Well our original planned trip to go to McLaren Lodge was canceled as Alan and Susie are booked solid.
So were trying to come up with an alternative run. I'm going back and forth between Cantwell again and maybe ride down the Denali Hwy to the Susitna River bridge or maybe go to McLaren and stay at the Miers Lake Lodge.
I hear they've added some new rooms to the lodge in the past 5 or 6 years and they should be decent for a place to stay.
Anyone else got any thoughts or preference on this
10 of us from NLSC rode into Maclaren Lodge from Summit Lake yesterday. It was a beautiful day. High temps of + 5 deg. Snow on trail? Lets just say Allen has done all he can. Watch your temperate light. It took us 3 hrs to go in. Bird dogging for fresh snow was of little help. We made 6 stops along the way to cool the engines and check on hyfax wear. The worst part was from Octopus lakes to Tangles. After Tangles there is 2-4” of fresh stuff and the hills south of the highway were in great shape for a little climbing. I am now a firm believer in ice scratchers!
1 had one fatality. A 163” 1000 Summit had all but 2 wheels removed the night before. Not a good idea. At Maclaren, we discovered his hyrax was shot. The good news. Damage to the rails had not happened. The guy doubled up with me and we headed back to the truck. The rest of the group went up to the glacier.
Superman, my passenger, rode on top of his back pack which was strapped to the rack. The BOSS seat wouldn’t accommodate the both of us. 48 miles later he was talking about hot tubs and pain killers. The Lake was the worst part.
I have a 2x144” track and stayed on the trail all the way back. We made 2 stops. I think if didn’t have the ice scratchers I would have overheated and been in the market for new hyrax.
We are planning on going back next weekend for the repair or recovery with my widetrack.
COS
Work hard/Play hard
09 570 Bearcat
03 Viper Mnt.
2010 Bearcat XTZ
Yes, they said the trip to the glacier was worth it. They have never been.
Snow west of the lodge: I spoke with Allen and some folks who rode in from the Gracious House, there are patches along the way where you’ll find 4-6” of powder. Overall the highway from Cantwell is do-able. Allen has groomed down the highway a bit towards Cantwell.
South of the Lodge: Allen hasn’t put any trails in that way yet. You can find powder in the lower valleys but once you get into any elevation the snow get hard. A little brushy but plenty of boon-docking to be had.
COS
Work hard/Play hard
09 570 Bearcat
03 Viper Mnt.
2010 Bearcat XTZ
:D Don't know about Cantwell but Summit was incredible last weekend. A group of 8 of us went down. We ran into some other SnowTravelers there, I think they would probably agree. We got there around 10:00, unloaded and headed out. It was about 30 degrees and sunny. We rode back into the hills and played in every little valley and hill we could tear up. The snow was about as close to perfect as you could ask for, lots of fluff and unmarked areas. The only downside to the day was that 4 of us work together, 1 being the boss and he just wasn't going to believe the rest of us were really sick the next day so we could stay and play!! I will try to post some pics to the album.
