepower outboards instead of two.

[00:24:33]>> And uh it's going to be equipped with a seaeper, which is a gyroscope. So if you get in rough waves >> boat level or more level, I mean, if you're in rough seas, nothing's going to keep it, you know, flat as >> a pancake. But so I'm really excited about that. We're going to drive it up from Seattle. The boat's being built in Kovville, Washington at the Raider factory. It's a It's a custom build.

[00:24:55]It's their Illusian series.

[00:24:57]>> Okay.

[00:24:58]>> It's going to be all aluminum and it's going to have a a sleeping birth up front and in the floor >> and it'll have a little tiny kitchen.

[00:25:06]>> It'll have a a bathroom with a shower, but before you're too impressed that it it's basically what you were in except there's a shower head up top. So, Right.

[00:25:15]>> So, you got to back in and hose yourself off.

[00:25:18]>> Right. So, so isn't this called a yacht at this point?

[00:25:21]>> Uh, well, I'm afraid that there's a stigma with that. So, like I prefer to call it a fishing boat.

[00:25:27]>> I got you. I got you. It works better.

[00:25:29]Huh.

[00:25:29]>> Yeah. It It's not a yacht in that we don't have fullsize beds in there, like plush carpet. Like the fish would really stink that up.

[00:25:37]>> Exactly. Because when you're out fishing, things get messy in a hurry.

[00:25:40]>> You got fish slime over the whole boat.

[00:25:42]I don't know how, but like it'll be all over everything.

[00:25:44]>> Exactly. And I saw that last summer. I mean, there was stuff there was there was stuff everywhere. So, how many miles is it from where you're picking up the boat to where you're going?

[00:25:52]>> It's about 1,600 miles. So, we're going to follow the inside passage uh most of the way. And then there's a couple hundred miles from the top of the inside passage to Prince William Sound.

[00:26:04]>> And how long will that take you?

[00:26:05]>> Uh we're planning to take a month.

[00:26:07]>> Unbelievable. You can make the trip much faster if the weather like we're going to be try and be ultra conservative as far as like weather reports, sea reports.

[00:26:16]>> I have my family along. I don't want them to drown.

[00:26:18]>> Exactly.

[00:26:19]>> So, we're going to uh just take it easy, work our way up through the boat. We can sleep on.

[00:26:24]>> Uh now, we're going up in the middle of summer, so I don't know if we'll be able to find any uh any Airbnbs available, but >> we're hoping to stay at some of the towns along the way.

[00:26:34]>> Give you a bit of break once in a while.

[00:26:35]>> Yeah. Like we're going to hit like Ketchacan, Juno, like Skagway, all the cool >> historical towns.

[00:26:42]>> That's awesome. Well, I'll I'll be excited for the next time we come up. We can see the see the new boat.

[00:26:47]>> Yeah, I'd love to take you out.

[00:26:48]>> Yeah. Um, so I want to take just a quick moment and ask you to highlight some of your products. I know this one right here, and I'll put a picture of it on the screen, too. But this is the uh Yeah. Alaska Adventures.

[00:27:01]>> Yeah. You want to read the title?

[00:27:03]>> And beyond. Oh, nice. I didn't see that.

[00:27:06]Singing in the sound with Amos Rabber.

[00:27:09]How about that?

[00:27:10]>> Yeah, that's an article about when you were Nice. So, that's our August of 2025 edition.

[00:27:15]>> Oh, yeah. So, you got some pictures in there.

[00:27:17]>> Yeah, we got lots of pictures, full color, printed on good paper.

[00:27:21]>> That's awesome.

[00:27:22]>> Uh, a lot of hunting and fishing. Not all hunting and fishing. Sometimes we talk about >> places in Alaska. Sometimes places in other like >> there's art Florida articles sometimes.

[00:27:32]>> Yeah. Um, basically it's the outdoors. I have some writers that help me, too. I couldn't pull this off.

[00:27:38]>> Sure.

[00:27:39]>> Without some other riders helping because it's a, you know, every month is >> Yeah. Because this is a monthly subscription. People can get it for $48 a year. Is that right?

[00:27:47]>> Yeah. $48 a year.

