|   ride pics from Denali H-Way | Adam
Jun 9, 2003 3:48 PM | | I loved bigwheel's ride pics so I thought I would post some of my own. Been rehabing a knee injury so not much riding but I got out a bit this weekend, here is the bike w/the view from camp before the ride |
| faint trail | Adam
Jun 9, 2003 3:51 PM | | find the trail.... |
| the sun comes out to play | Adam
Jun 9, 2003 3:54 PM | | |
| 29er on an ORV trail | Adam
Jun 9, 2003 3:56 PM | | |
| The Highway | Adam
Jun 9, 2003 3:59 PM | | |
| Faint trail #2 | Adam
Jun 9, 2003 4:01 PM | | Here is the view 180 degrees from the above faint trail shot |
| the view from camp | Adam
Jun 9, 2003 4:04 PM | | Here us the view from the end of the ride, blue sky yahoo. |
| last shot of my 29er | Adam
Jun 9, 2003 4:12 PM | | Hope you liked these pics |
| Beautimous | Bigwheel
Jun 9, 2003 4:12 PM | | Thanks for the views Adam! You picked up on my point exactly, sharing our experiences, that although they could have been from the seat of any old bike, a 29"er makes it just that much sweeter!!! Gotta get up there and ride some day.
Actually my first mtn. bike ride ever was in SE AK on a SS klunker that some guy from Cali had brought north on a seiner. It was on Prince of Wales and I rode from Craig to Hollis and back one afternoon. I was hooooooooooked! Had my own bike on the boat next season and got a chance to ride in alot of off the wall spots. The only pain was that I couldn't get it down the forward hatch without taking off the big chainring! |
| holy biscuits that's nice! | leachi
Jun 9, 2003 4:56 PM | | Great pictures, adam! You are indeed a lucky guy to experience such a trip! The highway looks cool for touring with a BOB and 29'r. Thanks for the shot's! |
| holy biscuits that's nice! | Adam
Jun 9, 2003 6:18 PM | | Yeah, the Highway is a great ride, can be a bit washboardish. I rode it a few years ago (on a 26"er, it was before I heard of 29"ers) a really fun ride but crazy weather. In the course of a day it went from about 70 degrees and sunny to rain to hail then back to warm and sunny. It takes lots of clothes to bike the road. But on that trip I noticed that there are ORV trails going off the road all over the place, so now I want to go up there and explore all those side trails. |
| Good job, Adam--looks to me like you were | AK Ken
Jun 9, 2003 7:58 PM | | probably camped just west of the Susitna near Gracious House, maybe? I've been wrong before, though!
There are indeed some dandy rides off of that 135 mile stretch of road. Have you done any of the ones on the eastern (toward Paxson) side? There are some great trails near McLaren Summit and points east to Tangle Lakes.
There is an ongoing push to pave the Denali Highway, so anybody wanting to take advantage of it's relatively quiet nature should do so sooner than later.
Ken |
| Good job, Adam--looks to me like you were | Adam
Jun 10, 2003 12:00 AM | | Yep, you figured the campsite--this was mainly a scouting trip for July 4. I plan on spending about 5 days up there hitting the trails and exploring. I've only ridden the road end to end, I haven't hit many of the side trails. Last fall I hit a few trails near that campground around 25 miles in from Cantwell. Looks like lots of ORV trails off the H-way. I've done the McLaren River road also, fun trail but that first river crossing was a bit hairy.
Hope they don't pave that road. I love that area, open land not a lot of people (except for hunting season) and generally a good time. It is really a treasure. But you know up here at one point or another someone wants to pave everything. |
| Barbecue at Gracious House on July 5th....... | AK Ken
Jun 10, 2003 6:42 AM | | I think it's the fifth--Saturday, anyway. They've abandoned the pig roast and are just doing a general barbecue, but it's usually quite a feast even without the pig. If I see someone roll up on a 29 incher I'll know it's you!
Have you ridden Sand Lake/Dollar Lake/Butte Creek? Go east from Gracious House, past the metal sided house, past the airstrip, and there's a gravel pit on the right just before you drop down to the Su bridge. Take the first double track out the left side of the gravel pit and you can get a nice few miles, and 30 or so miles if you're willing to cross Butte Creek.
We'll probably be on 4 wheelers instead of bikes because we're having company who doesn't ride.
The campground on the west end you're talking about is at Brushkana Creek. I was just there on Saturday--lots of rain.
Have fun.
Ken |
| Barbecue at Gracious House on July 5th....... | Adam
Jun 10, 2003 12:35 PM | | Thanks for the info, sounds like a good time. Also thanks for the trail info.
The pics posted were taken Saturday evening. I drove through some of that rain but, as you can see from the pics, it cleared up a bit after crossing the river. Sunday was great at our camp....some blue sky... Not much is better than a crisp clear Alaskan summer morning, with a hot cup of coffee and a light breeze to keep the bugs down.
We had a visitor in camp early in the morning, a porcupine climbed up on my wifes bike and chewed the seat. The bike was upright and from our tent it looked a bit like he was trying to ride away. Porky was perched on the rear tire making a meal of my wifes new Terry saddle. Fixed the seat with duct tape (what else) and it is good as new.
Adam |
| That's a prickly problem! | AK Ken
Jun 11, 2003 2:13 PM | | Hope the saddle wasn't too damaged. Would have made a great pic, eh?
Depending on where the damage is, some liquid electrical tape can be useful to patch things up, too.
Did you pay to camp, or just pick a spot along the road? If you cross the Susitna and take the first left up the old Valdez Creek mine road there's a lot of nice spots with some river views and breeze to camp.
Hope to see you out there somewhere. We'll likely be in a maroon Suburban or a white crew cab GMC.
Ken |
| That's a prickly problem! | Adam
Jun 11, 2003 4:14 PM | | Didn't pay to camp, just pulled off the road. Nice spot up above the Susitna river that we found a few years ago, its off the road a bit with room for several tents a nice group site but no water. On the 4th week/weekend we are planning on meeting a bunch of friends up there. Will be driving a Honda CRV with a Yakima Space Booster box on top. Most likely we will park the car so that it is visible from the road so that our Anchorage friends can find us.
I've seen that road just over the Su but never driven/ridden it. Good to know that there are camp sites there. I wish I got up to the Denali H-Way more often but it is a long drive from Anchorage. We went last weekend just to mark the campground with a GPS so that I can print maps and give coordinates to our Anchorage friends for the 4th of July.
If I see you up there maybe we can do some riding. I don't know if many of my "biking" friends are going to make the trip so I will either be doing little rides or riding alone, there seems to be lots of exploring to be done up there. |
| Uh-oh, potential change of plans....... | AK Ken
Jun 15, 2003 11:21 PM | | sounds like we have company arriving and a potential conflict with being on the Denali Highway that weekend. Bummer.
We were out there Friday, though, and it was great.
Ken |
| Uh-oh, potential change of plans....... | Adam
Jun 16, 2003 5:43 PM | | Oh well, that's life.. Had a bit of a set back with an ongoing knee problem this weekend so I may not be doing much riding anyway. Hope your Company enjoys our great land... we should try to ride at some point in the future I find myself in your neck of the woods from time to time, If you ever find yourself in Anchorage let me know..
Adam |
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