River Snowmachine Trip

Some friends of ours have a bush cabin nearly one hundred miles off the road system.  For the second year in a row, Andrew has been able to help make the first run to put in the trail.  Andrew and our friend take sleds full of food, fuel, and supplies, so that our friend and his wife can go right back out and have everything they need to stay for the next six weeks.

After sixty miles of trail through the woods, they follow a frozen river channel the rest of the way.  The river is a normal Alaskan river, with a braided channel system.  The river bed is sometimes 200 yards or more across, but the main channel is only 10 or 20 yards across, and maybe a foot or two deep.  In the photo above the entire braided channel is filled with overflow ice, and has been windswept of snow.

In wind protected places, ice crystals form some amazing feather and wing shapes that may be two inches across! 

Headed up river.

The ice is so smooth, you never know when to expect it...

To fall in underneath you!!!!  Our friend was in the lead and crossed what appeared to be a safe snowbridge (you can see open water RIGHT there beside it!!!), but it was weaker than it looked!  Luckily forward momentum carried him out the other side, and Andrew found another bridge to cross.

As the river channel meanders from bank to bank, you must cross it many times, and this was the first of two very close calls.

More overflow ice coming down from a feeder creek.  This formation appeared to be at least ten feet thick!

In the photo above you can see fresh overflow ice, and the damp spot in the foreground where our friend's machine hit some slush.

Crossing a dubious snowbridge.  Typically if it will hold a human, it will hold a snowmachine and sled.

This one appears to be safe!

Well formed overflow ice, smoother than any ice rink!

Close call number two!  Andrew was riding close behind our friend on what appeared to be good solid ice, when suddenly our friend punched through and once again a miracle carried him up and out the other side, and Andrew was able to swing around the hole at the last second.  He said his left ski was in the air over the hole as he barely missed falling right into the river!  Notice the snowmachine track in the now floating ice in the above picture....yikes!

It happens in an instant, and can take HOURS to recover from if the machine's skis had gone under the lip of the ice instead of over, and had gotten stuck in the river.  SO lucky on both occasions that all was o.k.

Down in the jumble of broken river ice, Andrew found the most amazing formations!  A recent warm spell brought temps in the upper 30's melting the ice blocks on the top side.  In the shadows under the blocks it was still below freezing, helping the most wonderful icicles develop!

The contrast made for a difficult photo, but these icicles are the diameter of straws, and some are over two feet in length!

Sugarloaf Hike

We quickly followed the urge to get up on Sugarloaf.  This day in particular the weather wasn't real clear, but a very nice day overall because there was no wind and most of the day there were beautiful, delicate snowflakes floating down to greet us.

Out of the forest thankfully (post holing through deep snow wears on you) and almost above treeline.

Sugarloaf has great knife-edge ridges to walk.

Once we reached the saddle right behind me, we were just 700 ft. from the summit.  We could have made it but we would have been pressed for finishing the day in the daylight.  So, we decided to cross over to the neighboring ridge and descend it, making a loop.  A great decision that really paid off!  We had been seeing Dall sheep tracks and sign all day, but trying to spot white sheep in a white landscape is kind of hard.  Once we reached the other ridge and started heading down, we found ourselves about 75 yards above eight big rams!  Once they saw us or realized that we had spotted them, they took off running at full speed!

They are so fat!  It looks to us that they are about twice the size they are in the summer!  I'm sure some of it is from their winter coat, but I guess they have been eating really well too.

Bye-bye big boys!  What an awesome sighting!

Heading down.

Looking back at the ridge we have been coming down.

The winding Nenana River down below us.

Mt. Healy

Its been fun to get up on the slopes of Mt. Healy lately.  We've made a couple trips in the last week, mainly for exercise, but each one brings you something new and exciting.  On the first trip we saw great lynx tracks, and on the second trip we saw lots of fox sign.  We always know the tracks and sign found in the snow here are pretty fresh because the little snow that clings to the slopes is continuously being wiped clean by wind.  In fact, on our first trip there we were turned around by strong winds after climbing 1,200 ft. up.  When you have a hard time walking without falling down it's time to turn around.  The second trip, we hiked up almost 2,000 ft. up and turned around at a big saddle on the ridge.  These pictures are from the second trip.

You can see how there is hardly any snow on the mountain.  Mt. Healy is one of the only places right now where you can hike on bare ground which makes for easier walking.

Looking over at Sugarloaf Peak....it's beckoning to be visited.

Mt. Dora waits in the distance.  We'll make it there this summer hopefully.

What a great day to be alive!  Many thanks....

Stampede Ride

Went out for a ride on the Stampede Trail recently with our friends, Bruce and Bonni!  What beautiful country in general and always a treat, but in the winter....awwwwwesome!  Such easy travel over the snow covered tundra and frozen rivers.  You can see all the recent animal activity and the entire landscape sparkles all around you!

Quick stop just to make sure everyone is good.

Bruce in the lead.

Bonni bringing up the rear.

About 10 miles out, we reached an open area and something broke on our machine.  All of a sudden we had no steering.

Upon inspection, Bruce and Andrew discovered a tie-rod had broken.  Not a bad place for a breakdown though....notice the Big Mountain in the background (above Bruce's head) which is about 70 miles away.

 Denali stands tall and clear today!  Bonni and I wished we would have brought lawn chairs and the bbq.

 The machine fix...a spruce tree!  If it was just Andrew and I out there by ourselves, I don't know if we would have ever figured out a great fix like that or if we would have ended up walking home.  But Bonni immediately said, "get the ax and chop a tree down."  Just like they had done it a million times, when in reality they have done it more than a few times.  For true Alaskans, its just another day on the trail.  

 Andrew and Bruce pooling spare parts to fasten the small spruce tree to both skies.  With this crutch we were able to drive the machine back home.  We were so fortunate to have had this happen with two very experienced Alaskans.  However, before we headed home we all hopped their two machines and rode out to the Savage River for lunch.

 We crossed the river upstream from here where it was completely frozen over, then rode down to the area where the summer trail crosses the river.  It was still open down there.

 Nearby there was a snow bridge that we ended up crossing to make a loop back to our snow machine.

 Andrew and Bruce on the other side of the river.

 Heading home.

Great trail!

What a fun day!  Hope to do it again soon!  There is so much to explore out there.