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Early January & Early
March 2024:
Mount Susitna Mystery Trail |
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The USGS map
of Mount Susitna
shows a trail starting from around mile 5 of Alexander Creek and
heading west up the lower east slope of the mountain.
But the trail on the USGS map does not exist. And no one seems to know the
history of this mystery trail.
For 30 years
I have occasionally asked people about this trail. In the
past I have talked to folks that lived on Alexander Creek in the
1930s. They had no knowledge of this trail. Folks
that live out there today say they know nothing about this
trail, though they are aware of it showing up on maps.
So perhaps
this trail is very old. And it was overgrown by the 1930s,
and that is why early residents of this area didn't know about
it. Or of course, there is the possibility the trail never
existed. And it is a cartographic mistake.
But for what
it is worth, this is my theory of what the history of this trail
could be: In the early 1900's, perhaps some inquisitive gold prospectors
were at Susitna Station, a settlement that once existed on the
banks of the Big Susitna River and was a stop for steamboats
heading to Talkeetna. They looked to the west at
Mount Susitna and said: "That mountain looks a lot like the
Peters Hills where we are finding gold. So why don't we
have a look for gold over there."
A group of prospectors then boated to, and up, Alexander Creek.
At the confluence of Granite Creek they panned for gold 'colors',
small gold flakes,
and they found a few. They then followed streams in the Granite
Creek drainage that had the most color. This brought them
to a spot 900 feet up Mount Susitna, where they figured the gold
source was nearby. From this
point they chose a route that was shorter and drier to get back
to Alexander Creek. And that route became the current day
mystery trail. Maybe this route was used for further
travel to this prospecting site. Or maybe it was used only once.
Either way, this route ended up
on the USGS map some how. |
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GPS start of the
mystery trail, on riverbank seen between skis. Mount Susitna in
background. |
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Recently I gave skiing this
ghost trail a try. Actually, two tries. On my first
try in January I turned back at Granite Creek because it was
still wide open. In early March the creek was frozen-up
and I could get over it. The trip had its share of
bushwhacking. But once you got higher up there was some
really nice open forest to ski through. The area near the
end of the mystery trail was a wide-ish gully filled with
sediments that had been washed into a maze of smaller gullies.
And all the rises between the gullies were covered with alders.
Not a skier-friendly area. So I turned around just before
the GPS end-point of the mystery trail.
So was this area of Mount Susitna once visited by gold
prospectors? And was a trail established to this area?
Who knows. Seems the history of this trail was lost over
time. If this trail ever existed, it was a foot trail.
Vintage machinery couldn't have navigated the steep ridge and ravine
in the mid section of this trail, per the mapped route. Neither could horses or
dog teams.
This is a remote and sparsely populated area. But there
is one guy however that lives near here and travels all over
this area. When I run into him he tells me where he found
my ski tracks. While doing this ski the first time, I happened upon a
snowmobile trail of his. And shortly after that, I ran
into him. No surprise! I laughed when I met him and said: "Damn!
I can NEVER sneak through your country without you knowing it!"
He said: "That's right! A chipmunk moves in these woods
and I know about it!" Ha!
The second time I tried to sneak through this area he caught me
again. Damn! |
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Red: Approximate route of
trail per USGS map. Yellow: My route. |
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Some nice open forest skiing
up higher. |
View to the southeast of
Dinglishna Hill, and Kenai Mountains. |
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Some gully groping. |
Near tree line on Mount
Susitna and the end of the mystery trail. Pointing to
where the gold is. ;-) |
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What would a cross country
skier know about finding gold!? Me ... nothing. But
then there is the
late Jan Kralik, a guy that did the first west to east
traverse of the Iditarod Trail on skis. Jan
found a 41 oz gold nugget near his hometown of Nome in 2002.
Glad I met Jan a few times. Interesting and likeable guy.
And one heck of a gold prospector. I like that when this
picture was taken of Jan and his gold nugget, that he was
wearing a "Koch XC" Sporthill skiing jacket. |
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Early February 2024:
Another Gift From The Big Susitna River |
It's been 11 years, and here
we go again. Recently while out skiing I noticed on the east bank of Bell Island
that the Big Susitna River has now exposed another abandoned gas
pipeline segment. I remember when this section of pipe was
abandoned and a new mile-long stretch of pipe was put under the
Big Su to replace it. That was 20? years ago(?) The
reason for the pipeline replacement was because the Big Su was
eating away Bell Island real estate to where the old pipeline
started its trip under the river. Well, the Big Su has now
reached the point that folks in the past were worried about.
11 years ago another Bell
Island section of abandoned gas pipeline, downstream from here,
was unearthed by the powerful Big Su's meandering channel.
As a result, a 200 to 300 foot section of that pipeline ended up
tumbling down the river channel towards the inlet. A
boating hazard from hell. The runaway pipe was eventually
located, cut into segments and hauled out by a firm that the
Enstar Natural Gas company contracted.
With this newly exposed
pipeline, I don't fault the Enstar Natural Gas company. I
commiserate with them. I appreciate having natural gas as
a source for heat and electricity and I am thankful that Enstar
is willing to battle the Big Susitna River to deliver the energy that 40% of Alaskans rely on. But I
hope this abandoned pipeline is corralled so it doesn't get
loose like the last one did, and create another boating hazard
from hell.
Update:
I communicated with Enstar regarding this pipeline in the river.
They said that 8 or so years ago they trimmed the pipe back so
it didn't stick out into the river. But now they see, and
are amazed like I am, how much Bell Island real estate has
been chewed away by the Big Su. They are going to monitor
and assess
what to do about this exposed pipeline segment.
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Exposed pipeline segment. |
Location of pipeline. |
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Early November 2023:
Fun on Faux-Snow |
Ski Season 2023-24:
Changes |
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