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A visit to Caribou Bluff, but alas no Caribou

Monday, March 15th, 2010

My plans for this weekend included a solo trip to Caribou Bluff cabin the White Mountains NRA as a final shakedown trip before the race. Tom decided to join me at the very last minute as the warm spring conditions were too much to resist. We left town late morning and where on the the trail at around 11am. The “warm spring conditions” included a fair bit of wind, so it was not as warm as I would have liked, but still quite pleasant. I spent a bit of time chatting with a biker in the parking lot who was heading out to meet up with some skiers returning from a trip. We left a bit before the biker but he caught up with us and zoomed by as if we where standing still.

I expect in the actual race this will be the only view we will get of the bikers as they leave us in the dust.

After a couple of miles of skiing we ran into some folks we knew returning from a 5 day trip and after a bit of chit-chat, headed back on the trail. The next 17 or so miles went by quickly and as the day warmed it up it got amazingly warm and sunny. I did have a nasty spill on some overflow and wrenched my shoulder – but I survived and was soon skiing down the trail again. The overflow was quite manageable for this late in the season and was dry and fast – perhaps too fast, leading to my spill.

The trail was in great shape and the skiing was fairly fast. There was a small amount of fresh snow, but not enough to slow things down.

After four hours or so of travel we reached Beaver Creek and staring climbing up Fossil Creek Trail. This climb always seems to go on forever – its a bit of a slog but has pretty nice views.
I noticed a neat looking arch for the first time – I have travelled this trail about a dozen times and had never noticed it before. I would really like to get a chance to hike in some of this area in the summer, as the ridges look like they would be pretty good walking.

After a hour and a half or so we finally reached neared the high point for this section of trail and were treated to some wonderful views of the the White Mountains.

We then enjoyed a fun downhill to Fossil Gap Trail and a fast ski to the cabin. The days are nice and long now so even with our late start we still made it to the cabin with lots of day light. Caribou Bluff cabin is in a very beautiful spot – its up on a ridge with wonderful views.

The cabin is small but quite comfortable with a window that looks out toward the Limestone Jags – its very rewarding to sit in the warmth of the cabin and scan the nearby ridges for wildlife.

Remus enjoyed the trip in but apparently all those super long days have spoiled him – he still had an amazing amount of energy at the end of the day and spent quite a bit of time running around and exploring.

Alas, Tom’s feet had a battle with his boots – and apparently lost. Tom had replaced his ski boots due to a cracked upper and this was his first ski in the new boots – hopefully the ski was long enough to break them in for the race.
After enjoying a fine repast we turned in and hit the sack – only to spend the next couple of hours roasting due to a over stoked stove. In the morning we left early so we could get back to town with enough time to finish up the various chores that awaited our return.

The ski out was fun and fairly fast and even warmer than the ski in. We had a brief encounter with a moose who was enjoying the browse of the edge of the trail, but it quickly moved on and let us continue down the trail.

I was able to make in out though the overflow without any spills – which was quite nice.

Just past the trail shelter a super friendly snow machiner offered me a 7-up – which I gladly accepted! It was super refreshing and was much more drinkable than the near boiling water in my pack.

On the final hill into the parking lot I took Remus’s pack so we could go down the hills at a bit faster pace – Remus was a very happy dog!

Soon we were back at the trail head and driving back to town. Only 6 more days to the race!

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A leisurely 40 miles

Wednesday, March 10th, 2010

I had the day off from work and decided that it would be wonderful to do a longish day ski at a leisurely pace in the Whites. I decided to ski out to a ways past Borealis and back from mile 28, as the trail was rumoured to be in pretty nice shape. Its spring break, so I expected crowds, but I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of traffic on the trails. On the way in I saw a two people skiing out from Eleazars, and two people on snow machines leaving Borealis, and the way out two parties of snow machines and a musher, but otherwise I had the place to my self. The whites are a strange place in regards to traffic – some days I run into constant snow machine traffic and other days its completely empty.
When I waxed my skis the night before, the forecast was for a nice 20f to 25f, so I waxed up with blue Powergrip. When morning came it was 0f and I was too lazy to mess with rewaxing and just left it. Amazingly the blue Powergrip lasted the entire day, with a bit of rewaxing due to icing with the overflow. The day started windy and overcast with a fast trail due to some recent mushing traffic. I made good time and zipped a long at a good clip until 13 miles or so in, when I ran into the first batch of overflow.

