One we had a drink or so, the ideas were flowing. There were going to be 5 people going. Me, Max (our captain), Cole, Berto (guides from Colorado who brought my bike up) and Anna (the other intern). Max, being the ever-so-experienced guide on McCarthy happenings wanted to try something different since he had been up there so many times before. The plan was for us all to drive up to Chitina the next morning, stopping at the grocery store on the way there to get our rations for the next few days and get on the road. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to Chitina and the views on the ride are unbelievable. You drive alongside gushing rivers, the Alaska Pipeline, dead porcupines, etc. It's pretty righteous. Before we turned off the Richardson Highway onto Edgerton we went to the Wrangell/St. Elias National Park office, we watched a sweet 20 minute video on the park, which is by the way, the largest National Park in the Nation. Bigger than Switzerland. Yea. I bought some postcards, which I should probably send… and I bought a sweet book written by John Muir, called Travels in Alaska. I haven't gotten past the introductions yet, but I will. Then we ate some lunch and got back in the car for the final stretch to Chitina. It was looking like it was going to rain a bit and we were feeling a bit lazy, so Max and I decided to continue to ride in a few miles in the car instead of riding the whole way from Chitina to McCarthy, 64 miles on the dirt road that is McCarthy Road. We got dropped off under the Kuskulana River Bridge, at mile marker 16 or so. Meaning we had about 48 miles, give or take. The plan had been to ride to mile marker 30ish that same day we came in, camp out there and then do the final 30+ on the next day, meeting the gang at the McCarthy saloon… well that didn't happen. We were too excited to be out and didn't want to ride at that moment, so we decided not to ride at all that day. Screw it! Whatever! We could do 50 so miles the next day, we're invincible! So became the beginning of our voyage.
Before everyone left we jumped up onto the bridge from underneath and walked on the catwalk that goes across the river underneath where the cars go. There was just a metal crate-like barrier between me and the river, about 250 feet above. It was nerve-racking at first, but at least there were hand rails.
It was so beautiful!! I'm gonna get on that river one day. Oh man. Once we took enough pictures to kill ourselves, we departed the rest of the crew and set up camp. There could not have been a more picturesque campsite. It was beautiful! We grabbed some beers and stuck them in our pockets, left our bags at our campsite, and headed out to do some exploring. We walked across the bridge, found a made-up shooting range and a big 'ol tractor. We tried to get her to run, but she didn't have a battery. Damn those people who think ahead!!
We checked out some other trails around the way and saw a lot of moose and bear tracks. We even scree-fielded our way down to the river. Max is quite the scree surfer. For those of you who don't know what that means, it's basically a really steep downhill slope filled with really small, loose pieces of rock/dirt/gravel, etc. and when you step on it you slid quite a ways. So you're kinda moonwalking on the way down, in just a few steps you're at the bottom! It was beautiful when we got down, the sun was blaring and the river was flowing. Once we got back to the campsite, after a bitch of a time getting back UP the scree field, we made some dinner. Bagels, cream cheese & salmon with a PopTart for dessert. Couldn't get much better. We put away our food up on the top of the bridge, so as the bears wouldn't get it and hit the hay, we had a big day coming up!
(camp)
I awoke to Max telling me we had no food.
Oh shit. You're kidding right?! How the hell did the bears get up there?! Ha. We were screwed. Turns out it was the ravens that we had been admiring from afar in their cute little nest on the side of the canyon wall had destroyed everything we had to eat. Damn ravens. I'll come over there and kill you! We did find out they didn't like oranges, they saved us 2 oranges and our half tub of cream cheese. Woo! Did I also mention we had only about 2 water bottles… we had drank the others. Ha. What a shitshow. Max was pretty pissed, but I was like "Don't worry! We can make it!!". Inside however, I was like well… shoot. This is gonna be interesting. At least if we didn't make it we would be able to hitch a ride with some one and throw our bikes in the back or something. Those damn birds ate SO MUCH SHIT! They're probably still out there right now, flying around like crazies because they ate: FOUR clif bars, a bag of Schneider's jalapeno pretzel sandwiches, TWO Safeway pre-made sandwiches, all of our PopTarts and there were probably some other things, but I can't remember. So yea. About that. We began our journey in a bit of a sticky situation if you will… Oh but at least we had a bottle of Jim Beam, which we had already partially consumed the night before, which COULD be why we didn't put the food in a more raven-proof case… Nahhh.
