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181  Forums / Bikepacking / Extreme Nature Biking - Wrangell Mountains Traverse! on: June 29, 2009, 12:13:02 PM
ha ha..
Last year- Fat tires and beaches
This year - Light bikes and Big mountains!
Established mountain biking trails and even dirt roads in Alaska are limited at best. Creativity is needed to fully come to terms with using a mountain bike as a form of travel in the great land. Not just riding.. but travel, movement through a landscape. No roads, no established trails.
here we go.

The Wrangell Mountains are the western mountains that form the gigantic backbone of peaks making up the Wrangell - St.Elias Range. From the western edge of Mt. Sanford the range is so massive and glaciated, it is a literal sea stretching hundreds of miles past Mt. Logan into Canada and forming the coast range of British Columbia. Amidst the hulking glaciated peaks however, there is one small weakness. The Nabesna to McCarthy Route, which sneaks through passes and around glaciers and canyons to create the only non-glaciated north-south route for hundreds of miles. This 150 ish mile route had been established sometime in the 20's when gold was discovered at Chisana - about half way and was used for years by hardy prospectors and horse trains. In modern times, this route has been used in the Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic race.  Bikes? why not.

After 300 miles of driving from Anchorage, finally starting out at 6:00 pm with 5 days of food anxious to get moving.


A quick ride down an ATV trail brought us to Little Jack Creek.


Lets go packrafting! Little Jack was a fun creek, but the whole time we were watching clouds from Mordor circle...


After 2 hours we headed straight into the black, and the confluence with the Enormous Nabesna River. The contrast was sever, going from a mellow fresh water creek to a heavily silted glacier fed river roaring at flood stage.


We passed through the rain at our take out at the entrance to the gravel wash of Cooper creek. I was already really glad I brought the extra weight of drysuit.


Heading inland away from the river - we were stoked to finally be biking in the evening hours.


We both started to fall asleep so we stopped around 11:30 and fired up. The next morning was beautiful and we were psyched to get moving.


Heading up Cooper Creek - lots of bashing through Cobbles. We would take this drainage up and over its very top...


The hours ticked by and the canyon grew deeper and the cobbles bigger. The pushing began in earnst.


In winter this creek is wall to wall solid ice, so even in Mid June there is still allot left increasing the "gnar" factor quite a bit.


Leaving Cooper Creek behind and entering the alpine. Finally tundra..


From the pass we could ride again at last, but there was lots of unstable weather in the Notch Creek Valley.


Big mountains..


Arriving at Notch Creek, we decided to try packrafting it, but this was stupid, It was not good. Dylan ended up putting a hole in his boat and I severely bruised my left  butt cheek.


Picking up the pieces, we kept riding down Notch Creek, finding it to be pretty good for the most part for biking.


Sleep and food at last... could not ask for a nicer spot.


What's for breakfast? This is what happens when you just throw another stick of butter in the food bag for good measure. Butter coated goodness everywhere!


The morning brought sunshine and we got back to riding pretty quick after patching up Dylan's boat, Good gravel and not too many big cobbles.


Notch Creek was inviting though, so we blew up the boats and jumped in it again for a good float until it got really braided and shallow near Cross Creek.


From here we traveled inland, picking up a horse trail that short cutted over to the Chisana River. It was strange to see signs of humans again, some parts of the trail were marked with old steel traps. The trail was ridable a bit, but quickly turned to a muddy and buggy slog.



Reaching the Chisana River, the first channel was big so we had to blow up the boats and do a "lazy" crossing.


Keeping the boats inflated in case another big channel came up, big country..


Then things got interesting, as the entire east side of the river plain was still solid ice - well ice slush actually. Feet were not too happy here.


Finally we were back on solid ground and moving up the Chisana River. The settlement of Chisana is still active with about 10 people living year round with only bush plane access. A few hunting guide outfits also run out of there. We saw what looked like a target range from the river and followed that to an ATV trail and the next thing we knew were were in the back yard of a big cabin complex and greeted by John, one of the guys that works for Pioneer Outfitters. It was a bit of a shock to go from stark solitude to having people around. They invited us for dinner which we accepted (of course) Moose Stroganof and fresh watermelon !? I was feeling pretty claustrophobic and although invited to spend the night (and eat pancakes and moose steak for breakfast) we headed out, hoping to get an early start the next morning.  Riding into the Chisana town site however, our extremely full bellies took the better of us and we stayed in a public use cabin.


Leaving Chisana we got on Geohenda Creek, another creek which we would take up into the Alpine.


After a few hours of riding, we began the push again up the cobbles. We were wishing for slightly lower gearing on our bikes because we probably could have kept riding a bit.


Off the river, we picked up a caribou trail which was pretty sweet singletrack riding for a ways.




