I was pretty in tune with this project back in the 80's because I was involved in developing the computer system that monitored the pipeline.  So as soon as I heard the pipe had been laid along the Eklutna River and the construction crews were pulling out, I gave a mountain biker friend a call and we went up and biked the temporary access road the project had built.  It was a fun mountain bike cruise through a previously trail-less nook of the Western Chugach Mountains.  Over the years I wondered what became of this trail, and of course I figured that I should go and ski it.  So I finally did ski it, almost 25 years later.

I found that the trail still exists.  Just barely.  Some parts of the trail are still good going.  Some sections are really grown in.  And one section is hard to get through because of heavy erosion pushing sediments in from a side gully.  I saw evidence of saplings being cut in some sections, so I assume that hunters, likely with horses, still use this route.  I started from the Eklutna Lake parking lot and skied down to the curve above the Eklutna Water Plant where the pipeline goes under the road.  Then I turned around and skied back up the valley to the parking lot.  It's too bad that this trail was lost back to the alders, because it would have made a good year-round route for biking, hiking and, of course, for cross country skiing in the winter.

Digging In the Dark:  Here is a good article about the Irish tunnel making crew that worked on the AWWU Eklutna project in 1987.

December 2010:  A fun skiing activity is to pick several places that you've never skied at before and go ski at all of them in one day.  This is a good way to get a number of shorter forays off your list, but still make for a lot of hours of skiing in the day.  Here are three places I'd never skied before and finally got them off my list in this manner.

For decades now I have driven past the "Welcome to Chugiak" sign on the Glen Highway and have seen the trail next to the sign.  Several times I have seen snowmobilers or mushers on this trail.  Each time I would say: "Hmmm!  Where do those trails go!  I need to check them out!"  Well, after saying that for almost 30 years ... I finally checked them out.  Besides being able to ski to the west to the inlet, I found that you can put together a cool triangular loop.  The big Intertie powerline is one leg, a smaller powerline is another and a nice trail through the woods that connects the powerlines is the third leg (see map above).  There is one gully on the smaller powerline that snowmobilers can't make it through.  But it only takes a few minutes to get through it on skis or foot (see 4th picture above).  You can access these trails from the Mirror Lake School.  Start down the two-way part of the trail from the school and take a left before you hit the one-way loop trails.  By heading west for 50 yards you will come to the un-plowed powerline / pipeline access road that becomes a winter multi-use trail.

I had been to but never skied at the Wallace Brothers Homestead at the end of Skyline Drive above Eagle River.  There are not a lot of trails here, but what exists is worth your time to check it out.  The pictures above show: an old homesteader cabin in the alders, recently cleared roads that are good skiing, a structure made out of railroad timbers, me getting ready to do some exploring a la "midget skiing" and the artesian well that flows 24/7 decade after decade.

I had heard ski-jorers and mushers talk about the Chugiak Beach Lake trails that go down to Cook Inlet.  I had never been on these Inlet trails before.  Now I have.  They are nice trails and skiing along the inlet was neat, especially watching the mid-boggling speed at which the ice flows move when a big tide is ebbing.  If you go on these trails remember that they are dog sled trails.  Sled dogs have the right of way here so listen and watch carefully for them.  And get out of their way fast when you see them coming.

Mid December 2010: Every winter my wife and I look forward to heading out to our remote property and live for a while in "real" Alaska, off the road system.  In recent years communities on the fringe of civilization in Southcentral Alaska have been hit by higher costs of living (fuel in particular), economic downturns (like fishery closures and tourism declines), migration to towns for work and death of old-timers.  So every year the small populations of these remote communities dwindle, and these areas become less traveled, quieter and wilder.  But in the Lower Susitna Valley one thing hasn't changed much in the last decades ... there are still a couple of skiers that like to go out there every year and ski all over the place.

November 21, 2010: This weekend the Willow Trail Committee officially "opened for business" for the 2010-2011 winter season.  The Trail Boss and his loyal crew began grooming the famed WTC multi-use trail system.  He had a nice loop put in around the Willow Swamp with trails leading back to Willow.  The skate skiing on the lakes was nice too.  However, the rivers in the area are not ready for travel yet.  For current Willow trail conditions check out the Alaska Outdoors Forums (scroll down and click on the "Alaska Snowmachining" link and look for the WTC Trail Boss's frequent posts on Willow trail conditions).

Update: For a new map of the Willow Trail Committee's West Gateway Winter Trail System, click here.

To see pictures of truly hard core road tripping, check out this web site: http://www.bearoundtheworld.be/    This is a web site of a very likeable Belgian couple that is driving around the world in a Mazda pickup with camper.  We met these two in Argentina and look forward to seeing Jean-Francois and Juliet again when they make it to Alaska in August or September 2011.

If the weather stays cold, by early to mid November the ice in this area hopefully will  be good for Nordic skating.  When the ice conditions are good here, this is a great place to do some "wilderness skating".

For a map of how to get to this place, see Cory Smith's pictures and a GPS track on his endurefun web site.  For my pictures of skating here last fall, click here.

For a sharpening stone I use an 8 inch Norton 85565 India Combination Bench Stone IB8.

In Alaska it is easy to find inspiration from other athletes, as we live amongst many of the best winter athletes in the world ... sled dogs!  These canine athletes seem to have no limit.  They can run 30 mph or hammer out back to back thousand mile treks, and make it all look so easy. 

As the saying goes, a dog year is equivalent to 7 human years.  It seems like sled dogs are born with this knowledge.  They know their time on earth is very limited, so they try to get 7 times as much out of every year and every winter.  They run 7 times longer and harder than humans, they enjoy and are exhilarated by Alaska 7 times more than humans are and, needless to say, they are 7 times cooler than most humans.  So - if you want some tips on how to get the most out of Alaska in winter, and life in general ... go spend some time with an Alaskan sled dog!
 

Tail ups, big smiles, never want to stop ... sled dogs demand their fun factor to be 7 times the human level.	This is something you rarely see, a ski-jorer (my wife) behind 600+ lbs of Malemutes.  A "big" ski-joring dog these days is 60 lbs and rarely does anyone run more than two at once.  Here my wife has the fun (or is that fear) factor up by 10 !!	I consider myself very lucky to have once been an understudy to Alaskan sled dogs.  You can learn a lot from these great winter athletes.