6.3-6.8.2008: (mountain biking + packrafting)^Alaska = Adventure!

[Kellie]

Well, you've seen the cross-post, but here it is from the horse's mouth . . . pictures courtesy of myself and Eric Parsons
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It's been an odd spring. I have been craving some sort of trip, especially after last spring was so amazing between the Powell Glacier, skiing Denali, and packrafting off the Harding Icefield (never wrote that one up, but ask me about it sometime if you want to hear a good adventure story!). I am not really ready to be done skiing this year, but frankly our spring has been pretty shitty weather-wise, so it seemed like a change of seasons wasn't a horrible idea. Eric told me of his plan to bike into Denali, float the Toklat, and then bike the Stampede. My thought was that this trip would include the adventure/excitement/exertion that I was craving . . . In other words, we discussed before the trip that it would more-than-likely be "Type B" fun (otherwise known as retrospective fun) and we acknowledged that there were a lot of unknowns. The great thing about a trip like this one is that your only choice is to go find out, and to have faith that you'll find the way. There is certainly an appeal in not knowing. From the intensive permit process and talking to folks, we had gathered that the Toklat was probably floatable, the Stampede trail would likely be "brushy" until the Sushana River, and that it would be more of a trail (but likely super muddy) from there. So, off we went . . .

My beautiful bike before leaving civilization . . . I was surprised at how well the bike carried the weight and how pleasant the riding was.


Eric on the road near the Sanctuary River . . .


Dylan and I on the road . . . the ride was 56 miles and took us through some pretty incredible areas. True to form, I didn't ask a lot of questions about the terrain, nor have I been in the park since I was a kid, so the passes and elevation changes were a surprise. I love how my brain works: ignorance is totally bliss


But those who know me know that I love climbing and would actually prefer a hilly road to a flat one most of the time, so I was pretty psyched on the ride! This is the road on the way up Polychrome Pass


At the top . . .


From there, we rode down to the Toklat River bridge. We had intended to ride in and float a ways, but the day got away from us and we decided we'd start floating the next day. The park is riddled with rules, so we had to get 0.5 miles from the road . . . conveniently, the gravel bar turned out to be great riding - who knew?!?


We camped out of sight and actually slept pretty well, even though it was pelting rain outside and thoughts of miserable floating were coursing through our brains. We had decided heroism was unnecessary and wouldn't have had a problem heading back to the road if it was torrential. Thankfully, the morning dawned bluebird and we were re-inspired


We headed over to the main channel, inflated boats, and completed the first pass at packing mountain bikes on them . . . it took me a few iterations to get it right, but it was worth stopping to fix it, for sure . . . this was the first time for all of us with the raft/bike combo.


WTF?!?!


Eric read to see what's ahead . . .


The scenery did not suck.


Down the river we went . . . it was decent floating, although the low volume and heavy rafts made for a lot of in-and-out to get over the shallow spots. These rafts are incredibly durable, as evidenced by the number of times we scooted over rocks . . .


Me with Mt. Sheldon behind . . . always the skier, I took a mental note of those coolies! Holy happy place!!!


Breakup is pretty complete, but there was still ice along the river . . . thankfully none of it was obstructing the river!


Thinking that the river would be mellow and we already had tons of weight, we opted not to bring drysuits . . . with the cool weather, impending rain, and constant river exposure for gravel bars, this equated to spending some time on shore running in circles (quite literally) to warm up.


When we finally reached the confluence with the Toklat East Fork, we got out and built a huge fire which was pretty amazing. Our spirits had risen considerably in the last hour or so as the river volume increased substantially and amazing views of Denali developed. I have to admit, when we got out, it was appealing to stay in the river and float to the Yukon. It's a trip to float north, and really cool to float from the Alaska Range into the interior.

Being dry and warm was amazing!


Dylan preferred a huge hunk of cookie dough to all other foods - nothing like calorie density!


The next morning, we rode 2 hours on the Toklat East Fork. This included riding shelf ice, gravel, and crossing the river about 20 times . . .

Dylan


Yet another crossing . . . wet feet were a given for this whole trip pretty much


From there, we filled up with water and entered the forest, breaking out into the tundra after a bit . . . It quickly became clear that weight would be better on our backs than our bikes. Walking over tussocks is hard since they're fairly unsupportable. Pushing a bike over them is downright lame since you have to keep picking up the wheels in the absence of flat ground for them to roll over!

Re-packing . . .


Tussock hiking . . .


The remnants of the Stampede Trail in the distance. The trail used to be used for mining and actually went all the way to the Toklat.


The secion between the Toklat and the Sushana Rivers, however, has not seen much activity since then, as evidenced by Dylan on the "trail" . . . trading unsupportable tussocks for aldery-but-solid ground did have some appeal . . .


We finally broke out on to a ridge


and were able to see more-or-less where we had to head . . . then it was a matter of just going there. This was the hard part, as the travel was not straightforward, and the Sushana looked like a ways away. The bugs were pretty bad too, and they LOVE my sweet blood! You can see the Sushana in the distance if you look carefully in this photo . . .


We finally made it to the river 10 hours after leaving the Toklat. Before beginning our XC journey we had said, "How bad can it be? 1 mph, that's 10 hours . . . we can do that." Ask, believe, and you shall receive!


We rode along the river for a bit and then I smelled smoke . . . sure enough, there were campers at the bus! We rounded a corner on the river and a dirt road appeared out of nowhere with people, fire, and food at the top of a small rise. What a culture shock!


I have to admit it was a little eerie being in the bus. Chris's family had been there and started a journal with some pretty heartfelt messages in it. "Pilgrims" to the bus had written their own responses to his story and the impact on their lives. Regardless of your opinion of Chris McCandless and the book/movie, it was an interesting place and interesting energy.

