JAY'S RANDOM MUTTERINGS ON THE THINGS TO DO OUTSIDE IN ALASKA, POORLY SPELLED.
Photos from biking the White Mountains 100 course as a two night overnight trip. The trail was great, with warm weather and mostly great trails.
One item of note – few miles below Windy Gap there is a new reroute, with a good 400ft+ climb instead of a gentle downhill grade, but on the upside, no ice or overflow.
Photos from a overnight trip to Caribou Bluff cabin in the White Mountains NRA. No words, just photos today.
My daughters say the only thing I care about are bikes and dogs. I of course think they are exaggerating, but bikes (and dogs) are important to me.
My first snow bike was a Surly 1X1 I got in the 2009 time frame. It was second or third hand from an UAF grad student who built it then decided he didn’t really enjoy riding it. When I got it it was set up as a fixie, with no brakes and a really tall gear. Also the guy I got it from was at least four inches taller than me – the bike was huge!
The bike and I never really got along – a fixie in snow was a disaster (whack, whack went the pedals into my shins as I pushed it), and once a single speed freehub was added, I soon realized I didn’t like only having one gear. The Nokian Gazzaloddi tires were so stiff that once I rode several miles at sub -20f with the rear tire completely flat and didn’t notice. It did convince me though that a real snow bike would be a great idea.
I kicked around getting a “real snow bike”, experimented with SnowCat rims on my summer bike, and dinked around with other options, but nothing really worked that well. Eventually snowbikes became more “normal” and in 2010 I jumped in, buying a shiny new fancy bike from Fatback. It had a E13 fancy pants crank, UMA70mm rims, a three by nine drivetrain, and a 170mm spaced rear hub. So fancy! I think when I got it from Fatback the only one they had in my size was a shiny nickel plated bling bike.
Soon after it arrived into my eager hands I took it on a overnight trip to Wolf Run Cabin in the White Mountains NRA .. which was a bit of a failure, as after 5 miles the trail went from really nice to completely unbroken, and I had to bike back out, switch to skis.
Fortunately, other adventures with more riding ensued, and I was in love. In 2011 I did my first bike race – the susitna 100! It was fun, and a great learning experience.
Then the white mountains in 2011, and the Iditarod Trail Invitational (ITI) in 2012. Alas, just before the ITI I noticed the frame had cracked.. Fatback/Speedway cycles was great about it – they set me up very last minute on a new frame, which was way beyond what was necessary. Then I pushed my bike to Skwentna over the course of 3 days, riding it only for a maybe 15 miles on the road.
The next year I actually road it Skwentna, and then on to Mcgrath..
I had that bike for several years, and had some great adventures on it. Lots of trips around Fairbanks, two rides to McGrath on the Iditarod Trail, several White Mountains 100.
Then wider tires became available, so I moved on to a 190 spaced frame, swapping the parts over to the new frame. That bike rode to Mcgrath, and had lots of other adventures. It even just showed up in an article. The wheels live on, and are on Nancy’s (my wife) bike.
Then, in 2015 I was lured into the 1×11 world, and it was new bike time!
Alas, I rode to Mcgrath that year on the Iditarod trail, and it was really snow free. So many tussocks!
Tussocks! I cracked the seat tube in two places riding over the tussocks between Rohn and Nikolai, but didn’t release it until the following winter when I was trying to track down a creak and looked down the seat tube and there were a few cracks. Then more were discovered when I took the frame bag off. It turns out the only thing holding it together was the seatpost. Thank god for long seat posts – I had ridden the Whites 100 with this bike after the ITI, probably with the crack in place! It wasn’t as bad as some folks had it though – at least two other people snapped their frames in a similar location and at least one person had to lower their seat so the break was supported by their seatpost so thier bike didn’t snap in half.
Fatback was super nice about handling the broken frame and warrantied it, letting me trade up to a fancy pants carbon frame. Alas it was going to arrive until the early spring, leaving me without a bike for several months. So, on an impulse I got a Surly Ice Cream Truck. Surly had one of their ICT models on super clearance – I can’t resist a sale! Hopefully it would tide me over and provide a backup and commuting snow bike once my new super carbon frame arrived.
