Eklutna Lake - The Return

I decided to leave early enough today to make it to Eklutna Glacier from my parents house.  This would be an approximately 55 mile mountain bike ride.  So i packed up some lunch and headed out my usual way through the powerline trails to the Eklutna River which I crossed then start the long climb up Eklutna Lake Road.  

I wasnt feeling very spunky today as I havent been mountain biking as much the last few weeks due to all the studying I have been doing for my two summer classes.  So once I saw wind of a trail off the long climb I stopped for a breather and to check it out.  Luckily I did because just 20 yards off the road you got out to the edge of a cliff that opened up to a huge gorge that the river had cut out.

At about mile 12.4 of the trail around the lake it ends and you have to dismount as the trail is not passable with a bike.  This trail follows along the Eklutna River and the river is really flowing at this point which also causes the temp's to drop a little.  I was hoping this would lead me out to the glacier but to reach the glacier you would of had to been a mountain goat.  You would of also had to cross the river and at this point its probably a class III river that is as cold as ice.  So I decided to eat my lunch and head on back home.

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Eklutna Lake

Even though I had written previously that I wouldn't be riding this weekend because of all the rain and my Organic Chemistry test on Monday, the weather turned out to be really nice on Saturday giving me the itch.  So today (Sunday) when the weather turned out to be good again I thought why not go ride as I was diligent in my study's all weekend.  I mentioned the idea about riding up to Eklutna Lake from our house to my dad and he said the road leading up to the lake was a 10 mile climb.  I thought since I haven't been on my bike as much as I would of liked and with the trail only being 12 miles and flat it would be a good way to put in some extra miles, 10 mile climb be damned.  

The ride started like the last few starting on the powerline trails that are behind my parents house but this time instead of crossing the Eklutna River I had to wade upstream a bit to get across the Glenn Highway where the road up to the Lake started.  While wading through the river though I got to see a few king salmon swimming which made braving the freezing waters that much more bearable. When I got to the road it was slow going as it climbed from 200 feet to 1400 feet in 3 miles and then leveling up for the last few miles.  After 10 miles on the road I finally reached the entrance to the Lake.

The trail following the lake was all doubletrack and relatively flat.  What it lacked in technical stuff it made up for in beauty.  If it had been anymore technical it would of been easy to wipe out while staring at the mountains and lake.  I was hoping to make it all the way to the Glacier but it was getting late and I had to be back for supper.  So I turned around at the 10.5 mile mark to head home.

On the way back the skys opened up and I put the hammer down trying to make it back around 7:30 for dinner.  Once I got cell phone service I called my parents to come pick me up at the end of the road so that I wouldnt have to wade through the freezing Eklutna River again.  I had miscalculated though and only made it have way down the downhill when I saw my dad in his vehicle.  I was glad to get in the car though as the effects of the rain and the long downhill had chilled me down to the bone.  Hopefully I will try this trip again and make it all the way to the glacier.

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Record Rain

The rain here just doesn't seem to wanna stop.  I believe Anchorage broke a record yesterday for rainfall at 1" in a 24 hour period.  So with the trails seeing all this rain it looks like I will be not riding my bike at all.  Which might be a good thing as my right knee has been giving me a some discomfort the last week.  It might be due to the fact I was trying to do some strength work on my bike last time out pushing a big gear up the hills.  Its probably a good thing as I have a big Organic Chemistry test this Monday that I need to be studying for.

On another note I got the new Beck album Modern Guilt and its really good featuring production by Danger Mouse (1/2 of Gnarls Barkley) and singing by one of my other favorite artists Cat Power.  I have also been watching a lot of The Flight of the Conchords.  See below.

Flight of the Conchords - If You're Into It

Little Susitna River

On Saturday my brother, Dad and I headed out to paddle the Little Susitna River up in Houston, AK.  Its a fairly swift moving river much more so then the Swanson which we had paddled last weekend.  The Lil' Sue is also much closer of a drive being only about an hour from the house.  My brother and Dad were going to paddle in the Old Town canoe while I would paddle the kayak.  We had to do some work on my Dad's canoe as the thing is older then me and in dire need of some maintenance.  We fixed the holes with and gouges with bondo and fiberglass.

After finishing the repairs we ended up on the river at about 4 and planned on  only paddling a couple hours before setting up camp.  The river quickly showed me that kayaking skills are lacking when I went entered a fast flowing section of the river to find out a log was laying across the whole river impeding my path.  I tried back paddling to slow down but I was coming in to quick so I resorted to using the paddle to stop me on the log.  The paddle did a fine job stopping me but the river had other ideas about the kayak, pulling it out from underneath me and sweeping it underneath the log I had stopped on.  I tried to hold onto the kayak as my camera and a few other things were inside it but this caused me to be pulled under the log also.  I quickly swam to shore to and empty the kayak of water and hop back inside.  Luckily the only damage was my water logged cell phone.

