This was the best ride all season. 11 members showed up for breakfast and it was more than I had figured on. Dean (you all do remember our past president Mr. Allen) even showed up. Almost thought it was ghost at first :).
Interactive map of the route we took
Since Dean knows the route into Caribou Pass Lakes the best he got to lead us and I ran sweep. Hum, not too sure about running in the back of the bus on these trips especially with Tiff just in front of me. All the snow she kept kicking up sounded like a drum on my helmet. At least I had some aspirin along
Of course a ride into the mountains always includes some high marking and Paul Jr. and Tiff had some great hill climbing time to see who could get to the highest point. Paul just had to get that extra couple of feet on her, probable had to do with the teasing he got after her first run smoked him
The temps were way to warm. I love spring riding when you can almost count on getting a winter suntan but this day was a bit to warm. At about 10 miles into the ride everyone commenced taking off layers. By time I got back to the rigs at 4:00 or so it was 46 above in the sun….
Once we made it out of the Jack River canyon and onto the lakes themselves we took a lunch break and along comes Nick and Al. Nick was having gas pump issues back at the parking area but got it fixed and joined us just in time for lunch. From there we headed farther east towards the end of the lakes and rode up a nice little valley.
Saw a small herd of about 20 to 30 Caribou along the edge of the lake and another 200 in a valley a couple of ridges over. Well OK, everyone else saw the 200 Caribou a couple ridges over. Me, I found this nice spot with the sun shining down on me and tried to take a short nap. Hey, nothing better than soaking up the sun and getting a short nap in during a beautiful spring day in the mountains. My nap didn’t work out to well, heck, going to have to figure out a way to pack a pillow with me on these rides.
We all decided to head back around 3:00 PM, well half of us did anyway. So the first half of the group heads back to the rigs and I waited for the others to let them know were heading out, the 2nd group included Dean, Tiff, Nick, John and Al. So they decided they were going to try a different route back to the Denali Hwy, which I later learned they didn’t make.
So now I’m 30 minutes behind the first group and had a nice leisurely ride out figuring that by time I got back to the parking area they’d either be loading up or gone. Surprise, surprise, hum when I got to the parking area everyone’s rig is still there and no sleds, well shoot. So I decided to wait a few minutes before going back to see where they went, since I was on the route we took out they must of made a wrong turn somewhere or I’d have caught up to them. Just about the time I’m getting ready to go looking here they come, yeah team, since I wasn’t too sure just where to look.
So by 4:00 PM I’m loaded up and heading home, the sun is out, the roads are dry, and it was an enjoyable drive back home after a great day of riding.
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