Chatanika Trails, March 10, 2012

Beautiful day but a short trip for Tyler and I. Started out at 9:30 AM having breakfast at the lodge and we were joined by Nick, his wife, Bret and Dave. The day started out good, a bit on the chilly side when we arrived. I showed -15 below in my truck before we went in for breakfast and about zero once we hit the trails.

I was trying to find the turn off trail Chuck took to Moose Creek Cabin, but the new snow was so deep all I could find was the turn off at 4-Corners off the Orange trail. So after some exploring we decided to follow the Orange trail, sort of.

I missed a turn and we ended up in the middle of a beaver pond with a$$ deep powder, an enjoyable stuckfest, Not. After we got all the sleds unstuck and turned around, Tom and friend showed up, just in time to watch us finish digging everyone out, good timing there Tom.

As I turn around to see what’s up, Nick’s Crossfire is on its side and everyone is looking. The retaining ring to his outside boogy wheel has come loose. No way to fix it in all the snow and without a retaining ring plies to get it back in. So he decides to ride it anyway, just has to take it easy.

So we starting heading down the correct trail towards the river and Tyler is having issues with my M sled that I let him ride for the first time. So I went over and turned it around for him and noticed that it wasn’t turning well to the left, up comes hood and dang-nabit, somehow or another he bend the steering tie rod, so we were done for the day.

Back to lodge for me and Tyler, I hope everyone else enjoyed all the powder on the rest of the trip and made it to Moose Creek Cabin.