A short bit of double polling and I was quickly past it, and off to the next section. The overflow continued on and off for the next 5 miles or so.

Fortunately it was pretty dry and not all that intense and thus very skiable.

My first major distraction occurred when a small owl flew over me and I photo stalked it for a while.

Besides the owl, there were large number of what appeared to me to be fairly fresh caribou tracks on the trail, something that I have not see before. I spent some time scanning the nearby hills in the off chance I would see them, but alas no luck. I would love to see some winter caribou!
I reached Beaver Creek a little longer than 4 hours since leaving the parking lot, and skied on for a ways, then stopped for lunch. My lunch was a healthy handful of bear claw almond pastries – yum, yum! They had been squished together due to my poor packing, but still tasted great. Fantastic! After shoving these down, I headed back out to the parking lot. As I crossed Beaver Creek it started to snow, and the trail began to slow down. The long ski down from the first hill past Borealis is normally a long pleasant glide, but the fresh snow pretty much did away with the gliding part. Eventually I was past by a musher and things sped up again. While the musher pasted she made a comment about how it looked like Remus was really enjoying himself.

It looked like Remus was enjoying himself because he was in fact having a lot of fun. Remus loves long trips – I think in his ideal world every day would involve a 40 mile ski. Perhaps he would prefer even longer days – so long as its not too hot Remus never seems to get tired. Shortly after we past the musher we made it to the trail shelter. I had smelt a brief wiff of smoke while crossing the last bit of overflow and was quite impressed the smoke from Eleasars could blow that far.

When I reached the trail shelter, the mystery was resolved – the shelter was unoccupied but someone must have been by recently as while the fire was almost out it was roasting hot inside! Remus and I spent 20 minutes or so hanging out in the heat of the shelter, drying off and in my case adding some tar wax for a bit more glide in the new snow. Eventually we pried ourselves out of the warm and snug shelter and headed back down the trail. The rest of the ski was quite uneventful except for a funny encounter near the trail creek trail junction – there was a blue down parka in the middle of the trail. Remus was quite suspicious, and after sniffing it, gave the scary parka a wide berth. I was not sure what to do – should I leave the jacket or pack it out – but since I thought I could hear folks on the trail ahead, I scooped up the parka and continued on. After a couple of jogs in the trail, I soon saw the travellers in the distance, and was somewhat baffled as to what was going on – there appeared to be a short gnome like person who was as wide as he or she was tall, along with two others messing with something off the trail. I as I got closer things cleared up – the gnome like creature was a young boy wearing a huge adult size parka that covered him so completely only six inches or so of this legs where exposed.. The other two were trying to dig out a snow machine stuck off the side of the trail – apparently they were on an evening jaunt out of the nearby Lees cabin. After handing back their parka I gave them a hand and the snow machine was quickly back on the trail and they zoomed off down the trail. The rest of the trail went by pretty fast and I was soon back at the parking lot, hungry but none the worse for the 40 miles. The hunger was dealt with by a nice greasy burger on the way back into town – hurra! Alas not Mias quality, but it was eaten quick enough I hardly noticed. Alas, Remus had to wait until we got home for his dinner.

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A 50 mile day

Monday, March 1st, 2010


Since the White Mountains 100 is rapidly approaching, Tom and I decided it would be a good idea to get a longer day ski in to get a feel for what it would be like. I had pitched the idea of a out and back to Caribou Bluff cabin, which would be around 60 miles total, but Tom convinced me that an out-and-back to Crowberry Cabin would be a better idea. This was a good call, as the ski was pretty fantastic – the trail was in great shape and super fast.