The rest of the trip was spent perfecting my kayaking skills and just having a good time watching the king salmon swimming underneath me.  We also had a moose and her calf jump out onto the bank to inspect us and a bald eagle or two fly by.  When we got to the end where we parked my brothers truck to shuttle us back he realized he left his keys back at the other car.  So we had to call my mom to come bring the extra keys to his truck, thanks Mom.  

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A River Runs Through It

I had planned the night before to head out and try the Powerline Trail in Anchorage before our canoeing trip down the Little Susitna River on Saturday.  However my plans were quickly changed as the weather wasn't cooperating when I woke up this morning, so I decided to hit the books instead.  I was having problems concentrating though with my mind on mountain biking so as soon as the weather cleared up I got ready to head out.  Instead of driving the 30 miles into Anchorage though I decided to hit the trails up behind the house again.  Last time I had stopped at what I believe was Eklutna River and turned around but this time I decided to try and cross it.  So I packed up my pack with some extra socks along with some food and ensure as I was planning on a long ride.

I headed through the neighborhood down to the trail that follows the powerlines.  After crossing the railroad tracks I came up on the river and removed my shoes and socks preparing for the freezing water as its a glacier fed river.  Luckily it wasn't that deep only reaching my knees at the deepest point.  Upon reaching the other side I put my socks and shoes on and quickly got moving to restore my circulation in my feet and legs.  The trail on the other side was quite muddy, with a consistency close to clay.  Luckily it was extremely flat and traction was not needed for half mile where I quickly learned that the trail was coming to an end.  I turned back around to wade through the freezing river again.

I wasn't done riding for the day so I decided to try another spur on the trail.  I came upon 

Eklutna River again but decided to keep the shoes on for this crossing as I had lost traction earlier in the clay and wet my feet.  I rode this trail for about a mile after crossing to find that again a dead end would stop me.  At this point with my feet cryogenically frozen I decide to turn around and call it a day.  I ended up with almost 20 miles of riding yet was hoping for much more.  Hopefully the trails down on the Kenai peninsula dry out as the snow is to deep on the trails.

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Swanson River

This weekend my father and I decided to paddle and camp the Swanson River located on the Kenai peninsula here in Alaska.  The Kenai is a pretty popular spot here in Alaska mostly due to the fishing it affords but also the beautiful blue water that runs through it.  I had never been down on the Kenai in my other visits to Alaska so it was all new to me.  My father had actually done this trip before down the Swanson without camping but said it made it a grunt of a day trip.

We didnt leave the house until about noon and we still had to pick up groceries for the trip.  By the time we got on the road it was one but you don't really have to worry about burning daylight here.  We got on the river at 5 and we planned to paddle about 4 hours until we started hunting for our campsite.  On my Dad's previous trip he had marked potential campsites into the GPS as the river goes through a stretch of nothing but marsh that offers little to no campsites.

On our way we saw two moose actually in the river, once coming within 5 feet of one of them.  I could of honestly stuck out my paddle and smacked it.  The river was pretty tame with small spots of swift moving water.  It luckily had enough water also to prevent any portaging but we were still scraping the bottom in a few spots. 

Our campground was 10 feet up a bank nestled around a bunch of spruce trees.  It looked like it gets plenty of use and there was already some firewood chopped from the previous tenants.  We had stopped along the way to collect firewood anyways as that was our only source of cooking.  My dad isnt into ultra-light camping so we camp luxuriously air mattress and all.  For dinner it was steak and potatoes and for desert apple pie.  My mom thinks its ridiculous cooking steak out in bear country but at this point there are no salmon in the Swanson.  

The next day we cooked up some eggs and potatoes and headed out.  We were hoping to get some cell phone service so we could call my Mom to tell her we were going to reach the take out point earlier then our 6 o'clock arranged pickup time to no avail.  We arrived at 3 o'clock and decided to setup our tent and catch a nap before she came.  She arrived 30 minutes early and we packed up and left making it home around midnight.  It was a great trip with tons of wildlife from osprey's, to great horned owls, to moose, and even a black bear on our drive out.  All and all we paddled 28 miles in about 8 hours.  Hopefully I can do a few more of these float trips before I leave.

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Commuting

I started commuting today to school via the many bike paths that the state of Alaska provides.  The bike route goes all the way following along the Glen Highway.  The first section was unpaved at the Peter's Creek exit for a mile or two but then it switched to nice blacktop.  I don't have any other tires here except for my panaracers so I wasnt the fastest person on my commute.

According to my garmin it was a 28 mile trip into town from the house taking about 2 hours.  I had a little time to spare so I tooled around checking out the campus a little more but forgot to take pictures. 

After class I decided to head down to my Dad's work to catch a ride back home with him.  On the way back we witnessed an accident with the car in front of us and a car trying to make it across.  As soon as it happened the driver and passenger who weren't at fault jumped out and screaming obscenities at the other driver and yelling at them that they had four kids in the vehicle.  Yet the whole time we watched the parents never seemed to make sure there kids were alright. 

This weekend my Dad and I are talking about canoeing the Swanson River Trails.  It looks like a great time hopefully we can get everything together before the weekend.  If not I will probably just head out and try the trail Lost Lake on my mountain bike.

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