Up to this point I had just ridden Fatback fat bikes. The Ice Cream Truck was a bit of an eye opener. It rode fine, but it wasn’t as nice riding in snow as the other snow bikes I had ridden. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t ride as well. Unexciting to ride on snow, and more work in soft snow. It was fun ride on dirt though, fun enough I got some summer wheels built for it. I then talked to a frame builder about getting a custom steel frame in hopes of getting the perfect bike, made from steel and having the long term durability that a steel bike would bring me… But I was pretty worried I would get just what I asked for, but not what I wanted. At the time there was lots of discussion online about the “perfect” snow bike that looked awesome but were very different from either the Fatback’s that I enjoyed, or the Ice Cream Truck that I was “meh”ed about. Worried that I would spend a lot of time and money on a bike that rode more on the “meh” side of things, I gave that up.
The new carbon Corvus Fatback frame I got in 2016 rode like a dream. I took it to Nome twice.
This was my first carbon bike, and I rode it like mad. I put a ton of miles on it – two rides to Nome, plus two years of training and exploring on it. Alas, the last trip to Nome was a bit rough on it, and it came back really scraped up from the shipping company. New frame time again! This bike rode even nicer than the last one – sweet!
That bike has been on lots of adventures.. It has been to Nome via the southern route, from Fairbanks to Eagle, and Eagle to Central on the Yukon Quest trail, and many other fun places.
I am really attached to it now. However, after the last ride on the Yukon Quest trail, where it was banged around a bit on the flight to Eagle, and even more jostled around when it got ride in a trailer filled with with the YQ mile 101 checkpoint outhouses from Central to Fairbanks I figured it was time to start looking at something more durable than carbon.
Jeff Oatley (ITI record holder and super biker extraordinar) suggested I go talk to Greg Matyas of Fatback and see if they would be willing to make a small run of steel or titanium frames. Boom, six months later a steel frame arrived in my eager hands, designed by Fatback and made by Meriwether Cycles. Lots of parts scrounging ensued as I tracked down part from every bike shop in town, and finally it was rideable.
My first ride on it was in late evening in the dark on a five mile loop in my backyard. In the winter I try to take the dogs on it once a day, or twice if I am lucky. The bike rode fantastic!
The following weekend I made it out to the White Mountains NRA, and got a bit of riding in.
Some (rather uninspired) shots from my garage (aka the Shep the SHop/shED)
There are a few other nice touches in there, like much larger than normal lower rack mounts bolts, that I am way too lazy to photograph. A huge thank you to Greg M at Fatback, Meriwether, and my local bikes shops Beaver and Goldstream sports.
COVID has cramped my winter adventure plans like it has everyone elses and I don’t know where this thing is going to take me, but I am hoping it is going to be fun.
Dreaming of snowy adventures…
An Update
I should probably add a bit of a post script here.
First – In case I make it sound like all Fatback’s bike break: They don’t. I am a 220 lb person who has a really mashing pedal stroke who is clutz. I have worked to clean up / round out my pedalling style, and in addition to making my knees happy, I stopped breaking frames. Yay!
Second: I don’t really have any deep thoughts on snow bike design. I am not a subtle, introspective, or insightful person. When I put spice on my food, I put so much on it my daughters complain it makes their food taste bad when sitting across the table from me. When I clean the house I use so much soap and cleaner sometimes my wife Nancy has to leave as she says the smell gives her a headache. All I know is that the spice makes my food taste good, and lots of soap makes the floor clean. I am probably the same about bikes – I know I like something, but I have really no idea why, or what makes it “good”.
In the winter I have trails I can ride on snow right out of my house. Like, literally – right off my porch. From there I can access a huge winter trail system that extends to the BLM White Mountains (one of my favorite areas in the winter), to the Canadian Border on the Yukon Quest trail, and in some years on to Nome, Kotz, and beyond. I have only been “far” on the Yukon Quest side, but dream of heading out my door and biking to Kotz or beyond in some future trip. Hopefully that will happen..
The trails from my house generally start really good, then can get worse or sometimes if I am really lucky, get better. The same thing goes for trails in the Whites – mostly they are pretty good, with a mix of softer stuff here and there, and some walking. So, the best snow bike for me rides fast on firm trails, but still handles well in soft snow. I also need tires that work good in soft snow, but are not so slow the “fast” sections are not fun. My rides also tend to be pretty long – interesting places to explore tend to be not right my door, or the trail head, but hours away. Everything becomes a compromise at this point.
