Posts Tagged ‘mondays’

Moose Creek with the Family

Thursday, March 26th, 2020

With the COVID 19 outbreak, school closures, the White Mountains 100 canceled and social distancing looming Nancy and I discussed doing a last minute family cabin trip. The cabins do not see that much in the way of visitation, and hopefully would be safe from threat of COVID 19. After checking the reservation system for the White Mountains NRA, we noticed that Moose Creek cabin was open Monday night, and we quickly booked it planning to head out there via snow bike. It should be a mellow 16 mile bike ride one way.

The day before our trip I went for a 9 hour ride with some friends, and it was soft and a bit slow. When I got back I suggested we should consider skiing, but was poo-pooed. Hmm..

After a bit of work, we managed to get all four bikes, two dogs, and all our gear into (and on!) the truck, and headed off to the trail head. A bit of re-packing and bike juggling we were soon hitting the trail.. which was alas a bit soft.

A meltdown or too later, once everyone had tire pressures more appropriate to the conditions we made slow but steady progress towards the cabin.

Moose Creek with the family Moose Creek with the family Moose Creek with the family

It was warm and sunny, but there was almost no traffic on the trail.

Moose Creek with the family Moose Creek with the family

At about 5 miles in I told the twins we had three hills to go. Which to my mind was correct, but set off a lot of argueing about what was a hill and what wasn’t. Apparently I missed lots of little hills in between those “three” hills, and Lizzy offered to make three little piles of snow to ride over so we could then “be there”. Much eye rolling ensued, for once with me doing the eye rolling. While heading up the final big hill to the cabin Molly told me “You can’t understand how tired I am!!”. Many snack breaks and five and half hours later we finally arrived at the cabin.

Moose Creek with the family Moose Creek with the family

Moose Creek was still warm from the last visitors, so we quickly had it nice and warm, and even had a pine marten frollicking downhill from the cabin.

Moose Creek with the family

The evening was spent snuggling with the dogs..

Moose Creek with the family

.. hanging out, eating, and reading. The current “reading aloud” book was by Arther Ransom , with one of the main characters had to be in quarantine while recovering from the mumps. Strangely pertinent to the current times, as we had been reading this book since a bit before the current virus crisis…

Moose Creek with the family

The evening went by fast, and everyone hit the sack early – one of the advantages of family bike trips!

In the morning we headed out and enjoyed firmer trails on the way out.

Moose Creek with the family Moose Creek with the family

After a stop for ice cream bars at the local convenience store on the drive home, everyone agreed the trips was “ok”. 😀

I was quite impressed by the twins willingness to ride their bikes for nearly six hours on their first winter bike trip ever.

Stay healthy everyone!

Winter begins..

Tuesday, October 8th, 2019

It looks like it is here, hurrah!

Winter Begins

I had heard that the White Mountains NRA had a bunch of snow so with a Monday free I decided to go check it out.

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There was a surprising amount of snow, and the trail was mostly in very good shape.

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I hope it is here to stay!

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..

Chena Dome..

Tuesday, May 31st, 2016

In a moment of weakness, I signed up for the Angel Creek 50, a local 50 mile foot race. The cut off for the race is 13.5 hours for the last checkpoint at mile 42, which is pretty close to my walking pace. To see if I could make it, Tom and I headed out to hike Chena Dome trail, a very hilly local 29 mile hike.

The weather was fantastic..

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I ran the easy bits, but alas, my knees didn’t enjoy the downhills.. fortunately there was still some snow, which felt so good on them..

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The trail was in great shape, but it was baking hot. I am not really a hot weather person, so climbing up some of those hills nearly scrambled my brain.

There was a fair bit of water on the trail, and a bit of snow still. In a few weeks it might be hard to find any water besides what is in the catchment system at the shelter.

