Posts Tagged ‘Eleazars’

Snow..

Tuesday, December 6th, 2016

We finally got snow, and soon after it stopped I was invited out to Eleazar’s again. The snow really transformed the world, and made it seem like winter is now here.

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It was a fun trip, and it is great to be riding on snow again. It is looking like the winter is going to be fantastic! Thanks for the trip David!

No snow..

Tuesday, November 29th, 2016

It has been a pretty low snow winter so far. It some ways it is good and has allow for some interesting adventures but the trails are a bit bumpy. A friend invited me out to Borealis cabin in the White Mountains NRA for an after thanksgiving trip, and since the family is in play this winter and spending the weekend in rehearsal, I decided to disappear.

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Marsh headed out the day before, heading to Borealis, where Tom and I would join her, spending the night at Borealis, then heading to Eleazar’s for another night, and then back out. I really wanted to bike, but wasn’t sure how the trail was going to be, and ended up hiking, which turned out to be fine.

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

However, after a few miles Tom and I agreed I wouldn’t mention biking would have been more fun if he didn’t mention Trump for the entire trip.

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

I think it was an ok bargain..
Though running into several parties of bikers on the way in didn’t make it easy. They looked like they were having fun.

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

The bikers came with dogs though, and Shiloh and Remus were very excited to meet new friends..

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Eventually we said good by and headed down the trail. The walking was pretty good, but the light was fantastic.

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

After 7 hours of hiking we arrived at a warm and well lighted Borealis cabin, and were welcomed by Marsh. The evening was spent mellowing out and enjoying life.

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars
(Shiloh was unimpressed by the story cards).

In the morning Tom and I took off to go checkout Big Bend, a rock formation a bit downstream from the cabin, while Marsh mellowed out, and then headed off to Eleazars.

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars
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Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

After turning around at the base of Big Bend, we headed to Eleazar’s for the night, then hiked back to the car in the morning.

Hike to Borealis and Eleazars

A great way to spend a weekend. I hope more snow comes soon, I can’t wait to get out on the bike and explore!

A post script : Someone tossed the logbooks at Borealis down the outhouse. It made me a bit sad – it is always fun to look back over the years and read about other folks adventures in these cabins. It is a bit of a bummer someone took that away..

Winter..

Saturday, November 9th, 2013

After a fantastically long fall, winter has finally arrived here in Interior Alaska. Ms Marsh and I left Fairbanks for a quick overnighter at Eleazar’s cabin in the BLM White Mountains NRA.

We left a bit late, and got on the trail sometime after 2pm, and it was soon dark. I was surprised by all the snow, perhaps skis would have been a better choice..

Regardless, it was a fun hike, and Marsh and I enjoyed an evening mellowing out in Eleazar’s. The next morning we awoke to a bit of wind, and a bit more snow. The hike out was as fun as the hike in, but with a bit more daylight.

It was simple and easy overnighter, and got me thinking about winter adventures of all sorts. Thanks for the motivation for this trip Marsh! This winter is going to be fantastic!

Kids in the Whites

Monday, March 7th, 2011

On a brisk spring morning the family, three dogs, and I loaded up into the truck and headed off on a ski trip in the White Mountains. We had been invited out to join the Rozell family and several other folks on a trip out to Eleazar’s Cabin, which is about 12 miles one way. The Rozells have a daughter who is in Lizzy and Molly’s class at Bunnell House, and they were looking forward to spending the weekend together. We had abandoned plans to head out to stiles creek cabin due a large snow fall and high winds that made drifts deep enough that State Park’s trail breakers got stuck right out of the parking lot. Bailing on this trip was quite a disappointment to the girls – they were really looking forward to the trip. Fortuately, the weather for this weekend was quite a bit nicer, with a forecast for a fairly standard Interior Alaska spring – Lows of 0 to -20f at night, and highs of 10 to 20f above. We are now getting lots of sunlight making for bright and warm days. After a bit of a delayed start, we connected with the Rozells at Alaska Coffee Rosters and after getting a bit of caffene, headed out to the trailhead. The trailhead was a bit of a mad house, with a party of snow bikers, a musher, and a large posse of snow machines all in various stages of arriving or departing. We eventually got going after a couple of mishaps, including discovering that one of our party left the poles used to haul their child hauling chariot, leaving us with three kids and only the double chariot that seats two. Fortunately Molly was willing to ride on top of the gear hauling sled so we headed down the trail while one of the adults zipped back to town to retrieve the poles.