This is probably why I am so happy with the Fatback’s geometry. It seems (to me anyway) to be a good compromise for my local conditions – it rides great on firm trails, and pretty good in soft snow. Or to put it another way, I am never unhappy with how it rides. The only thing I was unhappy with is the durability of the carbon frame – and this new steel Meriweather/Fatback gives me the best of both worlds. A ride quality I enjoy, in a durable steel frame. Yay!
Your mileage may vary of course.
Cache Mountain Cabin with the dogs
I have been a bit lost as what to do lately. COVID has hit my plans just like it has affected everyone else’s. I don’t have any big races or events planned, nothing to train for.. and no solid plans for winter adventures this season. It isn’t bad – my family and I are healthy, I am still employed, and life is going just fine. Just the idea of no adventures on the horizon has me a bit down and a bit directionless. It isn’t the end of the world, and I am sure I will find an adventure to look forward too..
Randomly checking the White Mountains NRA reservation system I noticed Cache Mountain Cabin was open and unbooked for Sunday night. After checking with my wife Nancy and my managers (aka Molly and Lizzy) I booked it, packed, and headed out Sunday for a last minute overnight trip.
Great views..
A big moon..
And lots of quality time with the dogs. Including Ed(dy) the silly 2 year old pup.
On a new bike..
The trails were mostly empty Sunday, and I didn’t see anyone Monday.
Stay well!
It was early morning and Tom and I were walking up Yacko Creek, with 40 or so miles to go. The valley was covered in low lush green grass, the sky was clear and blue, and the walking was great. After rushing by a mining camp guarded by a friendly looking black lab, and a much less friendly pit bull mix, we were happy to be away from people again. Off in the distance, some dark shapes were moving around in the grass. Ravens maybe, I wondered? We got closer, and Tom and I started wondering aloud what they were.. Soon we were close enough to see it was a small wolf pack, with the younger members bouncing around like puppies while the older ones lay in the sun. I grabbed a rock, readied my trusty anti bear air horn, and told Tom to get the bear spray. About the time we figured out what they were, they noticed us, and after giving us brief consideration, they headed off into the neighboring hills. I could see them occasionally as they weaved in and out of the dwarf birch covering the hillside before disappearing. Tom and I sped up a bit, feeling their eyes on us as we walked up Yacko Creek in the morning sun.
The Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic is a point-to-point semi-organized event that has been held since the early 80s. The route changes every three years, with the current route going from the Cantwell area to Sheep Mountain Lodge near Eureka. My normal partner for these sort of adventures, Tom, and I had done a shorter version of this twice, but didn’t do it in 2019 due to a schedule conflict. Fortunately this year due to Covid we had lots of free time and we were in. The current route is much longer than the one we had done before, though – instead of nearly two days, we were looking at possibly six days. It was a daunting prospect!
In the leadup to the event we studied maps, and talked gear, and generally obsessed too much (or at least I did), eventually settling on a route hitting the ATV trails in the Nelchena area. Hopefully we would be able to take 50+ miles of ATV trails to the finish, avoid any huge climbs, and enjoy some great walking. We also decided to take only one boat, a two person packraft, hoping to use it only to cross the Susitna. We had been warned about giant beaver swamps and slow walking on Tsusena Creek, but we were hoping the lighter packs would make up for it.
The day before the race, Amanda (Tom’s partner) drove us down to Cantwell, graciously driving us to the start for a brief pre race meeting, followed by pizza.
A highly trained and very bouncy young dog who was apparently trained as a search and rescue dog at Barry Switzer’s Ground Zero Emergency Training Center. The owner was unimpressed that I didn’t know who Barry Switzer was, but the puppy could fetch tennis balls like a champ!
In the morning Amanda dropped us off at the start (thanks Amanda, you rock!!). Alaska outdoor superstar Luc Mehl was there and said hi, but I’d had way too much caffeine and was so worked up I think I came across as either insane, on meth (or crack), or both. Which is sort of funny, as the only other time I have met him in real life was on the iditarod trail 200+ miles into the ITI with less than 6 hours of sleep, and I was pretty manic. After a slightly awkward (but not nearly as much so as AlaskaCross ) start we were off.
