Retired Coast Guard officer, game guide, bush pilot and air taxi operator, Frank was first and foremost an avid sport fisherman and he always carried a fishing pole in his airplane.  In the summer of 1960, while flying over the Italio, he noticed that a number of cutthroat trout had schooled at the confluence of the Italio and Back Rivers.  Landing his airplane on the beach, he walked over the sand dunes and spent several hours trout fishing in the beauty and solitude of a natural campsite.  He applied for and was given a special use permit from the Forest Service to occupy the site and to maintain two seasonal tent frames which, in conjunction with his Dangerous River camp he used for waterfowl, moose and bear hunters as well as an occasional sport fisherman and nature photographer.  In 1961, after a lumber barge conveniently grounded on the nearby Gulf beach, his permit was upgraded and he was allowed to build a permanent cabin on the site.  He hired George Bogren and George’s son Rusty to build the cabin from the barge’s salvaged beach tossed lumber. At the time, the Akwe River was three miles to the east and a formidable sand dune system separated it from the site.  By 1986 however, the Akwe had advanced westward, eroded the dune system and joined with the Back River. 

The Italio flows south from its mountain lake source to its confluence with the Back and in 1961 made a westerly 90 degree turn. The loss of the dune system in 1986 forced the Italio to make a 180 degree turn to the east and join the Akwe.  The entire campsite including the cabin was now in the direct path of all three river systems and doomed.  A new campsite was needed.

Jake Jacobson, a very close family friend who had managed the camp for Frank, together with Skip scouted a site about half a mile up the Italio and they requested permission from the Forest Service to relocate the camp.  Permission was granted and construction plans begun. A DC-3 was chartered to transport materials from Yakutat to a beach site about four miles west of the construction site.  Materials were transported by pack frame and canoe to the site (Hey! We were young then and between Skip and Jake we had three teenage sons, Frank, Tim and Vince).  The original cabin was dismantled and essentially reconstructed as a second storage facility.  Jake and his family were given a part ownership interest in the camp and they continue their involvement.

Frank Died in 1999 but his spirit still manages the camp.  Per Frank, customers are friends, God exists and He has designated us caretakers, never owners and the experience of the camp is to be protected for future generations.