Trail builders...


all was well until I double flatted in the rain. So I walked on to the Solo Mountain Cabin.


The Solo mountain Cabin was built in the 20's for use as a shelter cabin for gold prospectors. The trails leading to and from it are long gone, but it has been maintained through the years and has significant historic value. It was a welcome reprieve from the cold rain. I got my tubes patched, a black wolf trotted past the open window... we sacked out...
Something happened though in the middle of the night, the sound of the rain on the cabin roof stopped. uhmmm must be getting nice out right?


nope!

3-4" of heavy wet snow/sleat had accumulated. Dylan and I mentally prepared for the worst and began the slog over to the White River valley.


Navigation was still pretty straight forewords -stay high and avoid the brush. This was my low point of the trip for sure, numb feet and slush packing up on the wheels kept locking up the bike.


Enter the bushwack. We got totally soaked going through this stuff.




Onward down to the Expanse of the White River Valley, the weather started to clear, and with it so did our morale. The White River is the main valley that the Snout of the Russel glacier feeds into - Enormous! The next crux would be to skirt the Glacier's edge and go through Skolai pass - something we did not want to do after coming out from the snow. But in time, the weather broke... and we entered The Throne Room.


I was inspired here by the title of Galen Rowell's book "In the Throne Room of the Mountain Gods" the title was a fitting description to this place. I was simply floored.








With the awesome weather, we were psyched to pull a long night and get over Skolai pass. We stopped to fuel up before leaving all the wood behind. Little did we also know that this would really be the last biking we would do until the 10 mile road into McCarthy in 2 days...


Starting the Skolai Push, we basically skirt the right side of the glacier, just left of the big peak on the right side.


We Joked that we might get attacked by Afgan Rebels here...




Lots and lots of this:


It was an amazing night, although hard work, we simply felt lucky to be here and gawked at the view every chance we had.


16,400' Mt. Bona came into view, the highest peak in the Wrangells.


In 2003 I hauled my butt up there and snapped this photo looking down the opposite way, the pass we were working through is on the lower right.



Onward, finally over the pass and working our way around Skolai lake.


we are nothing here...


Completely thrashed we crashed out in View of the next big hump - getting up and over Chititstone pass. From the pass we would head down the valley, skirt Chititstone gorge on "The Goat Trail" then Float the Chititstone and Nizina Rivers to finish it. We woke up to unstable weather and lots of snow looming above.


Working our way up the steep slippery tundra.


Trying to avoid body-holing in the rotten snow.

Topping out Chititsone pass we gave it a big old "F-U" and continued on.


Leaving the snow behind, we got our first tastes of an actual trail and a view of the gorge coming up.


Starting out on The Goat Trail - I was thinking we were going to able to ride parts of this - I could not have been any more wrong...




Mountain Goats make goat trails - not bike trails!




The path was ever so faint. It would cross the steep eroded gully's, then vanish on the tundra benches. We spent a bit of time route finding, but pretty much 100% of the time - it meant climbing up. The blowing sleat did not help any...




We stripped everything off both our bikes and turned them into 20 lb barbells.


The gully crossings got more and more serious, we were both really on edge when we saw this one from a distance. Kinda a "don't tell mom" sort of thing.


With the worst behind us, we worked our way down tundra benches to get down to the Chititstone river. The valley we came down is to the left.


A long day was ended with a stout bushwack to cliff out. We spent about 2 hrs bashing around before linking scree slopes to get finally "off"...




Waking up to a good morning before floating out the Chititstone. Polished off the last of our food and got moving.


The river is border line class 3 for its upper stretches. So decided to walk down stream a ways. After about 45 minutes of going through more brush we quickly felt "done" and got in the boats- Rapids or no rapids..

no photos from here on - splashy whitewater and one cold Dylan was then name of the game for a few hours. We built a few fires on the way out.. I was again glad I carried a drysuit.
Once we met the Nizina River it was smooth Sailing on the big one, then 10 miles of Dirt road riding to Finish in McCarthy.

I'll end this here. Its rare that a trip can have such a profound effect. During this adventure it felt a little like going through the motions and moving on through. Reflection hit me like a brick wall on the Glenn Highway after we shuttled to my truck for the drive back home. Randomly listening to "Hard Sun" by Eddie Vedder, I just broke down, in the best way possible... feeling so rich in life and encompassed in the shear beauty of this world cranked up to 11.

Go big.