The first 30 miles or so were great walking, as we walked up the Jack River, and over to the Tsusena. We had two groups ahead of us, plus a random person with a white pack we saw just as we reached Caribou Lakes. The Tsusena was great walking, until it wasn’t, as we hit some huge lakes created by beavers, followed by brush. Eventually it got too dark and we called it good, setting up our tiny tent and getting 4 hours of sleep.
Our schedule of making camp just as it became hard to see and getting four hours or so of sleep, plus maybe two more hours of fiddling and setting up and taking down camp continued for the rest of the trip. We had a freeze-dried meal each just before going to bed. Alas, the first night I woke up with hunger pains and had to scarf down some nuts, then again later some cheese. (Tom says the cheese part happened the night after.) Apparently “Night Cheese” is some sort of 30 Rock in-joke, and Tom made fun of me a lot for it, though I should point out I never saw 30 Rock.
After that I made sure to supplement my freeze-dried meals with nuts and coconut oil for more calories.
Our campsite for the evening..
In the morning we continued down the creek, occasionally seeing the flash of a paddle through the brush along the creek as seemingly everyone floated by. The walking was never horrible, but in places it wasn’t very fast. We did find several miles of old trapline that was occasionally flagged and ended at a tree stand and a short airstrip that provided several miles of great walking.
Eventually we crossed to the other side of the creek, and I dunked my “nice” camera when I misjudged how deep the creek was – it was so clear it was several feet deeper and a lost faster than I expected. Alas, that was the end of the good photos, and I had to rely on my phone for photos after that. The camera survived though; the lens just had some moisture in it. Good thing I didn’t bring the good lens, but instead my junker lens!
We finally reached some ATV trails, which we took to the lakes near Tsusena Bluff, which we followed over to Deadman Creek. We saw a huge tripod in the distance, and were surprised to eventually walk right up to it. It turns out it was an artificial eagle nest installed in the early 80s – neat!
An eagle’s nest!!
From Deadman we walked a mile or so up the Susitna to a small creek which we took down to the river.
We made a very uneventful crossing, and slowly climbed up to the Fog Lakes.
The Susitna!
We crossed Fog Lakes as a rainstorm slowly blew in, climbing up over a small hill, to camp in the rain on an unnamed creek as it got dark.
In the morning it was dry and sunny, and we hiked up into Tsisi Creek, over to Kotsina Creek, and camped near darkness at the divide between George and Goose Creeks.
Heading down to Kotsina Creek
Camping between George and Goose Creeks
The walking was mostly great, and I enjoyed the sun, briefly hiking in my underpants to let my pants dry. We went to sleep to clear skies, and woke 4 hours later to an icy tent. Hiking on Goose Creek was great, but alas it turned away from our destination and we had to head up into the dwarf birch near Busch Creek on some small hills leading to the Black River. Shortly after crossing Busch Creek we had our first bear encounter as we startled a medium sized brown bear who took off bounding up the hill like we were the devil incarnate. Tom and I both wished we could run uphill that fast; that bear flew. By midday we hit the start of the ATV trails, which turned out to be a small road that started semi randomly in a huge open swamp.
Civilization!
Near the swamp we had our second bear encounter as a mother bear and two large cubs saw us way in the distance on the other side of the swamp and again ran away at top speed. Hurrah for well behaved bears!
A few miles down the road we ran into some footprints. Later we were to learn Matt K, Brian P, and John P had taken this trail over to and up the Little Oshentna, crossing over Horse Pasture and into Caribou Creek.
The trail ( actually a dirt road) was great walking, and soon we zoomed to the Black River, where we had to inflate and cross one at a time. I had brought 100ft of p-cord to shuttle the raft back and forth, but alas, that much p-cord turned out to be a big pain to manage, and after several attempts and one huge mess of tangled lines we managed to both get across.
Several hours later we had to cross the Oshentna, but this time we just both got in the boat at the same time. Alas, after deflating we learned there was another channel to cross. Sigh. Soon we were across, and were back on the fast walking mini-road, only to take a wrong turn and end up at the Oshentna again, headed in the wrong direction.
With some backtracking we made it to the correct trail, which alas became a bit of a muddy mess.
In the evening we camped at the intersection of two ATV trails in a little pass, on a wonderfully clear and beautiful evening.
In the morning we awoke to a hard frost with chunks of ice on the tent, and clear skies. We zoomed along attempting to stay warm until the sun hit us. We followed Yacko Creek though some mines, passing some old mining equipment, through some much more active mines, and eventually out into a beautiful green valley where we surprised a small pack of wolves enjoying the morning sunshine. Our plan at this point was just to push though and hopefully finish in the early morning, ideally making good time on the great ATV trails.