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The shelter at mile 17 was looking a bit beat up.. and, alas, the hole in the floor was a bit bigger than it was when I last visited, and lots more had been chewed on by porcupines…

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The last few hours were even hotter.. Fortunately a few hours before we finished we ran across a small clean snowfield, which we used to top off our water supplies. The cold water was heavenly.
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Tom, Shiloh, and I were very happy to reach the car, and headed off for a sock and dinner at the hotsprings.

In end, it took us 9 hours to do the 29 miles, which is just barely over the cutoff. I was beat when I finished! Hopefully I can run of more of the actual course than I can of Chena Dome!

This was the first time in a very long time I have done a hike without Remus. Remus is now 13, and getting a bit too old for long days. When I left in the morning with Shiloh, he started barking and was not happy to be left behind, but was consoled by being let into the house and being given a huge rawhide chew. Rumor has it when the twins woke up they gave him an old bagel with bacon and provolone. It is tough getting old..

Thanks for the company Tom!

First Whites Ride of the Season..

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015

I love the White Mountains, and I have been looking forward to riding there ever since the temperatures started dropping, and snow starting falling.

Monday, the I had my first ride out there, and had a blast.

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I think the dogs did too.  Even Remus, who is now >12 years old.  Though he was a bit sort when we finished.
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Alas, it was frozen..
DSC02140 The ride was super slow – softish snow.  7 hours to go 33 miles..  wow. A few miles before we got back to the parking lot I dog team went by, and I enjoyed the fast riding in their tracks.   

DSC02151DSC02153S Sorry for the low word to picture ratio, I hope everyone is enjoying winter! 

First ride of the season in the Whites..

Wednesday, November 19th, 2014

Winter has (sort of) arrived here in Interior Alaska. Alas, we are a little short on snow, so all my exploring has just been out of my house, and my go too loop is getting a bit boring, as I have been hitting it about twice a week. After hearing that the trails in the White Mountains NRA might be in good shape, I decided to go check things out.  The plan was bike out as far as I could towards Borealis Cabin, then head back.

The trails started off good..
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Got better..

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Then started getting a bit bumpy as I reached the valley and started towards Borealis Cabin.

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There wasn’t quite enough snow to fill in the holes between tussocks, but it was ok biking, though a bit rough.   Shiloh, a new (ish – we have had him since mid March) member of the family seemed to enjoy his first long bike ride.  I have done day trips with him on skis in the 40 mile range, but those are slower than biking.  He did well, and seemed to be picking up the flow.  I am looking forward to many more adventures with him!  We got him from the pound, who picked him up as a stray, so we don’t know much about his life before us.  He has definitely had some time in harness, and he had his dew claws removed, so there was some mushing in his past, but the rest is a mystery.

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Remus is a old hand at this, and had a blast.   Not bad for a 12 year old dog!

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A bit past the turn of for Eleazar’s Cabin the snow thinned out a bit more, bring on more bumps..

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Just past Borealis the traffic dropped off on the trail a lot, and the main trail less than a quarter mile later.   There was some traffic on a slough, so I explored that for a bit, though eventually the snowmachine tracks turned around, and I headed back.   The ice on Beaver Creek was thin but passable.

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The ride back to the truck was uneventful.  The off-ice is growing fast, but was all fairly bikeable.

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As a side note, BLM put up a new sign at Borealis, and I was amused that the mileages are off by more than a normal amount.
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Lee’s Cabin is roughly 14 miles from Borealis, so the sign is about 5 miles off. Most of the signs in the whites are off by a bit, but this is more than the normal amount. I forgot to check, but sign this one replaced had the distance to the next cabin down the trail, Caribou Bluff wrong – folks traveling east would see a sign saying 10 miles before crossing Beaver Creek, then in a mile or so, see this signs predecessor saying it was 11 miles away, even though it is a mile closer to the cabin.  For tired travelers this was a bit demoralizing – going from only 10 miles to go, to finding out a mile later you still had 11 miles left!

It is pretty funny they would go to the trouble of making the sign, but not checking the distances against their own publications:
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I hope everyone is enjoying winter!