We made pretty good time, making it to Moose Creek cabin in under 3 hours. The weather was mostly quite nice, though pretty cold and windy in the valleys. The total time was under 11 hours, with a pretty long stop at Crowberry for snacks and to melt water.
Near Crowberry we saw some very interesting weather related mirages.

By midday the sun was out and it was wonderfully sunny and hot. Perhaps too hot.. The last couple of hills before reaching Crowberry seemed to go on forever.

Eventually we reached Crowberry and crashed on the deck, melting snow and snacking while enjoying the sun reflecting off the cabin. After relaxing for a hour or so we packed up and headed back down the trail. It was a super pleasant (though long) ski out, with a number of long pleasant downhills runs.

We almost made it back before dark, though not quite – in the last four miles or so I had to get out the headlamp. The last three miles of the trail always seems to take forever, especially in the dark. There are not a lot of identifying features, except for the signage for the ski loop junction. I am always happy to see this sign, as it means its only a quarter of a mile until the start of the final decent into the parking lot.

One short and delightful downhill later we arrived at the parking lot and were soon munching chips. My legs were not as wipped as I expected, which was good news for the 100. Dropping the 60 miler down to a 50 miler was probably a good call though – I was pretty tired when I reached the car. I also appeared to have grown several extra chins too…

I am still refining my kickwax for these long day skis – I used green powergrip (applied with a heatgun then ironed on) topped off with 4 layers of Swix VR 40 blue on one ski and Toko binder with 8 layers of Start white and 4 layers of Swix VR 40 blue on the other. Both setups seemed to work equally well, and lasted for a very long time – I had to re-top off with Swix VR 40 blue twice but otherwise had excellent kick and fantastic glide though out the day.

More photos, for the picture inclined..

The 50 mile day

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The Uninspired Ski

Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010


I had a Monday off and had plans to do a 40 mile out and back, but these plans fell though, leaving me with the day off and no firm plans… I was uninspired to try anything new and ended up doing one of my “standard” long day skis, a loop from the mile 28 trailhead of the White Mountains NRA, heading out to Moose Creek Cabin, across on the Moose Creek connector trail to the Wickersham Trail Shelter, then back out to to the mile 28 Trailhead. The trails where in fairly good shape, except for some dirt that is starting to show though on the hills.

The day started out quite fast, and I made it to Moose Creek cabin in three hours and ten minutes, which is quite fast for me, but it started snowing short after I started down the Moose Creek trail, slowing this down a fair bit.

I ended up doing this 35 mile loop in around 8 hours, 7 hours of which I was actually traveling, at least according to my GPS. The GPS has turned out to be a wonderful tool for reducing the number and length of stops – keeping its “Time Stopped” counter low is very motivational.

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A family trip to Colorado Creek Cabin

Sunday, February 21st, 2010

On a wonderfully warm and sunny Saturday, the famly and I plus some friends headed out to Colorado Creek Cabin for the weekend. Colorado Creek cabin is perfect for family trips – its not a very long trip, only six miles, the cabin is fairly spacious, and the surrounding area provides lots of distractions. Trusten and his daughter Robin snowmachined, while the rest of us (the twins, Nancy, and her niece Rabiah) skied out. The twins did not actually ski, but instead rode in the comfort of the Chariot, and had a wonderful nap on the ride in.

I am always amused by the girls and how they view shortish ski trips – they get in the chariot, go to sleep, we ski to the destination, then they wake up .. Ta Da – we are there – like magic!
I pulled the twins on the way in and out. The trail into the cabin is fairly flat (besides a short climb near the beginning of the trail), and is a pretty fast ski normally. The trail winds though a valley of black spruce and crosses two small creeks, and is normally not all that exciting of a ski. Pulling the twins changed things a bit, as the extra weight made the uphills harder, and the down hills faster.. Quite a workout.
The first stream crossing normally has a bit of overflow. On the way in it was very manageable.

