Alaska Cruiser Trek 2006 (1 Viewer)

[Mark W]

I was thinking of adding some 1.5" wheel spacers to give the steering some room. I'll hopefully have a 2" body lift on by then, and can cut away the fenders if need be. For the most part I'm also not afraid to run them on harder pack; it's long runs down riverbeds with sloppy crossings that I can see being a hassle.

How much fuel are you reccomending be brought?

Yep, the biggest hassle with chains is figuring out when to go head and put them on and when to tough it out through "this little section". It'll be the "little sections" that wind up causing you the most grief.


For fuel;


We are requiring everyone to have at least 36.5 gallons on board (That is based on the smallest Cruiser tank being 16.5 and another 20 in 4 jerry cans being easily managable). This will not be enough for the run. We will be prepositioning a cache, and/or pulling a trailer with another 150 gallons with a "support vehicle". My experience leaves me to assume an average of 5mpg for gasser Cruisers on the trail. Maybe 8 or so for 4 cylinder minis. If we wind up with a total of 20 rigs on this run a trailer load will only provide 7.5 gallons each. In thepory, by the numbers I mention, we could do a 200 mile run and make it back to the trailhead with the fuel on baord the rigs and the trailer. But there woud be little (if any) reserve left. Besides chances are we will cover more distance than this.
The most likely plan will be to tow the fuel trailer AND preposition about 200 gallons.


Mark...

 

[Mark W]

I would beg borrow or steal some muddies (and still bring the chainis).

Hassle is an under statement as you learn the meaning of RTDS and Day Trip.

Alaska is a BIG place and the ACC is accustomed to covering lots of ground FAST. It reminded me of an offroad Baja rally. If there is 100 ft stretch of smooth trail, you up shift and floor it.

Put it this way, a beer (or Coke) run of a hundred miles - one way - is child's play. These guys live 300-400 miles apart and consider themselves next door neighbors. They carry extra fuel (a sleeping bag and some MREs) when they go next door.

Did I say I loved it?

Official DSRT member,

I'm not sure about "next door" when it comes to Greg in Valdez and anyone in Fairbanks (that's where Kyle/Advent hails from at the moment). But certainly "neighbors"

And while 100 miles for a cokeor beer is a bit of an exageration (these days at least), I *have* made a 250 mile run for a Tastey Freeze or Dairy Queen fix in the past.

Many years ago.

IN 2003 we had to send someone (My wife as it worked out) on a 500 mile round trip run for parts. 500 road miles that is. We had to make a 60 mile run on the trail to meet her and bring her into camp with the parts once she got back to the trailhead. Drowned a rig that night and 5 of us wound up sleeping on the ground around a campfire for an hour or so as we took a break before heding back into camp. THAT was a "daytrip" With the delays and complications it took right at 24 hours to get back to the group.


Mark..

 

[Mark W]

Wait a minute, I see that list under your name. Plus, I suspect you've got a couple scoped out or stashed in a shed that you're keeping quiet.

What's the matter? Cam won't let you drive'em?

Cam took the '62 off to school with him. The day after Greg got the engine back in. There's confidence in your old man. Or maybe just youthful bravado?

I think that Cam's little brother has his name on one of the '40s.


And you KNOW that Cathy isn't letting the '100 see the trails. Yet...


Mark...

 

[lowenbrau]

Ok well i have many questions about this.
One would some one from say bellingham Wa be able to do this?
also you say this s=has some hard core to it.
So would a 96 lx450 with 2.5 lift, arb, no lockers and streeet tires be able to do this? ive done a bit of wheeling here in Wa and these tires arnt fond of mud so im assuming no?

where are you guys starting from?

thanks
any and all info would be appreciated

mike

Karr Smith is in your neck of the woods and talking about doing the trip. I think you could do it in two weeks (plus the weekend) I'm planning for that from Calgary AB which is more or less the same distance. Last time I think I took 19 days total and we did the pre-run and I took 6 days to get home. This time I'm hoping the turbocharger will shave three days of the journey

