To the Yentna River

Two weekends ago we tried to make it to the Yentna, but the mechanical issues prevented success. This past weekend, we made it.  More than once while crossing Flathorn Lake and the swamps north of the lake in 6 inches of slush, I wondered if we were pushing our luck.  The rain early in the week and warm temperatures were haunting our weekend playground.  Although I had visions of the 440 Panther stuck in slurpy watery snow, I realized this would only happen if I failed to push the throttle.  Speed quickly became my friend.  This wasn't a trip for the weak, wimpy, or disabled.  Did I mention that Gus and his broken arm came along?  I told him is was better to come with us for the experience, than to sit around the cabin moping.  I'm not sure he's going to trust my judgement anymore. 

Susitna River and Sleeping Lady or Mt. Susitna in the background

When we hit the Susitna, we debated whether to continue or not.  Seeing as our stomaches were growling and a restaurant was a bit further up the river, we pressed on.  As it turned out, the rivers had a few areas where water pooled up on top of the ice, but it wasn't nearly as sketchy as the lakes and swamps. We made it to Luce's Resturant, which is on the Yentna River, west of the Susitna River.  

After a tasty lunch, we decided  to take the bumpier straighter route back to the cabin that included no big lakes or swamps. The entire trip was about 65 miles. We closed off our evening with a nice bonfire and a tiny sliver of moon for desert.  

Gus on the Yentna River on the Panther

For more pictures:  http://picasaweb.google.com/jillcaho/YentnaRiverRide

Long Overdue . . .

I read an article once about blogs.  And at this point, I find myself falling ill to one of its worst pitfalls. I haven't written a new entry in nearly a month. I think it's because I'm busy with day-to-day life, and really nothing too interesting to share.  I think I'll even take a shortcut on this entry and use Bryant's account of last weekends' mishaps that he sent to his buddy in West Virginia.  And no, they don't include taking the trail to Nome instead of back to Big Lake to our property.

The "Nome Sign" out on the trail to Flathorn Lake

Bryant wrote: 

Got back from the cabin about five this evening (Monday, February 15th). The weekend was cursed, but still fun. I think somebody offended a minor god, because the curse was widespread and annoying, but not serious. When I got home Friday evening from work, Jill said she was noticing a new vibration in the Suburban. I took it for a drive and figured that it was probably a tire out of balance.

I loaded up that night and left the next morning, drove twelve miles and stopped and looked over the tires and thought I noticed a bulge in the left front tire, maybe. I considered changing it but decided not to because I wasn't sure. So on I drove (with two hands on the wheel) toward Wasilla. Along the way, the vibration seemed to be coming from the rear. I got to Wasilla, accelerated up the hill and the accelerator cable snapped. I was expecting trouble, but not this.

A group of people were supposed to meet at the cabin for the weekend. Jill was following from home. A buddy was coming up from Eagle River. A couple were coming from the Butte. My boss and his brother were riding down on snomachines from north of the Parks highway and I was supposed to get there in time to clear the drive and organize the ride.

I called Jill and had her stop in the Chevy dealership. They didn't have the part but could get it from Anchorage that afternoon. They said, just let them know within an hour. We went to all three parts stores in Wasilla. None could even reference the part. They were all calling the dealership for info, so I'm sure the guy there was sick of the "great cable search". Finally, one of the parts guy mentioned another GM dealer in town.

We were running out of time so we called the first dealer and told him to bring the part up and then stopped at the second dealer. This was about two-hours after the search began, but only a half mile from where I broke down. You know the end of the story. The second dealer had the part in stock.

I popped the new cable in and the plastic housing immediately broke.  Undeterred I continued to the cabin half expecting a blow out. Since we hadn’t been to the cabin in a few weeks, it was filled with hard crunchy snow and snow chunks.

I grabbed the blower and cleaned the drive as much as possible with vehicles and people scattered around. Then I tried to pull the Suburban up in front of the cabin, got stuck. Tried to move the Suburu, got stuck. Milo informed us that he was stuck. No one was stuck seriously, just enough to require extra effort.

We got everyone unstuck and I started trying to clear the drive better but I realized we were running out of daylight and said if we're going to ride, we better ride now. We did.

We headed toward Flathorn Lake with the intention of going up the Yentna to Luce's Roadhouse for a burger. The Susitna 50K and 100 mile race was going on. This is a ski, run, or bike race and we passed many miserable people. I used to think I might want to do this race but now I'm cured. It didn't look fun trudging down the soft trail.

Most of us made it to Flathorn when we realized that we only had four sleds in the group instead of five. Tim was missing. We waited.

Eventually I went back. Tim's sled had contracted a mysterious intermittent ailment. We towed him back to the cabin. When we got back Milo called home and was informed that the curse had struck his house - dead battery and his son had a possible broken collarbone.  Undeterred, we built a bonfire, ate brats, and in spite of it all, it was a fun day.

Next day everyone else went home. Milo and I did 60 miles and I realized I'm out of riding shape. My legs were jello from the bumpy trails but it was a good workout and NOTHING BAD HAPPENED.  Milo went home that evening and I stayed at the cabin with the dog. A nice quiet evening was had by all.

As it turned out, both front tires on the Suburban were scary-bad and I replaced them with some worn out used ones but at least they're round. I stopped off at the GM dealer and they didn't have a replacement for the replacement accelerator cable. They ordered one and said, "we'll call you."  "No you won't," thought I.

I arrived home to find an avalanche and a meteor converging on the house, not really, but the rest is true.

BR

P.S. Jill left a message for me to say it poured rain here last night. And since early January, there were only a few inches of new snow since last time we were at the cabin and it warmed up to 40 overnight. So, yes, you are getting all our snow.