Tolovana HS Ride report
Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 4:41 pm
Here is the ride report for the Tolovana hot springs ride. It was a great time:
The Intrepid Ten to Tolovana
The ten gathered at 10:00 am, Snow Travelers standard time (in other words, give or take a few minutes), to begin the great adventure into the Tolovana Hot Springs. The jump off point was Murphy Dome but, I am getting a little ahead of myself. Earlier in the morning a few of us met at Sourdough Sam’s café for coffee, breakfast with a side order of BS. From there the group made their way to Murphy Dome where the pre-adventure adventure took place when one of the group, whose name also happened to be Murphy, found out his vehicle did not have same ability to skim across snow as his snow machine. We gathered tow straps and a pickup and got ready to extricate the vehicle after a few photos were first taken to memorialize the event. So, with all of the preliminary events out of the way, we started out precisely at 10:30 for snow travelers, right on time.
The ride from the dome to the Chatanika was fairly good. There were the normal windblown areas but, the way was pretty uneventful. From the Chatanika to the hot springs however was a little more eventful. The lack of snow was apparent and made the ride more difficult. The last 10 miles were tight with some plow downs that would normally be covered with snow. All told, the 46 mile ride took over five hours to complete. There was much discussion of suspending Tim’s trip planning license until he could complete additional training. By the way, there is another route into the hot springs from the Elliott highway that is only nine miles long.
Upon arrival, we divided up into the three cabins. Miles and Mardy took one cabin; the James gang (James and his sons Andrew and Ian) took one and in the last was myself, Tim, Steve, Shaun and mike. The last cabin could further be referred to as the fraternity cabin. Tim and I had the same idea for refreshments with a 12 pack and a bottle of bourbon each. For two nights it will be ok if we ration it.
A word about the cabins; the cabins had propane for cooking and lights. The fraternity cabin had plenty of pots, pans, dishes and utensils. It also had a wind generator with a battery and inverter system that powered three LED lights in the cabin. A wood stove for heat and plenty of wood for it. I did not look at any of the other cabins. The tubs were some of the hottest I have been in. I would say a very good place to stay. A few hardy individuals went to the tubs right away. The next day we all had a good soaking and resting.
On Saturday, a few riders took the other trail to the Elliott (did I mention it is nine miles?). They reported that it was a good trail and a large parking area. This route might be a possible way next time with side trips after arrival.
The food was wonderful with moose burgers and potatoes salad the first night, pancakes by Andrew with moose sausage for the first breakfast. The second night was more moose burgers cooked by Ian and some hot dogs by you know who (I still have a lot of hot dogs left). The next morning was sausage, onions, eggs and cheese scramble. Saturday night was an evening of conversation and, later, some northern lights. Rationing went out the window as someone drank a lot of bourbon (dang, it was good).
The next day the ride back was mostly uneventful with low snow and some additional windblown areas going up to Murphy dome. The weather temperature did take a dip with it being about -20F and windy on the dome. When we got to the parking area, sleds were loaded and off the intrepid ten went, back to home and our own brand of mediocrity. By the way, did I mention that there is a route only nine miles?
The Intrepid Ten to Tolovana
The ten gathered at 10:00 am, Snow Travelers standard time (in other words, give or take a few minutes), to begin the great adventure into the Tolovana Hot Springs. The jump off point was Murphy Dome but, I am getting a little ahead of myself. Earlier in the morning a few of us met at Sourdough Sam’s café for coffee, breakfast with a side order of BS. From there the group made their way to Murphy Dome where the pre-adventure adventure took place when one of the group, whose name also happened to be Murphy, found out his vehicle did not have same ability to skim across snow as his snow machine. We gathered tow straps and a pickup and got ready to extricate the vehicle after a few photos were first taken to memorialize the event. So, with all of the preliminary events out of the way, we started out precisely at 10:30 for snow travelers, right on time.
The ride from the dome to the Chatanika was fairly good. There were the normal windblown areas but, the way was pretty uneventful. From the Chatanika to the hot springs however was a little more eventful. The lack of snow was apparent and made the ride more difficult. The last 10 miles were tight with some plow downs that would normally be covered with snow. All told, the 46 mile ride took over five hours to complete. There was much discussion of suspending Tim’s trip planning license until he could complete additional training. By the way, there is another route into the hot springs from the Elliott highway that is only nine miles long.
Upon arrival, we divided up into the three cabins. Miles and Mardy took one cabin; the James gang (James and his sons Andrew and Ian) took one and in the last was myself, Tim, Steve, Shaun and mike. The last cabin could further be referred to as the fraternity cabin. Tim and I had the same idea for refreshments with a 12 pack and a bottle of bourbon each. For two nights it will be ok if we ration it.
A word about the cabins; the cabins had propane for cooking and lights. The fraternity cabin had plenty of pots, pans, dishes and utensils. It also had a wind generator with a battery and inverter system that powered three LED lights in the cabin. A wood stove for heat and plenty of wood for it. I did not look at any of the other cabins. The tubs were some of the hottest I have been in. I would say a very good place to stay. A few hardy individuals went to the tubs right away. The next day we all had a good soaking and resting.
On Saturday, a few riders took the other trail to the Elliott (did I mention it is nine miles?). They reported that it was a good trail and a large parking area. This route might be a possible way next time with side trips after arrival.
The food was wonderful with moose burgers and potatoes salad the first night, pancakes by Andrew with moose sausage for the first breakfast. The second night was more moose burgers cooked by Ian and some hot dogs by you know who (I still have a lot of hot dogs left). The next morning was sausage, onions, eggs and cheese scramble. Saturday night was an evening of conversation and, later, some northern lights. Rationing went out the window as someone drank a lot of bourbon (dang, it was good).
The next day the ride back was mostly uneventful with low snow and some additional windblown areas going up to Murphy dome. The weather temperature did take a dip with it being about -20F and windy on the dome. When we got to the parking area, sleds were loaded and off the intrepid ten went, back to home and our own brand of mediocrity. By the way, did I mention that there is a route only nine miles?