The 4 and a half year olds started off the day walking, and were little troopers. The rest of the day was a mix of slow adult walking / fast 4 1/2 year old walking …

and skiing with occasional stops for snacks and drinks.

It was a bit slow at times..

Molly got to ride the “green horse” on the way in and out, and was quite a trooper. She fell off quite a few times, but was quick to jump back on.. generally it worked like this:

Then this..

And finally this:

And we were back in business.
After a full day of slow travel we reached the cabin, were we caught up with the rest of the adults, hung out, ate, and generally had fun. The twins were super excited to explore the cabin, climbing around in the loft, going up and down the ladders, and otherwise having lots of fun. Eventually everyone called it a night. The next morning I was surprised to be the first one up at a little before 8. I am not a big fan of sleeping in on trips – I can always sleep in at home, but alas not every day for me involves so much outside play time. Everyone else was soon roused and we got the morning rituals started. After breakfast we headed off down the trail, though this time we had enough places for all the kids as the person sent back to town with to obtain the missing chariot parts had arrived with the missing parts. Nancy headed off with the twins, with the goal of reaching the big hill climbing up out of the valley, sometimes referred to as the “Wickersham Wall”, before nap time and having the little people walk up it.

Molly had a melt down when told that she would have to ride in the Chariot, claiming that she wanted to walk the entire way out. This provided some of the adults great amusement – a kid actually angry that she was not going to get to walk the whole 11 miles out under her own power, rather than complaining endlessly about having to walk at all.. Anyway, they zoomed down the hill while I hung out at the cabin a bit longer, cleaning up and lazying about. After giving the kids and Nancy a 20 minute or so head start, I set off, and caught up with everyone just before the big climb. The rest of the trip out was fairly uneventful. On the way in we were past by a party of snowmachine supported bikers, and on the way out we were past by the same bikers shuttling out via snowmachine.. apparently the trail was too soft for snow biking, which does not bode well for the upcoming Whites 100 race.

A big thanks to the Rozells for inviting us out and providing the inspiration- it was a very fun trip

One last ski trip

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010

Spring is pretty nice in Interior Alaska. The days are long, the weather is warm, and there is still enough snow around for good skiing. The family and I decided to take advantage of all the glories of spring and headed out to Eleazar’s cabin in the White Mountains. Eleazar’s is about 12 miles from the nearest trail head, and a fairly mellow ski, in normal conditions. Hauling two three and three quarter year olds makes it a bit less mellow, but still doable. I had scouted out the trail two days before the trip was planned to make sure the trail was still ski-able, and while the first quarter mile or so was pretty bare, the rest was in great shape. We left town mid morning, and after a hour drive or so, we reached the parking lot and began the unloading processes. Traveling with kids complicates things a bit, so the unloading processes was pretty extended – the twins hot water bottles to prepare (traveling in luxury!), the chariot to assemble, snacks to ready, etc.

Eventually we were off and heading down the trail. The first bit was pretty muddy and low on snow.

The twins walked the first mile and a half – which was good as there was not enough snow for them to ride in the chariot.

It also got them nice and tired so by the time we had enough snow to load up into the chariot they were tired enough for nap time.

The bushes on the side of the trail were starting to melt out, revealing last years blueberries..

and cranberries.

Eventually nap time arrived and the twins were bundled up into the chariot and Nancy and I put on skis. The skiing was fast and fun – the trail was hard and a bit icy, but with some softer wax it was still quite good skiing.

Going down the steeper hills with the twins in the chariot was a bit tricky and I ended up walking down the really steep one. The chariot has quite a bit of mass and tends to give the puller the occasional hard push when going over moguls. On the steepest sections of trail I had to be careful as I was almost knocked over several times while walking. Fortunately we arrived at the bottom intact and after short time nap time was over and the twins were awakened and treated to snacks and entertainment while we skied along.

