Chulitna Cabin Site in Dec

So I figured it was time to take a trip south and see how the snow was and what kind of shape the cabin platform near Chulitna was in. I had planned to start work on a couple trail options into the site so we could get ready to haul building materials in March.

The last two weeks in Fairbanks have been running between -30 and -50 below zero, not real conducive weather for snowmachining or driving a motorhome in. Tyler and I left Fairbanks on Wed AM and the temps were hanging around -10 below, not bad and warm enough I would have driven the RV down but hadn’t gotten it ready for a trip.

We got to the Hurricane Train depot around 1:00 in the afternoon and hit the trail. Had a nice day and a few flurries driving down but nothing to worry about. Game plan, decide which of the two trail options we were going to use to haul materials in and then start building a base by riding over it half a dozen times. The lower trail goes through the woods and has more brush to deal with, but in some ways it is easier. The upper trail which is our preferred route, assuming we could get over the snowberm on the hwy is the easiest and runs mostly above treeline.

Well the upper trail route was pretty hard packed and windblown and not a fun ride. So we rode the lower trail a bit and it was a better route, although it does have more turns and bends to deal with for hauling.

Once we got to the site and I looked at the platform, plans changed and we decided to shovel off the 3 feet of snow and ice on it. It was a good idea and we got it done as you can see, but dang-nabit, it snowed 2 to 3 feet while we were there. We didn’t ride out to the site on Friday, but I’ll bet it’s pretty thick on the platform again. Should be all right, the post are pretty stout and the snow load shouldn’t cause any damage.

We did get to do some riding, not as much as we would of liked, but a little bit. The drive home was white knuckle driving with 4 to 6 inches of snow on the road and occasional whiteout conditions.

Well, happy New Years everyone.