On the way out it was a different scene – all tore up with about a foot of water and broken ice. I had to take the skis off and tip the chariot way back, but we made it without the twins getting wet. Or in the twins case, even waking up from slumber land.
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Once we made it to the cabin the Twins where pried out of their comfortable conveyance, they helped me gather firewood, start a fire, and get the dogs situated, and other cabin chores.

There was also the lots of snacking – riding in the chariot apparently generates quite an appetite!

Soon the rest of the crowd arrived and the fun begin. Our niece Rabiah was visiting from Boston and did a great job on the ski despite rough trail conditions.

The trail continues on past the cabin, up a large hill with a huge number of switchbacks, just steep enough for good sledding. Everyone spent several hours going up and down the hill on the sled we brought..

Eventually everyone retired to the cabin, where the younger generation where taught to play go fish by Nancy ( Lizzy kept insisting on asking people for cards she did not have, much to everyones amusement) among other entertainments. Trusten wowed us all with his fantastic sandwich retaining method – rubber bands.

After a good nights sleep everyone enjoyed pancakes and bacon (no bacon for nancy though – its hard being a vegetarian). I should point out that it was a good night of sleep for me, as I slept outside with the dogs – apparently Lizzy kept throwing off her covers, waking up, and complaining she was cold – its time for the twins to use sleeping bags it appears!
The ski out was fast, except of the broken up overflow. I ended up wading around in foot deep water and having to chance my socks, but it was not the end of the world. While heading back to town we stopped at Mias – the place of the perfect hamburger, and there was much happyness!

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The White Mountains Loop

Friday, February 19th, 2010

On a sunny and warm Sunday morning, Ms Marsh, Tom, and I set off to do a leisurely ski of the White Mountains 100 course. Our plan was to ski the first day to Crowberry Cabin, then on to Windy Gap cabin, then out. This would make for two fairly mellow days and one longish day, approximately 26 miles, 34 miles, then a 40 mile day – all very doable. I was really looking forward to the section from Cache Mountain Cabin to Windy Gap Cabin, as I have never traveled this area before and was told it was quite beautiful. The other factor is that I would probably end up doing this section in the dark and would like to have some idea about the trail before attempting to blast though it at high speed by headlamp.

The first day started quite pleasantly, with a fast trail and wonderfully sunny and warm weather.

It was a bit too hot for Remus, alas. He is really only happy in sub 0f weather.

We zoomed down the trail and eventually stopped for a bite to eat at Moose Creek cabin. We passed two snowmachiners on the trail and a solo skier, but other wise we had the trail to our selves. The trail was super smooth and fast and made for fantastic skiing.

Once past Moose Creek cabin the trail climbs up a ridge and winds though a several year old burn and offered us fantastic views.

We reached Crowberry after a little under 7 hours of skiing which included a fair bit of stopping and goofing off. This was my first trip to the new Crowberry cabin. Its a new design without a loft, but it is quite spacious and has tons of room. We had a fantasic evening reading varous magizines including a road bike racing magazine that seemed quite out of place. Tom amused us by reading excerpts from a snow machining pamphlet, which espoused the many virtues of snowmaching (creating world peace and curing cancer, for example).

After a huge dinner we hustled off to bed, eagerly awaiting the alarm summing us to a early start the next morning (some of us anyway).
The next day turned out to be equally warm and sunny, and after a breakfast of pancakes and bacon we where off. The trail out of the cabin was a continuous drop all the way to Beaver Creek. Tom added a bit more “drop” and had a tremendous crash on one of the downhills that did in one of this bindings. Tom then had the distinct pleasure of skiing the rest of the trip with one floppy loose binding.
The trail got progressively rougher as we headed to Cache Mt Cabin, with lots of exposed tussocks. These sections where fairly short though and most of the skiing was quite good.

We encountered our first bit of overflow shortly after crossing Beaver Creek. It was short and dry though, and was quite fast and fun to ski though. I was using my skinny racing style skis, and don’t get too much edging power on overflow, and so have to be careful. If only someone made stiff, narrow, metal edged (or partial metal edged) skis..