You serously want some aggresive tires. PismoJim's locked 80 kicked butt with MTRs. I think my SSRs were a good choice except maybe for the sidewall problems. I really like those newish Toyo Open Country MT's for this kind of trip but if you are on a shoe string, BFG muds might be the way to go. I figure this trip kills about 50% of the value of a good tire. I'm planning on buying new ones before it and selling them used for half price in the fall. I might consider running a smoothie on the highway and hauling some Boggers or similar on my trailer. I'm not sure if that is cheating for an 'expedition' or not. I take some pride in driving home from work, loading my gear, driving to AK, wheeling like heck for a week, driving home, and then driving to work again on Monday.

 

[Mark W]

Hey Bruce,

Are you expecting to do this one solo, or is Charla thinking she can make it up too? If she does, you guys looking at bringing one rig or two?


Mark...

 

[pismojim]

PismoJim's locked 80 kicked butt with MTRs.

Yeah, the MTRs worked well...

But the 38s seemed better:

Akthough even skinny 33s worked pretty good:

 

[Advent]

Alaska is a BIG place

I'd like to think I have a little bit of experience with that

Is there any possibility that somebody towing up would be willing to haul a set of tires (and maybe a roof rack) up with them?

What's the situation with on board air? Would it be safe to assume there are enough adequate compressors?

What spare parts are reccomended? I'm thinking alternator at a minimum (in addition to the usual axle bits and complete lube changes). Should I look for a spare coil?

Oh, and Mark...The CCOT poly tank is 12 gallons (IIRC...It might be 14). So that means at least 5 cans if I go.

 

[lowenbrau]

Hey Bruce,

Are you expecting to do this one solo, or is Charla thinking she can make it up too? If she does, you guys looking at bringing one rig or two?


Mark...

It'll be the whole shooting match if it works out. I'm breaking all the rules and bringing girls, dogs and guns. Well maybe only one girl.

I should really be prepping my 45 but I'm pretty sure it'll be the BJ70 again. Charla's fleet gets to stay home for a change.

 

[Mark W]

What's the situation with on board air? Would it be safe to assume there are enough adequate compressors?

What spare parts are reccomended? I'm thinking alternator at a minimum (in addition to the usual axle bits and complete lube changes). Should I look for a spare coil?

Oh, and Mark...The CCOT poly tank is 12 gallons (IIRC...It might be 14). So that means at least 5 cans if I go.

Not really sure who may or may not have onboard air come July. There will certainly be a couple of CO2 tanks in the mix and probably a couple of compressors on the Alaska rigs.

For spares... That's a tough one. Birfs are always a good idea. Alternator can be done without so long as you have a buddy willing to swap out batteries with you. (I've kept guys going for the duration of the run a couple of times by swapping out my secondary battery for their's when it got drained and repeating this a few times over the days on the trail. It*shouldn't* be a failure concern anyway. But depending on what brand it is, how long it has been under the hood and how many times it has already been dunked... It may be. Same for the starter solenoid.
If everything is in optimum/optimal condition there shouldn't be any failures of routine components. If there is stuff waiting to fail... it will.


Over the years I have actually stopped carrying nearly as much in the way of spare parts as I used to. I just concentrate on making sure than as little as possible is in less than optimal condition before I hit the trail. At least that's the goal I am working toward... Tools and supplies to affect repairs and work arounds seem to be more important than actual spares in many cases. The more spares you carry, the better prepared you will be in the event of failures. But the heavier you load will be too.

As to the fuel... Yep if you have a 12 gallon tank, you'll need to make room for one more jerry can.


Mark...

 

[Mark W]

It'll be the whole shooting match if it works out. I'm breaking all the rules and bringing girls, dogs and guns. Well maybe only one girl.



Excellent!