Once we got on our way, we were going. Pedaling hard. To food. To water. To McCarthy. After about 15 or so miles, with barely any sips of water and no breakfast, we came upon a sign. A miracle. Alaska Halfway House Bed & Breakfast. NO VACANCY. Well whatever. We were going in! We rode onto their property to be greeted by a large group of people huddling together doing something or another and I was kinda nervous! I thought they were having some sort of meeting or camp or something important and we had just barged right in. But we were quickly greeted by Kayane, the owner of the B&B. We informed her of our situation and pleaded for some water, which she quickly provided and then invited us into her house. We did a tour of her place while she boiled some water for us. We came in to our choice of oatmeal flavors, a pile of snacks, a gallon jug of water, and coffee/hot chocolate. We had found the light at the end of the tunnel!! Ha.
We couldn't have been more appreciative and thankful. We took some of their brochures to put up at our shop and we paid them for our snacks and such and got back on our way. NOW we were invincible! Amazing what food does, we were speed demons. We stopped every once in a while for some snacks and sips of water. We eventually made it to Long Lake, one of our must-stop destinations on our way there and went for a swim, along with our first sips of Jim, due to the water we were about to immerse ourselves in and the mosquitos who were awaiting our return. Revived and clean, we had another snack and continued our trek. We were on the final stretch. About 15+ miles to go!! The last 4 were downhill, and you can only imagine our rate of speed. Flying! Super stoked! We made it! Ha, oh my lord. Didn't think it would happen.
We immediately set up camp and went for the bar to get some grub and a WELL-DESERVED brew. After a DOPE spicy pulled pork sandwich, we headed back to camp for a nap. We awoke shortly after, feeling not so revived… but we were meeting up with our peeps at the bar so we headed back. It was open-mic night. The best night to go visit McCarthy. We enjoyed the night, great music, great people, good beers and funny stories. We even ran into a group of 3 older people, who had seen us riding and said that we weren't going to make it. But here we were and they were really proud! Ha. We partied and woke up the next day to go and tour Kennicott. What a cool place.
(McCarthy Saloon)
St. Elias Alpine Guides, Pangaea's partner in crime in the mountains, let us borrow an old Suburban and we drove up the road to Kennicott. We toured the old mine and just explored for the day. It's a beautiful place up there. Immersed in the wilderness, whereas Valdez is smack on the coast. A good change of scenery, but my heart is in Valdez and I was ready to head back. We packed up and started for the car and then the bike broke. How? I have NO idea. After 50 miles, it breaks while I'm walking it back to the car. Damn thing. It isn't even mine, so I've got a part on the way to repair it, hopefully before Laura's man gets into town so they can go ride bikes together. Fingers crossed.
What an adventure. I would expect nothing less, however. Thoroughly enjoyed it and would do it again in a heart beat. Next time, I'll be boat riding down the Kuskulana. Well I've spent today deconstructing kayaks, waxing and buffing them and now I'm off to put the hardware back on them… all the while nursing myself back to health due to new adventures and epic diggers.
Love & Sea Lions.
Liz
Time sure does fly when you are having fun, as lame as that sounds. We've been kinda slow this week, but we've always got things to do and/or work on. I've shadowed 5 trips so far and have gotten to hang and learn the office with Shelley a bit too. Shadowing, like it sounds, is just going out with a lead guide and following the group. We are part of the group, assistants really, barfing out knowledge on our surroundings and providing quality humor, oh and safety of course. I've already met people from all walks of life and all areas of the world.
