Spring Break Day 3

Day 3: WolfRun to Windy Gap cabin.

Another pancake breakfast at wolfrun, with ham and cabin Moca, instant coffee with instanr hot coco. Yum. Sun coming in the window at breakfast was so bright we had to wear sunglasses!

Today was going to be an intersting day on the trail. We were going to go through windy gap a gradual climb with a steep decent followed by a creek crossing that could be wet with overflow. Steve did not want me to ski down. He said he would take my skis and I could walk down. He also had some bootied with plastic trash bags in them I could put overmy feet if there was water on the ice. We sat and looked at the map and read the trail conditions afterbreakfast. I was a little nervous.

After another Pancake breakfast and cleaning up the cabin I headed out ahead of the team. Skied about 2 miles before the team caught up. Hooked in again. The trail had some challenging sections and my feet needed some attention. We found some place out of the wind so we could have a snack and I could fix my boots and sox. My cap to my water bottle had froze so I could not open it. Had to borrow water from Steve. We were not really eating lunch so after an hour on the trail I was really jittery and weak, most of the energy bars in my pocket had frozen solid. The one snack that was a quick energy boost that was not frozen were the magic cookie bars I made.

1 1/2 c grahm cracker crumbs (Crush and place in bottom of baking pan)

1/2 cup melted butter, (spread over crumbs)

1 can sweetened condesned milk (Pour over crumbs)
2 cups chocolate chips (spread in a layer over the crumbs)

1 1/2 cup coconut (layer over chocolate chips)

1 cup chopped walnuts (sprinkle on top)

Press down the mixture to consolidate the bars then bake 350 for 30 mins or so.
The result is a high energy bar that tastes great, gives you a boost, but does not freeze solid!

After a snack I had the energy to continue on. The trail was pretty and we passed by some great views of the jagged limestome peaks. Stoped to take lots of photos. We stopped to look at windy arch, a hole in the limestone outcropping at the top of windy gap. The sun was behind it and shone through the arch. When get got to the very top of Windy gap, I took my gloves off to take more photos. Including theses panoramics, click on each one to enlarge.

Me at Windy Gap.

Windy Arch.

The time had come to take off my skis and walk down. The team was ready to go, My hands were getting cold in the wind from taking the photos. It was very exposed at the top of the gap. I got my back pack of the sled and the team raced down the slope into the wooded trail. I was eagar to get out of the wind. The trail was steep. I could have skiied it but I would have been snowplowing the whole way and it would not have been fun. The trail was too narrow for turns and switchbacks. I ran part of the way down.

At the bottom of the hill was a dense mature white spruce forest. It reminded me of the forest around the hot springs in the Jemez and in some areas in the top of the Sandias. There were moose tracks everywhere. The dense forest must provide good thermal cover and make it a favorite hang out spot for the moose. I crossed over a small creek and came to a trail junction where I thought the sign said "windy gap cabin 2 miles." My heart sank, it was supposed to be right here at the bottom of the hill. It was only supposed to be a mile to the cabin from the top of the gap. I took another look at the sign, a branch was hiding the "." in .2 miles. Almost there. I found the booties Steve had left along the trail for me. I continued on to fossil creek, it was a wide stretch of flat smooth ice, no water. So I put on my Microspikes and walked confidently across the ice. It would have been dicy on skis.

When I got to the cabin Steve had a fire going and was tending to the dogs. the cabin was surrounded almost engulfed in overflow ice. I kept my spikes on for walking around outside the cabin and going to the out house. I would hate to fall and get hurt on the way to the outhouse on a trip like this. This was the most remote point in our trip. I took lots of picutes.

Dinner was burritos. We had frozen salsa, frozen guacamole, frozen mexican spiced ground beef, dehydrated refried beans, shreded cheedar cheese and whole wheat tortillas. Where is the letuce and tomato? Another good dinner. I could not finish my second burrito, I was too stuffed.

When Steve was walking around looking for drinking water he fell through the top crust of snow up to his knees in overflow water. It was between 10 and 20 below zero so he hurried inside to change clothes. I placed the icy axe behind the stove and the handle almost melted!

Cutting wood at Windy Gap.

Oh and BTW it is still windy!

Day 2: Colorado Creek to Wolfrun Cabin.

Pancakes with rehydrated "Just Fruit." Too bad we forgot to pack a spatula. Steve fashioned a spatula out of a paper plate. I brought some of the Vermont Maple syrup that was mailed to me, but we forgot the butter. Good thing there was some Pam a that was left at the Colorado creek cabin that we could use to grease the pan.

