I had a day to myself so I decided to be productive and to get out and do a long day ski. It was fairly cold, but there was supposed to be a strong inversion so I headed out the White Mountains to ski the hilly Mc Kay creek trail to Beaver Creek and back. After a fairly late start ( stopping for coffee and a tasty breakfast treat at Alaska Coffee Rosters slowed things down a bit), I headed up the trail at a little before 10am. The inversion was quite spectacular – it was well above +10f at the top of the first hill, much warmer than then -10f or so at the parking lot. The lowest spots on the trail where probably around -20f, cold enough that my pack got crinkly. The ski was mostly uneventful, but quite scenic, with wonderful views of the Alaska Range on the way in.
On the way up the first hill I ran into a trapper returning from checking his sets and talked for a while. The trapper took a fancy to Remus, and gave him a chunk of bait about as big as Remus’s head, which made his day. Yum, yum! Besides the trapper I was passed by 3 mushers traveling in a tight packed group, but otherwise had the trail completely to my self.
The trail was in fantastic shape and was quite smooth and reasonable skiing, with great views of the surrounding hills, including a rock formation locally referred to as “Sled dog rocks”, a rock formation that is supposed to look like a musher with a dog team.
Once the moon rose there were fantastic views of the moon over the mountains to the North and East.
While the trail was in good shape, the off trail snow cover ranged from adequate to almost non-existent. The open tussock fields were blown almost free of snow, with the tussock tops completely exposed.
The total round trip distance was 30 miles. I did not make it all the way to Beaver Creek but stopped at the top of the last hill before the creek, as I was not looking forward to the long drop down and the cold bubble waiting for me at the bottom. The trail is quite hilly, and a bit of a workout, but quite scenic and highly recommended as a out and back day ski. Next time I think I am going to explore the US Creek road and see if it would make for good skiing.
More pictures follow for the photo inclined..
The trail on the way up the first hill, complete with sunrise.
Remus, enjoying his “after huge chunk of meat” jog.
The trail winds though a number of burned areas. A few of the areas burned so completely it seemed all the trees were completely incinerated. This open section used to be in black spruce, and now is a large field of stumps and grass.
Once the moon rose I was treated by the sight of it slowly creeping across the north eastern sky as the day progressed.
More moon and alpine glow photos, hurray!
My turnaround point – thats Beaver Creek at the bottom.
Tags: day trip, mckay creek trail, skiing, solo, white mountains
Lovely, just lovely… love your pictures…The great outdoors of the last frontier.
I'm hoping to capture a nice photo of the moon tonight.