April 18th Alternate ?

[hvhavel]

Oh this sounds fun! How far of a ride? What fun (iow: advanced, intermediate) types of terrain might we come across?

Off topic:

I see our last two rides of year are leaderless. I haven't done either ride before, and I may be able to lead one of them if either:
A. People don't care if we take turns that look interesting instead of based on where we are "supposed" to go. It isn't lost if you have no plan to start with and can get back to where you started.
or
B. We have someone with GPS track of where the ride should go (that shares it with me) or who has done the ride before on the ride to tell me where to turn.

=)

Heather Havel

[john]

I'd say Low Level Intermediate/advanced would work on this ride. The trail from the parking area to the Cabin is easy and the ride from there to the Gap would be the harder ride consideration.

If we do any riding at the Gap and off trail that would need some consideration as well.

OK, Cantwell and Summit.

If you haven't ridden these areas before, take a GPS and survival gear or don't go !!.

As a rule, trails aren't the thing in either area, it's more open riding unless you go to a specific location, like say in towards MacLaren down the Denali Hwy from either place.

Please be careful if you go, going into those interesting places can get you into trouble. Don't take this too negatively, I do a lot of riding based on "Where does this go" decisions, but you need to make sure you and your party are ready for emergencies and have plenty of survival gear. I always have enough survival gear to stay out over night at sub-zero weather.

Last week in Cantwell, after the rest of the FST folks left, I went to meet up with Dean for a cup of coffee and ended up riding 12 miles back down the Jack River to pull out a sled that broke down. The temps were in the minus range and cold and if they had to have spent the night it would of been uncomfortable to say the least.

Same on the MacLaren trip, wind chill was so cold, breakdowns or whatever could of put folks in a survival mode and we did help out some folks who ran into trouble with kids along.

[hvhavel]

The more difficult, the more fun in my book =). After our attempt at Nome this year, I feel pretty comfortable getting stuck and unstuck - and now I have all the emergency gear too!

So it sounds like I'm not the leader for either of these two.

I could lead an alternate trail ride up Quartz Creek Trail in the White Mountains - hiked that a couple of times, so I should be able to keep us pretty on target.

[cleary]

The more difficult, the more fun in my book =). After our attempt at Nome this year, I feel pretty comfortable getting stuck and unstuck - and now I have all the emergency gear too!

So it sounds like I'm not the leader for either of these two.

I could lead an alternate trail ride up Quartz Creek Trail in the White Mountains - hiked that a couple of times, so I should be able to keep us pretty on target.

Last spring, April 13th, we tried the Quartz Creek Trail. It is very side hilly where you are still below timber line approaching Little Champion Creek. We gave up and turned around, which became something of an exercise in itself. We then headed down the Nome Creek Valley and took the Bear Creek Trail into Richard's Cabin and the low lying hills and plateaus on the north side of Beaver Creek. This turned out to be a great ride that was quite easy. You could do this from either the US Creek Road, mile 57, or the McKay Creek Trail, mile 42.5.

You can check out the Quartz Creek Trail summer time on my web site:

http://www.clearysummit.com/trails/quartz/trail.htm

Chuck

[john]

I could lead an alternate trail ride up Quartz Creek Trail in the White Mountains - hiked that a couple of times, so I should be able to keep us pretty on target.

Either would be a good ride, Quartz Creek or Beaver Creek as Chuck suggested. If you take Quartz Creek, might need to do some diversion around that hill if it gets to side hilly, but should be fairly doable.

What weekend were you thinking of doing it ?

[aurora_hunter]

I'm also very interested in the Quartz Cr trail. I've been on it a few times in summer and it always offered specutacular views. Now I can kinda see how it could get side hilly but if people are going, i'll be very willing.

[john]

I separated this from the Cache Creek ride so you all can make some plans

The way my plans are going, I might be able to lead a ride in Cantwell area or farther south, no guarantees yet

[Christien&Shelbye]

Did this ride ever firm up?

In an attempt to squeeze a few more rides out of the season I was thinking about doing a ride from McKay Creek trailhead this weekend. Anyone interested? I'm betting McKay Creek would be the best to avoid sloping overflow. My RMK doesn't have studs and a couple of those spots off of the Wickersham Dome Trailhead can be a bit slippy.

Here's a link to the trail conditions in the White Mountains as of the 9th...
http://www.blm.gov/ak/st/en/prog/sa/whi ... pdate.html

[john]

The 17th no ride planned.

The 24/25th Paul is leading a ride in Cantwell. Should be a good run.

Whites are pretty much done I think. Our last run up 42 Mile Steese had dirt showing on part of the trail...