After a few more miles we reached the final hill to the cabin. The twins then were extracted from their comfortable quarters and they walked up the final hill to the cabin. The trail up was in great shape, but the last 100 feet or so was completely snow free.

Shorty after I reached the cabin the folks who were joining us on the adventure arrived – Trustin and Robin. They traveled by snow machine and had a good but interesting ride in. The snow free sections were apparently a bit challenging – the snowmachine did fine but the sled had a bit too much drag.

Eleazar’s is a wonderful cabin – its perched on top of a bluff that overlooks the Wickersham creek valley and has a great view. The twins had a great time exploring the cabin and the surrounding area. The cabin had a couple of interesting board games that the twins got quite a bit of mileage out of, as well as a loft. The loft was a great hit.

Eventually it was dinner time..

and then everyone turned in for the night. It was so warm the stove did not require stoking (or over-stoking as often is the case) which was quite refreshing – no trips from my warm sleeping bag to load wood into the stove were required. In the morning everyone enjoyed a nice breakfast of pancakes and bacon – except of course Nancy who made herself a bowl of cereal. My first attempts at pancakes were a bit of a failure – after the first bacon dripping assisted pancake I learned the “non-stick” pan I brought was more of a “stick” pan. I could not find my normal pan and had used one of Nancy’s pre Jay pans that I had never used before. Fortunately Trustin had brought butter and liberal use of it prevented any additional pancake disasters.

After lots of pancakes and bacon, we enjoyed a lazy morning of laying around goofing off, but alas eventually we actually had to pack up and get moving. The twins started off walking and got a good mile and half in before nap time arrived.

The ski out was uneventful but quite pleasant. On the last couple of miles we evicted the twins and they walked the last bit with lots of renditions of one of their favorate books, “We are going on a bear hunt”.

Togiak, our older dog, decided we were going too slow, and started taking naps on the side of the trail, curing up under spruce trees while we slowly dawdled the last mile or so.

Eventually we reached the parking lot and everyone loaded up. The dogs were quite happy to dive into the straw in the back of the truck and go to sleep.

The trip was super fun and a great way to end the ski season. The twins had a good time and I got quite a work out hauling them around. I brought violet Toko spray klister and used it on the way out. That stuff is quite amazing – it works quite well and less of a pain than standard klister with no more sticky tubes of doom.
Alas, the snow is almost gone now – I expect its now time to put the skis away. With some luck I will get in one bike ride on the trails before the snow softens up too much, and then I think the snow season will be done. Soon backpacking, pack rafting, and bike touring season will arrive – hurrah!

A spin on the new skis..

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010

About two months ago I picked up a set of low end “racing” skis and until recently I had been too afraid to take them out for any long skis due to the low snow conditions. Yesterday I decided enough was enough, and took the new skis out for a out-and-back to Eleazar’s cabin the the White Mountains NRA.

It was not a long ski, only 26 miles or there abouts, but enough to say that the new skis are a bit faster than my old sport glasses and keep the kick wax on a bit longer in abrasive conditions. Hurra!

The trails are in fantastic shape in the whites, if you ignore the rocky sections in first quarter mile of the Wickersham Creek trail.

There was a fantastic temperature inversion going on – the temperature on the trail ranged from +15f to ~-25f. I stopped at the trail shelter, where it was a little below -20f:

And at Eleazar’s cabin, where it was around +8f. The distance between these two places is around a half a mile in a straight line (possibly less) – it is amazing to me that there can be such a large difference in temperature for such a short distance..

Eleazar’s cabin has a fancy new deck that is a new addition since my last visit – quite spiffy!

There were no critters to be seen (besides some gray jays anyway), though I did see a fantastic vole race track.

Amazingly enough, I made it back to the parking lot just after dark. The days are getting a bit longer – soon the best time of the year from a skiing perspective will be upon us. Wahoo!

I should mention that yesterday was quite a day for trail finds. I found a crescent wrench, enough dog booties that stopped picking them up, and a handful of neck lines. I really don’t understand how mushers could be losing neck lines but they are getting to be a common trail find for me these days.