We decided to camp since we were not really ready for another 8-10 hours of exertion (it was already midnight!) and the thought of late-night river crossings was fairly unappealing. The next day dawned non-rainy again, and we were off! I was mentally prepared for calf-deep mud all day and super pleasantly surprised by the great condition of the trail. It was arguably "Type A" fun . . . so much that I'd recommend this trip to someone looking for a good time

[Kellie]

Crossing the Teklanika was another big unknown. For those who have seen/read "INTO THE WILD," this is the river that turned Chris around. Although the low volume was a PITA on the Toklat, it meant that the Teklanika was low and pretty straightforward to cross.


From there, the trail was pretty good with a few river crossings and muddy sections. At least the muddy water was warm, when compared to the glacial streams! And, thankfully, the bugs really weren't out yet!


The road transitioned to better and better quality. We passed a cook-camp where tourists drive jeeps to a backcountry lunch and chatted with the guy who works there. And we kept riding, knowing that we were getting close. All of a sudden, 8-mile lake popped out and we crested into big sky country. This area quickly became one of my new favorite places in Alaska. And then: pavement . . . wow!


From there, it was 25ish miles back to McKinley Village, burritos, and coffee. We sorta laughed when we hit the road, reflecting on how well things had gone and somewhat amazed that we didn't "epic." Sure, the 2-day trip had taken 4 and there was one day of fairly unfavorable travel conditions, but we had expected at least that at the outset. We also had a great time together as a group . . . I met Dylan the morning we left, and have never been in the b/c with Eric before. What's an adventure if you know your partners already!

From there I had to continue out on the road and headed to the interior with my roadie and hiking shoes for a whole 'nother adventure . . . even civilized Alaska keeps it coming, but that's a whole 'nother story

[davep]

Fantastic writeup - I read the X-post thread, but was still glued to this telling!

[TyeStick]

Wow! Seriously impressive.

[SkiBrain]

Wow! What an amazing adventure!

[BushwackerinPA]

kellie your a bad ass, and this one of the cooler things posted in Sprockets, ever.

[mtnbikerskierchick]

I love Kellie because she's ALWAYS up for interesting adventures This one is particularly amazing! Plus, it brought back memories of the day my dad rented us mtn bikes and we rode into Denali for something like 16 hours. I was only 14 yrs old. Silly dad

[FreakofSnow]

Thanks for sharing. Some inspiring stuff there.

[skibuminwyo]

Good stuff, Kellie, good stuff!

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Outfuckingstanding!

[pogs4ever]

AWESOME! omg, i loved that book/movie. it's eerie just looking at your pics. thanks for sharing! amazing. bravo.

[kidwoo]

BOR-ING.........

why don't you ever do anything interesting like compete on american idol?













also......FKNA, WOOT, and HELLA YEAH!

[LeeLau]

Kellie - sorry to geek out. How much distance. How many days and nights out? How did you propose to deal with grizzly bears and other wildlife?

[Arty50]

How did you propose to deal with grizzly bears and other wildlife?

All she has to do is smile. Duh.

[DerJaeger]

If there was a Sprocket Rockets Hall of Fame, this TR should be in it, stickied at the top, if only because we will never look at the word "epic" in the same way again.

Kellie, if we're in the same town, I want to buy you beers so I can hear all about the other pack raft trip. Sounds like Type B fun, and that always makes for the best stories.

[case]

Fantastic adventure and TR Kellie, thank you!

[RootSkier]

Wow....you are some seriously insane individuals. How come you carried twice as much as the others?

[scarlet begonias]

That didn't suck one bit.

[rehabit]

Way to git after it Kellie! - and thanks for posting! You're always inspiring with your TR's but this one was especially so!

(really like this shot!)

[Particle]

gnarcore! I hope you're doing more with this TR than just posting it on message boards.

[Kellie]

Bears? My plan was to give them a big f-ing hug!!!

On a more serious note, travelling in bear country is a given anywhere in the state. We had 2 bear sprays and carried a bear canister (much to the chagrin of Eric!) since we were in the park. Were it not for the rules, we likely wouldn't have done that. Most of our travel was in open areas, and we did a lot of loud chatting and "hey bear"-ing in the wooded areas.

As far as days and milage go, it went something like this (estimates only!)

Tues: 56 miles on park road, 1 mile on gravel bar
Wed: 20-25 miles river float
Thurs: 4 miles river travel, 10 miles overland (but since we didn't go the most direct route, we probably actually walked more than this)
Fri: 20 miles on Stampede Trail, 5ish road miles, 20 highway miles

So, I guess it was 4 days (3 full days since we left at 2pm on Tuesday and arrived at 4ish on Friday) and about 135ish miles.

RootSkier, I definitely was not carrying more - I guess I just packed worse, and I think I have a smaller boat so it looked a little more loaded. Eric had super fancy bike packing stuff (he owns a business doing this!) and Dylan was on a single speed (talk about burl!), so his bike packed better. We pretty much all had the same gear.

Particle - not sure what more to do with the story. I think Eric has written for Dirtworld before, so maybe we can write something for them. If you have any other ideas, let me know! After this trip, I think I need a new bike and use this as my official bike to beat to death in the wilderness, so maybe I should get some sponsors eh?!!?

Really though, this was a fun trip and I'm pretty interested in doing more similar trips . . . hard to find ones that aren't total sufferfests though! There's got to be at least something to ride!

[bklyn]

As always Kellie ...

[BushwackerinPA]

Kellie i would try to see if Dirt Rag wants to do something with it. This is right up thier alley.

[Tick]

awesome trip! I'm inspired to do somehting big this summer!
-Tick

[Lonnie]

If I could do something this cool just once in my life, I'd find out a way to make a movie about it and retire....