Hurricane, one last sled trip

So we made it to Hurricane and what a trip it was. The drive down was pretty good although it was delayed by a day due to the blizzard that hit South Central and the west coast of Alaska. The only real hazard was on the last 14 miles of road, lots of slush and ice on the road, made for some slow driving, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

We arrived Friday around dinner time and I saw what Dean was talking about as far as all the snow went, the first picture in the album below is Marquese’s sled from one night’s snow fall, wow. As I reminded my partner, this is why we brought land here, right, lots of snow to play in.

Friday was a short night and I did take a trip up to the cabin site figuring on opening up the trail a bit before we went out Saturday morning. I rode the Bearcat in as it packs a better trail down and the 2 and half feet of fresh powder was no problem for it. Later I was joined by Dean, Tiff and Brett for a short run, shorter than we planned, all this fresh snow is hard on belts and we spent a little time getting Brett’s new belt on before heading back for dinner.

Saturday morning I got up, had breakfast and then headed out for a short ride, everyone else was still asleep. Heck, here it is 20 something above, lots of fresh snow on the ground and a clear blue sky day, who could ask for more.

Dean, Marquese, Tiff, Brett, Austin and I made a run into the cabin and Austin riding his Kitty-Cat did pretty good until his thumb got tired of riding. He wasn’t tired, but his thumb was, pretty good rider at 4 years old on the Kitty-Cat.

After a short stop at the cabin site we decided to head towards Chulitna and rode down the hill and headed to the Intertie, the electrical transmittance line between Fairbanks and Anchorage. On the way there we ran into a groups of 8 guys out playing for the day. Talked and visited for a bit and then headed on our way. Of course at this point I decided to back up the BearCat to get an easier start and wouldn’t you know it I get stuck. Fortunately it was a easy fix to get it unstuck and going again, at least until I got another half mile or so down towards the Intertie where I lost it to a bottomless hole of snow that’ll teach me to go to slow in deep fresh powder. Brett and Dean came a long and pull the skies and out she came and then up the hill I went.

Dean and Brett went exploring with the intent to try and climb this hill, Tiff and Marquese decided to get some sun tanning in and I decided to hang out, take some pics and maybe head back to camp.

We got back to camp around 5:00 and decided to have dinner and then do some afternoon riding in the fields west of the tracks. Actually I had a spot in mind I wanted to explore and se if we couldn’t find a way across the Chulitna River and closer to the Glacier. We did get to the river but the drop was prett steep and it was starting to get dark, so we headed back to camp. A great end to a fantastic day of riding.

Sunday was get Trish to the cabin site and drive home day. Trish had not seen the cabin site or the view we’ll have from the front porch once I get the walls and roof up. So I got Trish going on the back of the BearCat and we made a short run into the cabin and she now wants to know why it’s not done yet.. Go figure, love ya sweetie, just remember that statement next time you wonder about all the $ I’m spending at Lowes or HomeDepot

We made it home by 6:00 for dinner and in just time for Mel to drop off the G-Kids for the night. It was a good weekend and I was tired, but happy and glad we had another day of riding before the snow’s all melted and gone. Next weekend will be wood cutting as it’s time for me to start getting firewood stacked and dried for next winter, of course I may just wait one more week and see if I can get another ride in yet this year. The snow is still good down in Hurricane, but the cost of fuel is a bit prohibitive these days.

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