182  Forums / Bikepacking / Re: Bears - how often and how to deal with? on: June 26, 2009, 12:47:00 AM
not sure about Urine - but yes to sex.
So no sex on bike packing trips in bear country!! you'll get eaten - and it will not be the good kind!
183  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Tour Divide 2009 on: June 14, 2009, 12:11:26 PM
Nice Marni, cool photos.
I added a few names as comments
184  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Tour Divide 2009 on: June 12, 2009, 11:18:32 PM
Nice job Scott,
Like Goldenboy said - That is pretty amazing.
185  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Dave Nice is off on his Divide ITT on: June 10, 2009, 11:52:34 PM
Too bad he cant melt down the chrome buckle and forge it into a better rack. Those buckles weigh a ton!
Go Dave you crazy some' bitzch!
186  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Grand Loop 2009 on: June 01, 2009, 08:56:57 AM
Wow - those photos looked like a fun time!
Great job everyone!
187  Forums / Question and Answer / Re: Shortening my therm a rest on: May 26, 2009, 10:55:11 AM
Its not that hard really, just takes some time, I fixed mine out in the boonies with aquaseal and dental floss.
have the bottom overlap the top just a tad, pluck out as much foam as possible, whip stitch or use a sewing machine to sew the seam so that the "end" is the folded overlap part and the "open" part of the seam is in the depression for lack of a better explanation. Use alcohol, cotol accelerant and aquaseal. check for leaks in a bucket or bathtub. re-glue...
basically what Dave said... good blog post Dave
188  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Chad's AZT 300 on: April 14, 2009, 04:56:08 AM
Congrats Chad, thanks for the photos in the race thread as well.
189  Forums / Question and Answer / Re: Anyone carry a knife? on: March 27, 2009, 09:52:32 AM
I carry a small foldable $12 gerber with a serrated blade, comes in handy and weighs nothing
190  Forums / Classifieds / Solo Tent -sold on: March 05, 2009, 08:09:18 PM
Hilleberg Akto:



http://estore.websitepros.com/1764795/-strse-64/Akto/Detail.bok

Awesome solo tent, or 2 people spooning. 3lbs 3oz packed. Red.

Used on one trip, basically brand new. it was just a bit too small for me (in winter). Left side zip sleeping bag is ideal. You can also use just the fly as a low profile one pole tarp.

$300 shipped.
191  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Iditarod Trail Invitaitonal 2009 on: March 03, 2009, 06:45:36 PM
He's using the primaloft insulated one... I was surprised it worked as well in negative temps as he says it did.
Thermarests and inflatables work just fine in the cold, its just a matter if you want to mess with them like coldbike said in "must bivy now!" conditions
Personally I always need 2 pads in winter unless I only want to sleep 3 hrs.

DG - You can find who is going to Nome on the ITI home page roster.
192  Forums / Ultra Racing / Re: Iditarod Trail Invitaitonal 2009 on: March 02, 2009, 12:47:18 PM
Some photos of the start:

Jeff Oatley:
























Bottom photos are of Tom Jarding, the skiers, Jill, Pete B and Geoff.
193  Forums / Winter bikepacking / Re: Winter bivy technique on: February 24, 2009, 08:49:45 PM
boots off then use them as ground insulation at your feet or head. With using VB's they shouldn't be wet and freeze. To warm them up in the morning bring a small 16 oz nalgene or similar bottle and fill it with hot water - instant boot pre-heater. Change into dry socks for the night.

I usually wear everything, including puffy pants & jacket if its cold.
194  Forums / Winter bikepacking / Re: Camera tricks? on: February 24, 2009, 09:47:46 AM
Its almost always the battery, keeping the camera in a chest pocket or pogies helps. To quickly warm batteries I slide them into what ever gloves I'm wearing, or if no gloves, just hold them in my hands.
if you have a small camera you can stick a toe warmer on it. That works pretty well.

Jill - you're crazy, didn't your mom tell you not to bike with batteries in your mouth?
195  Forums / Classifieds / Re: Used frame bag on: February 23, 2009, 09:41:43 PM
yep its gone, sorry
196  Forums / Bikepacking / Re: Susitna 100 spectating tour on: February 20, 2009, 09:34:49 PM
weird - some photos are loading, some not. strange.
197  Forums / Bikepacking / Susitna 100 spectating tour on: February 19, 2009, 02:57:26 PM
With the Susitna 100 going on last weekend I decided that it needed a token remote spectator. Left the Pt. Mac parking lot at around 4:30 and started slogging away. 3 days of food, a new solo tent to try out and some other knick nacks like a new GPS and camera. woo hoo.
After about 10 miles of boredom siesmic line soft snow riding at dusk I came across Bill and Kathi Merchant setting up their wall tent for a snow bike training weekend with two guys doing the Ultra sport race in 2 weeks. Yair and Kevin.  After socializing I flipped on my headlamp and continued on to Flathorn.



It was quite soft out there and I kinda thought it was funny that I was breaking trail and not even in the race. The 4 mph pace got me bored and I scribbled some notes of encouragement in the snow to friends who would be coming through the next morning.