It was really windy still and the trail was mostly in open meadow. I headed out ahead of Steve, but in the back of my mind I was thinking he was going to catch up to me and tell me he wanted to head back because it was so windy and cold. I was still exhausted from skiing in the day before. I was afraid to go too far, thinking he would want to turn around. I put my googles on and pulled my face mask up and skied into the wind. By the time he caught up to me I had skied almost 3 miles and my goggles were all frosted over.

On the first day my socks were bunching up and making hot spots on my arches. I tried some thinner socks, but was afraid I might get blisters on my heals so I put duct tape on my heals to keep them from getting blisters. Unfortunately the tape bunched up and made a blister on the side of my heal. This was going to make the rest of the trip a little painful.

Shike hates stopping. She yelps and cries whenever we stopped. She bites at here lead line and tries to cause trouble with the other dogs. Here she is trying to get me to hurry up so we can go.

The trail was pretty mellow without too man dips. There was one section of trail referred to as the ditch of hell by a number of people who have gotten snow machines stuck in it. I unhooked from the team and it was an easy ski.

We made it to the wolfrun cabin with plenty of day light left. This cabin was recently rebuilt after the former cabin burned to the ground. It is a nice cabin with plenty of bunk room. I think it was the largest cabin we stayed in. There was plenty of cut wood around it just needed to be split. Steve had an elaborate dinner with pita bread planned. He kneaded the dough and let it rise on top of the wood stove. The wood stove was slow to heat up, we were trying to burn green birch, but once we got some dry wood the place heated up fast.

Steve "Baked" the "pita" in a frying pan on the propane cook stove. It was good. We thawed the tomatoes, kalamata olives and feta in a seal-a-meal bag. I mixed up some hummus from a dry mix and we had tahini to drizzle over the marinated pre-cooked beef and chicken. Another delicious dinner! Spiced tea with rum and a chocolate bar for desert.

All Snuggled in. Trapper is a good cabin dog, part lab. Steve read some Aesop's fabels as I snuggled in my bag with a hot nalgene bottle.

Spring Break in the Windy White Mountains of Alaska

For Spring Break this year I decided a backcountry wilderness trip would be a nice contrast to the not so sunny beaches of Hawaii. I went with a friend of mine from Fairbanks who has a dog team. We did covered close to 70 miles of trail in the White Mountain National Recreation Area. For more information about the area see the BLM's website: http://www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/sa/white_mtns.html

Trip Overview:

Day 1: mile 57 to colorado Creek Cabin 14 Miles

Day 2:Colorado Creek cabin to Wolf Run Cabin 9 miles

Day 3: Wolfrun to Windy Gap about 10 miles

Day 4: Windy gap to Caribou Bluff cabin about 12 Miles

Day 5: Caribou Bluff Cabin to Wolfrun 12 Miles

Day 6: Wolfrun to Colorado Creek 9 miles.... Colorado Creek to Mile 57, 14 Miles= 23 miles total.

Day 1: Colorado Creek trail Head to Colorado Creek Cabin

We arrived at the trail head about 2 in the afternoon after a last minute stop in at Sportsman's Wearhouse to stock up on hand warmers. It was about a two hour drive from Fairbanks to mile 57 of the Elliot Highway.

We had heard several wind advisories for the high country, and it was a bit windy and cool when we started. I do not think I checked the temperature before I left. I just put on my facemask, neck gator, and pulled on my beaver hat and set out. I started out on the trail about 3 in the afternoon, with spring just around the corner the long days gave us plenty of daylight. I skied for two or three miles along the Colorado Creek trail before Steve and the team caught up to me. I hooked the quick release on my skijor belt to the bungie line attached to the sled and away we went.

The sled was heavy with all of the food and gear for us and the dogs for 6 days. I do not know if I would have made the 14 miles on my own with out the assistance of the dogs. There was a fair amount of climbing and several dips a gullies. I had to unhook from the team when going down into a gully, otherwise I would over run the sled or run in to it. On the way in the snow had drifted in the gullies along the trail and the sled go stuck a few times. At one point the team tried to turn around. I had to get out of my skis and help straighten them out.

We made it to the cabin by about 7 pm with some daylight to spare. Started to collect snow to melt for cooking, drink and dog water. Dinner was rice noodles with peanut sauce, cilantro, green onions and a pound of Shrip. Mmmmm. It was good. the food was one of the highlights of the trip. I would not have taken the shrip back packing, but it was good.

The dogs staked out at Colorado creek cabin. It was -20 when we got to the cabin and windy. It was a 3 dog night in the cabin!

I just saved a lot of money on my car insurance!

Oh wait. I do not have a car.  But I just did my taxes and I am getting $3,000 back!  So it feels like I just saved a lot of money.  Thank you turbo tax, you need a catchy commercial like Geiko!