We reached Cache Mt Cabin and stopped in to read the log book and have bite to eat. Several years ago I left a book here as a joke, ‘Develop Your Psychic Abilities‘ and it was still here. Strangely, a another book I had left in the cabin as a joke, “The Instant Divorce”, was gone – go figure.
Past Cache Mt Cabin the overflow got a bit more intense, but was still quite passable.

We were now on a section of the trail that I had never skiied, and I was enjoying exploring the area. This section of trail climbs for 12 miles or so, then comes over Cache Mt Divide, and drops down to Windy Gap. The trail up into the divide offered great views and was not particularly steep until the final sections.

The divide was quite scenic and had wonderful views of the surrounding ridges.

I could have spent days exploring this area, but alas we had still had 14 miles or so to go before we reached the cabin, so we didn’t stop very long.

The trail away from the divide was fast and fun – just steep enough for some high speed skiing but not so steep as to be uncontrollable. We reached soon reached the section of trail called the “ice lakes”, where the trail disappears in small valley with wall to wall ice.

A warning to racers in the upcoming White Mountains 100 race – this section was the only section of the trail that was a bit scary for me. I skied most of it, and was out of control for a good portion of the time. The ice has a slight slant to it, and where it is slushy it is very easy to ski under control. Where the ice is hard though, it is very difficult to slow down. Twice I ended up plowing into alders at high speed when I could not slow down. I would treat this section with caution and ovoid the temptation to bomb it, unless you have skis with metal edges.

Tom and Ms Marsh put on stylish bags and yak-traks on their feet and walked this section.

After leaving the ice lakes, the most fun of trail begin (at least for me) – the trail gradually drops down to Windy Gap, winding though big trees and going over a endless series of woop-a-doos. This made for a very fun 9 miles or so of double poling. Eventually we reached Windy Gap Cabin and crashed for the night. The next morning we headed out, and started out with a long section of ice. I skied this section while Tom and Marsh walked it. The skiing was fun and super fast.

The next 10 miles of trail winded though large trees and crosses Fossil Creek numerous times. The first 5 miles or so was a fun roller coaster with lots of small rolling ups and downs which made for fun and fast skiing.

There were a couple of sections of brief overflow. These were pretty hard frozen and dry making for fun skiing. These sections could be a bit tricky during the race when I am sleep deprived.

The ridges in this area are fantastically beautiful.



This section included one of the more interesting trail finds I have encountered – there was a partially eaten wolf or long legged dog carcass on the side of the trail.

Sections of this trail had a huge number of wolf prints – it appeared a small pack of wolves had followed a creek down to the trail then followed the trail up to the windy gap area. There was a couple of bird kills marked by a large cloud of feather so it looked like the wolves were having fairly good hunting.
Eventually we broke out of the thick forest and into a old burn and soon we were past Caraboo Bluff cabin and on the hilly descent to Borealis Cabin.

Shortly after Borealis-LeFevre Cabin we ran into the BLM trail groomers on their way out to Wolf Run cabin, then to Windy Gap Cabin and out. They left the trail wonderfully smooth and fast.

It was getting a bit late, so we pushed on to the trail shelter, had dinner, and then headed out to the parking lot.

When I reached the parking lot I was greeted by a bunch of Japanese visitors waiting in the parking lot for aurora to photograph. Tom and I made it to the truck first, and waited a while for Ms Marsh to arrive. We had a number of false alarms when we thought we had seen Marsh’s head lamp, only to find it was the aurora watchers taking pictures of things with super bright flashes. Things like the trail signs, trees, the ground, and a pile of straw… there was no aurora to be seen, so perhaps they were making the best of things.

All in all it was a quite fun three days and we got to ski the entire course. Skiing the course is highly recommended for racers – there is no place where anyone with any direction sense could get lost, but there are a few sections were you have to be careful due to ice lakes, overflow, steep descents, and other tricky bits, and its good to get a feel for it before attempting it in a sleep deprived hase.

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