Tom drying stuff out winter classic style.. but more dusty
Fortunately the trails remained great, but it was oh so hilly, hot, and dusty. My feet were not enjoying the hard surface. We had two biggish climbs, then topped out at “Monument”, before descending to Crooked Creek. From the top of Monument we had cell service, so I called my wife Nancy and my daughters to say “Hi” – the joys of modern life! From there we had intended to take the Crooked Creek trail, but alas, we wasted several hours trying to find the trail before bailing and walking around it to Belanger Pass trail, swacking though dwarf birch in the almost dark before hitting the trail. In honor of getting back on the “easy walking” we had a freeze dried meal each, then walked in the dim light up a thousand feet or so vertically, to descend down a wide road to a muddy and mindlessly straight Squaw Creek trail.
Early morning manic Belanger Pass trail selfie..
It was surprisingly warm up high, and more surprisingly, pretty cold after we descended.
Squaw Creek trail, in one of the less muddy sections.. so straight, so boring!
Squaw Creek Trail was a blur of mud and mist in the distance that ended finally at 6am when we turned off to bump into some folks I had talked to at the start eating handfuls of donuts. Now minus the donuts they were huddled around a fire, looking warm but glued in place. Apparently there was yet another beaver swamp and one of their group had fallen in at 3am, getting completely soaked and resulting in a nice big fire and naps for the lot of them.
The donut guys, in happier, drier times.
I moved on quickly, as otherwise the lure of the warm fire would suck me in, and soon it would be me napping.
We inflated to cross the beaver swamp, only to find it was actually very shallow for the most part, too shallow to paddle, and only deep in one narrow section dug by ATV traffic. Then it was up and over the side of Gunsite mountain, then down to an abandoned section of the Glenn Highway, where we pounded out several miles of pavement, followed by a few more miles of sleep-deprived wandering on social trails before finally reaching the finish at Sheep Mountain lodge.
Lifelike pavement walking action!
Amanda was there to meet us with Professor the Black Lab, and we were back in civilization, with food, showers, and all the comforts of life. Hurrah! As we signed in, I was surprised to see just two groups (four people) finished ahead of us.
Amanda, being the wonderful person she is, had booked us rooms (I even got my own, double yay!), and had food for us – triple yay! After a nap, we hung out with the other groups who finished. Alas, the winner and new record holder and master packer (his pack was tiny!!) Sam Hooper was already long gone, but Matt, Brian, and John were there and we chatted a bit. Then we took naps before meeting the next group coming in: Luc Mehl, Lee Helzer, and Alan Rogers. Then it was dinner, and more sleeping before the long drive back to Fairbanks, chauffeured by Amanda while I sat in the back seat petting ‘Fessor.
We made a brief stop in Delta for weird Russian foods from the IGA for my daughter Lizzy, and a burger for Tom, before finally making it back to Fairbanks.
Квас!
Gear
We took a single packraft. That was a mistake, probably, as we didn’t get any breaks for our feet. If I do it again, I will take my own boat.
We took a small 3lb tent, a Tarptent Rainshadow. It is a great tent, but too small for two adults to sit up and do things like fix their feet. This slowed things down a bit. I would take a different tent, or at least a tent that two people can sit up in at the same time. Perhaps a mid, as the bugs were almost non-existent for the most part.
We both brought sleeping bags and closed cell foam pads. I brought a 30 degree bag I originally got for my daughter lizzy. It worked great.
We took an older MSR Pocket Rocket and a biggish titanium pot that is the lightest pot I own. I would have taken my MSR Reactor, but it is on the fritz and takes forever to boil. In retrospect, I would have taken a Jet Boil or something that boils water faster. We had a freeze dried meal every evening, which is the only time the stove was used.
Foot stuff – we brought ¾ of a roll of Lukotape, and used it almost completely up, and lots of a homemade hydropel replacement that our friend Beat made. I also had a small amount of Sportslick. The hydropel replacement works great, much better than anything I have used before (at besides hydropel 🙂 ). Next time I will bring lots more.
We both brough trekking poles. Well worth it for the creek crossings, of which there were lots.
