After getting the scoop on the Cantwell wind blown conditions from John and Dean, my two buddies and I headed down to Cantwell the other day. At least I knew ahead that there was not going to be much powder like the last ride in Cantwell before the big wind hit last week.
It was -11 in Cantwell on Saturday so we opted to head right to the Igloo, good choice it was zero. We took off headed out the mogul trail across the RR crossing and then headed south. The snow was hard as a concrete and full of windblown ruts. Found a few little bowls of powder and played in the them. We were limited to the trees and you could not cut across into other areas because there is just not enough snow to get through the high bushes like in years past.
On Sunday we rode up the Jack River canyon like Dean suggested and he warned there was a little overflow, no big deal, NOT! It was all good until I picked a path that looked good, it wasn't, we made it through except for the last guy who was sunk in overflow above his running boards. I should have stayed in the middle it was all frozen just looked bad, oh well. We hooked two straps on and pulled but it was locked in the slush so we had to shovel all around the sled and then with full power and a few tugs out it came. We all had a little water in the bunny boots nothing bad.
On we went to Caribou Lakes and it looked like a winter desert with bushes covering the lowlands in the valley, wheres the snow? Anyway we went up a steep mtn climb by the lake and dropped into a my favorite bowl and we highmarked for a while as there was enough snow to play on not great but ok. The weather was good the sun was out and we had a good time.
Cantwell March 17 / 18 ride report
Moderator: john