Slogged across the Dismal swamp to the Big Su, my goal for the night. Stomped out a nice spot and pitched my brand new Hilleberg Akto tent. I've never tried using a solo tent for anything, it was either nothing, bivy's, mids, or larger tents. I have a larger Nammatj 3 GT as a mountaineering tent and absolutely love it (survived 100mpg gusts at 17,000' on Denali for a week). I saw the Akto about 7 years ago in El Chalten in Patagonia. A German cyclist had one and I was drooling over it. My mid had been knocked down twice in the middle of the night during windy rainstorms and poor anchor choice and I was envious. The little Akto weights a hair over 3 lbs and like everything Hilleberg makes, is super duper high quality.



mmm nothing like a healthy breakfast.. left over food from the alaska range. Jimmy dean sausage egg & cheese crissant-witch's, bacon and pop tarts (organic of course!)



a quick pop through the woods and down to the Susitna River:



 Felt good to be back on the river, the route for all points north and west... even though I was just a tourist and not racing anywhere.
My plan was to get up on the other side of the river and hang out for the front runners to come through. Hyper caffeinated I started to gather wood for a fire, but it was in the mid-20's and not really necessary, it just gave me something to do. Soon enough a lone skier came along.



I immediately realized it was Cory Smith, he was out training for the 350 race and to spectate as well. We both thought it was pretty funny to have camped out to come watch the race. I've known Cory on and off for a little while, we punished each other like 5 years ago in an adventure race, then I saw him go on to win the 05' Susitna 100 when I was doing the same thing training for Mcgrath. We talked gear and I was generally totally jealous of his skis given the soft conditions. Back to the fire building...



Finally Greg and Bill showed up chasing the lead skier, they were working it hard.



With no plan, I started riding out the trail to eaglesong. Generally poky and in no rush what so ever, letting racers / friends pass by. Mostly everyone was in good spirits, it was hard not to given the weather. Sunny and warm.. but that made for a really soft trail.







The trail approaching Eagle song was really getting soft. Loaded fairly heavy and on a joy ride, so I decided to turn around when the fun meter started to dip.



Turning around meant it was social time, over the next few hours I ran into pretty much everyone on the way back to the big Su.





More photos of that Here

Back to the river, at dusk. I stopped on the east bank at the wall of death to brew up. Scores of walkers and still some bikers came on by. I grew a little tired of explaining that I was really just fine and out to spectate. I think in a racers eye the use of the stove - a piece of mandatory gear that is never really used, must dictate some sort of emergency. Nope just water & mashed potatoes with tons of butter.



I never really like riding at dusk with flat light, headlamps work much better when its totally dark. So with that taken care of I headed back across the dismal swamp. The trail had firmed up considerably from the day before, despite the thousands of perforations from the foot racers. You could actually cruise along quite well here:



Decision time - keep going all the way back? or spend another night out? no brainer... on to making fire and see if any of the leaders would come through.
Saving on fossil fuel:


The two lead skiers came through pretty soon looking good.
after that it was bivy time sans tent. However just about as soon as I sacked out I could feel snow falling on my face. sigh... I decided to try using the Akto without the inner tent and quickly pitched that as a tarp. Its a cool feature of Hilleberg's that normally the inner and fly are joined together and pitch as one - but you can easily unclip the inside and pitch just the fly.  zzzzzz

Next morning woke up to women chatting, it was Theo and Shannon classic skiing on by. Guys would have long run out of things to say after skiing together for 24 hrs, but not these two! Smiley





a bit of fresh snow on pugs...


Properly caffeinated and porked, I ran into Brij on Flathorn:



There was quickly some deja-vu. Four years ago I rode out to Flathorn on the trail from Knik to cheer Brij on his way back in this race. It was a rough year and Brij had pushed like 50 miles at that point, but was the lead cyclist and went on to win the bike division. Brij now has stopped "racing" and likes to take long naps in his events. Good choice Mr. Potnis!

snow snow snow..


That's about it. Good weekend.


198  Forums / Bikepacking / Re: Arrowhead 135 tour. on: February 07, 2009, 06:41:55 PM
Tepid? was your man-gut-re-hydrating system not putting out or something?
199  Forums / Winter bikepacking / Re: Water transport with frame bag on: January 14, 2009, 10:47:35 AM
When its not full of food or other junk I can put 2 insulated quart sized cases in the top section of mine.
They eat up allot of the space inside but you can usually fit 2 in one depending on your bag/frame

Neve-r-rest might have something to add to this...

200  Forums / Question and Answer / Re: pepsi can stove on: January 13, 2009, 12:47:10 PM
if you go to backpacking light.com's MYOG forum, they have more threads that you can possibly imagine about making stoves like this. Just FYI.
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