Shoes – I used inov-8 Roclite G 275 and they mostly worked great, until they didn’t. They have weird non-eyelet things for the laces, and they were almost completely destroyed by the end, and I had to cut up a sleeping pad to cushion the front of my shoes for the last 30 miles. I wore a thin liner sock and a thick outer sock. Mostly I was happy, I just wish those shoes’ lacing system was a lot more durable. I would use something else next time.
Not impressed by the lacing system..
I took a HMG 4400 pack. I have a love hate relationship with that pack. At the upper 30lbs of weight I had in it, floppy and uncomfortable would be the best words to describe it. After 25 miles I had to stop and repack as it was so uncomfortable. Also, I wish it was made out of VX style fabric rather than dyneema as it seems to be aging really fast. However, it is light, and it is laid out well, with good pockets. And my other pack of a similar size is around 1lb heavier. I don’t think I will take it on trips where I am carrying more than 30 lbs again. Maybe I am just a wimp.
Navigation – we had print maps of the route, made with Caltopo, and the route loaded on two cell phones, with a Garmin etrex 30 as a backup. Next time I might just leave the etrex at home, as cell phones are much easier to use than the etrex is. The print maps were great for route discussion.
Food
I took about 16 lbs of food, hopefully enough for 6 days, plus 1200 calories of “emergency chocolate” That works out to be a little more than 2.5 lbs a day, and included a freeze dried meal. I bought two of the Expedition Foods (https://expeditionfoods.com/ ) 1k calorie meals and those rocked – they tasted good, and were noticeably more filling with no need to wake up in the middle of the night for a snack. Alas, they are expensive and they have no US outlet and are based in the U.K. The Thai curry was particularly delicious. For the “normal” calorie meals I brought macadamia nuts and little packets of coconut oil to add calories, which seemed to work great. I had about 8oz of either cheese or pepperoni per day, which was great. Next time I might bring twice that. The rest of the 2.5lbs per day was mostly candy bars (mars bars, snickers, m&ms, a few granola bars). This was a mistake – I bought too many candy bars and not enough nuts and simple carbs. I was probably short of protein. Next time I think I will bring some powdered recovery beverages, instant breakfast mixes, or something similar – something I can just add to a Nalgene of water and drink. I had brought several packets of chai mix which was wonderful just added to cold water in my Nalgene. I had some electrolyte tablets but didn’t use them. I should have; my feet swelled up huge the last day, possibly due to a lack of protein or electrolytes.
Nancy suggested I add some pilot bread, which was great. Next time I will bring a lot more simple carbs in an easy to digest form like that, possibly with other crackers or chips like Fritos.
My daughter Molly (kids are useful for something!) vacuum sealed each day of food individually, and that worked well.
I finished with a day and half to two days worth of food. Since it took us about 5 days that seems to be about right.
Route
Our route was a mixed bag. The walking was mostly good, besides Tsusena Creek and some of the muddier ATV trails. The ATV trails got boring quickly, though, and it would have been nice to see some of the higher country. Not floating was a bummer, as it meant we were always on our feet while traveling. Next time I think I would try to do more floating, which could be hard if Caribou Creek and Tsusena are both running high. It sounded like Tsusena Creek was continuous class II+/III last year, which might have been more than we were willing to do.
What would I do again?
What would I change?
After Affects
My feet swelled up huge, but otherwise I was mostly fine. I had two small blister on my feet, and one blister on my hand.
My feet though..
Finally
I would like to give a huge thank you to Amanda for driving us around, picking us up, getting me a room at the finish, providing food, and everything else – thanks Amanda!!!
Thanks Tom for accompanying me – it was fantastic traveling with you!
I would like to thank Nancy and the twins for letting me disappear on this harebrained adventure. Thanks, I love you guys so much, and really appreciate your willingness to let me disappear for a week (or several) occasionally.
I will probably update this post as I remember more things as I remember them.
Luc posted a wonderful write-up here, with as always better words and photos. Plus he made a video!!
2020 Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic: Talkeetna Mountains from Luc Mehl on Vimeo.
Thanks for reading!
Map
Alaska Cross is point to point semi-organized semi-race. It originally went from Chena Hot Springs to Circle Hot Springs, then branched out to several other destinations. In the latest incarnation it goes from Lost Creek (mile 6 of the Dalton Highway) to the Wild and Free headquarters at Eureka AK. I did it last year with Ned Rozell and had a great time. This time I was back, with Tom, and hoped to take a “better” route. It is about 46 miles in a straight line, but folks are free to take whatever route they want.