[00:27:48]>> 48 bucks a year and you get this magazine coming to And if you have sons that really really enjoy hunting, fishing, all kinds of adventure because I mean, you do more than hunting and fishing. Like I saw >> I saw a video or picture and we don't have time to get into this, but where you sent >> a uh Yeah, like a limo over a cliff.

[00:28:09]>> Yeah, we we don't do that every day like >> Yeah, our old limo. We actually that was the car we drove to Alaska on our first trip, >> right?

[00:28:16]>> Uh so yeah, it was wore out and so the Glacier View car launch is held every year in Glacier View, Alaska.

[00:28:23]>> But you don't really recommend the event though, do you?

[00:28:25]>> Well, it's okay, but it gets so full of people. It's just more people than the place is >> built for and it just, you know, you wait in line an hour to get use the bathroom and stuff like that. So, >> yeah, the time you get through, you just get back in line.

[00:28:40]>> Unfortunately, there's a lot of alcohol there. I just, you know, it's >> I would hesitate. I mean, I wouldn't say, "Hey, take your whole family and rush there."

[00:28:48]>> It It's an interesting event for sure, but it's very packed with people. But yeah, I had the limo and I donated it to there and they they ran it over a 300 foot high cliff. Yeah.

[00:28:57]>> So yeah, you Amos will put a you'll put a link in the Yeah. in the description to that video.

[00:29:03]>> But yeah, we had videos inside the car.

[00:29:06]>> It goes over the cliff and you can see the inside of the car. All the stuff.

[00:29:10]>> I thought I cleaned it out, but there's trash just floats like floats in the middle >> for a few seconds >> and then all a sudden it stops floating abruptly. But >> but the point being when you're reading Matt's stuff, you like you just literally never know what you're going to come across cuz this guy's pretty Yeah. pretty adventurous. How many books do you have? Like full full books.

[00:29:30]>> So we're up to 13 >> 13 books. Your you your wife has a cookbook. Yeah.

[00:29:36]>> Yeah, my wife has a cookbook. That would be included in the 13.

[00:29:39]>> In the 13. And then you have these little >> Yeah. I call them tire kickers. Just that's what we call little halibit. I don't >> I got you.

[00:29:46]>> These little books. I have a couple of these out. This one's like about squid fishing.

[00:29:50]>> Yep.

[00:29:51]>> Deer deer hunting. A deer hunting trip on a fog neck.

[00:29:54]>> Yep.

[00:29:55]>> And this would be like my regular size >> normal books.

[00:29:59]>> Yes. Yep.

[00:30:00]>> And then we also compiled the first year of our magazine in a hard cover. The magazine's been going >> uh a year and a half, a little over a year and a half now.

[00:30:09]>> So this is the first year >> of all the magazines all in this. This is nice. It's a hard cover. very >> hard cover 400 >> well uh 400 some pages.

[00:30:20]>> Wow.

[00:30:20]>> So >> yeah. And so people can find all of this stuff on your website. Is that right?

[00:30:24]>> Yeah. On alaskadentventurebooks.com >> or I mean at stores that are around the country.

[00:30:30]>> The books. Yeah. The books are sold at a lot of variety stores, little bookstores.

[00:30:36]>> Um >> so yeah, quite a few stores sell them, too.

[00:30:39]>> That's awesome. So Matt, you have just a couple words to close us out here today?

[00:30:43]Yeah, I would like to just say I'm I'm very thankful and grateful. Um I realize >> most people don't have the chance to >> drive new boats around or >> run cars over a cliff, which you don't need much money for that, >> right?

[00:31:00]>> Uh you know, I I I feel like I've been blessed >> Yeah.

[00:31:04]>> way more than I deserve.

[00:31:06]>> Yes. And I'm I'm grateful to God that >> that I had this opportunity and that I can do these things with my family.

[00:31:13]>> Yeah.

[00:31:14]>> And I just I don't know how to put that into words, but I struggle with expressing that gratitude.

[00:31:20]>> Yeah. Yeah. I think that's been a good opportunity for you and we've been up there. We've been to your house and really enjoyed meeting your family and and Yeah. Appreciate you joining me here today. So, >> thank you. I appreciate it.

[00:31:33]>> Yeah. So, go to his website. We'll we'll have a link here. I will put it up here on one of these corners. I'll have a link to it. You can go check it out.

[00:31:40]Check out his books, his magazine.

[00:31:42]Thanks for tuning in.