The start is pretty awkward as usual, though perhaps a bit more so with the “promoter” Mark Ross sending us off with some sort of late 90s music that I had not heard before.
There are many route options, but almost everyone took an ATV trail for the first few miles, then groups started peeling off to take their own routes. Tom and I headed up to a ridge that extended for the first 28 miles.
The next 20+ miles were a mix of okay walking and tussocks, with a bit of brush tossed in.
When Tom and I first crested onto the ridge there were around 7 or so folks ahead of us, and gradually that thinned out to just one – Brent Sass of Wild and Free Mushing. We would see Brent on and off again ahead of us for rest of the race, always on the next ridge ahead of us.
Alas, it was really hot, and there wasn’t much water on the ridge. By the time we started dropping off the ridge I was very dehydrated and starting to have trouble eating. Tom needed a quick break to adjust his shoes and I ducked behind some rocks to take an dehydrated emergency potty break (a number two) . Alas, just as I was finishing up when Matt (I think) passed by. I hope he didn’t see me and wasn’t traumatized for life. My apologies Matt!
Once off the ridge we took an old road which varied from really great walking to a muddy and brushy atv track for a few miles before heading up to a ridge we would take most of the remaining distance to the finish.
We finally had good access to water and I drank three liters over the next few miles, and stocked up for the high and presumably dry ridge we were taking next. Alas, even after I was bloated with water I was still dehydrated.. too much, too late I guess.
I did stop and take photos of the little shipping container shelter Ned and I peeked into last year. Last year Ned had said he was very tempted to take a nap in it, but I vetoed that idea thinking it was a moldy mess. In a little more daylight it looked a lot more inviting and not all covered by mold as it looked to me the year before, but fortunately it was only 8:30, way too early to take a nap.
The climb up to the final ridge looked huge from below, but it didn’t take that long to hike up it. Alas, my stomach was feeling off from being dehydrated and I was having a hard time eating the food I bought. Next time, fewer Snickers and more cheese or other non-sweet high calorie items. Tom gave me his only cheese stick, for which I was very grateful – thanks Tom!
The ridge went on, and on. Up and down.. but the walking was great!
Eventually we left the nice ridge and headed down to the Hutlinana River. Just before we headed down I saw the rind of a tangerine or other small orange on the ground next to some footprints in some dry caribou moss. This ridge is pretty remote, so I can only assume it was from last year…
We headed down to the river in a nice brush free gulley, and quickly found a winter trail we took over to the Hutlinana hot springs trail. Alas the beavers had been very active, and several times the trail went into waist deep pools before we crossed the Hutlinana, and started the six mile walk to the finish just as the skies opened up and dumped rain on us..
We arrived at the finish around 9am, just after the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was a very welcome relief to lie in the sun on the grass of the Wild and Free homestead, drinking cold pop from a cooler in my truck and listening to the dogs howl and watching them play. I was pleasantly surprised that only four people had finished ahead of us – Brian, Nick, Bob, and Brent. It seemed like we were going so slow I expected everyone to be ahead of us. Eventually we found everyone napping in the workshop and we headed in for a nap before driving back to the start.
What a great way to spend 24 hours, I had a blast. I will probably update this with some lessons learned and other information as I get a chance.
Thanks for the company Tom, and congrats to everyone who showed up for the long walk, and Brent and Ida for hosting us at the finish!
The results from Mark R, who likes the results listed from last to first:
AKX 2020, June 13, After-math:
11. Mike Fisher, Brandon Wood - Scratched at 25mi. returned to lost creek.
10. Drew Harrington, Chris Miles - 34hr. 43min.
9. Tait Chandler, Todd Vorisek - 30' 35"
8. Mark Ross, WM* - 30' 27"
7. Tracie Curry, Clinton Brown - 28' 32"
6. Matt Blood - 27' 14"
5. Jacob Buller - 26' 53"
4. Jay Cable, Tom Moran - 22' 51"
3. Brent Sass - 22' 21"
2. Bob Gillis, WM* - 22' 15"
1. Nick Janssen, Brian Atkinson - 21' 58"
*Wildermeister
Our route, and stats in Strava:
Some things that worked:
Things that worked less well (fails!):