Wait a minute here... A Canadian bringing guns *to* Alaska? Wow...

As to dogs... I figure you've done this before, and you know what you're getting into.

Even if your doggie does not.


Mark...

 

[Advent]

It'll be the happiest dog in the world if it gets a moose leg to chew on!

 

[Mark W]

More likely one of the saddest dogs in the world if he tries it.

We ran up on two brown bears this year. One of them was sleeping about 50 feet from the trail when we came over a rise. Fortunately the blue heeler that had spent three days running most of the time was in the cab with me since we were hauling butt trying to make time back to the trailhead.

The other was very interested in getting closer to us and seeing just what we were.

Running up on big game like this is one of my biggest fears when I have a dog on the trail with me. That and porcupines.

I am not encourageing people to bring their animals. In addition to concerns about wildlife the trails are long and often fast for a dog to keep up for long. Lots of water crossings that get pretty daunting for a dog can be a problem too. And many dogs don't understand how to stay out from underfoot (undertire?). Out of my five dogs, only three of them have a lot of trail sense and of those three only one can keep up for long. Only one of the three handles water crossings other than small ones very well. And it's not the same dog


Most dogs do better if you keep them in the rig most of the time while moving and just let them hang around camp. Of course that makes for some long days in the rig for the dog.


But that said, there's a good chance I'll have the aforementioned heeeler riding along with me.


Mark...

 

[Advent]

More likely one of the saddest dogs in the world if he tries it.

I was referring more to the comment of bringing a gun and a dog...When mine got her hands on a moose leg (after we'd taken our meat off), she didn't even look at her food bowl for 3 days! She just camped out at that leg and if she wanted to be anywhere else, she'd take the time to drag all 50+ pounds of it around.

But yeah, dogs running alongside the rigs can be a pain. I wouldn't even take one backpacking. I've come around a corner and found myself 10 feet from a bear cub (looked like a 6 month old puppy). We rented a cabin on a canoe trail this summer, and woke up to find that a bear had pushed the door open. Luckily, we had piled all our gear against the door, so it didn't open enough to get in.

For the most part, bears don't scare me. They're pretty predictable. But animals + animals can be a scary combo.

 

[Mark W]

For the most part, bears don't scare me. They're pretty predictable. But animals + animals can be a scary combo.

Yep that sums it up pretty well.


Mark...

 

[lowenbrau]

Thanks Mark, I do have an idea of what to expect. My dog gets his exercise by running with the truck. I have had to be extracted from a ditch because I tried to keep up. He'll go 30 MPH for 5 miles and then 20MPH for the rest of the day or until his pads wear off. He comes to work with me every day and spends up to 16 hours in my service truck. He suits my lifestyle pretty well. Charla likes him so much that she bought his little sister. (2 years younger). They both travel well and are used to the trail. I'm not too worried about how we'll fair with them. My dog had a bad experience with one of Charla's horses and will only chase a deer till he figures out how big it is then turns back. Rabbits are another story.

Ah far as guns go, Charla works among the grizzlies and they don't call her Shotgun Charla for nothing. That being said, I'm not sure we'll have room for much more than some sleeping bags and MREs.

 

[Mark W]

Thanks Mark, I do have an idea of what to expect. My dog gets his exercise by running with the truck. I have had to be extracted from a ditch because I tried to keep up. He'll go 30 MPH for 5 miles and then 20MPH for the rest of the day or until his pads wear off. He comes to work with me every day and spends up to 16 hours in my service truck. He suits my lifestyle pretty well. Charla likes him so much that she bought his little sister. (2 years younger). They both travel well and are used to the trail. I'm not too worried about how we'll fair with them. My dog had a bad experience with one of Charla's horses and will only chase a deer till he figures out how big it is then turns back. Rabbits are another story.

Ah far as guns go, Charla works among the grizzlies and they don't call her Shotgun Charla for nothing. That being said, I'm not sure we'll have room for much more than some sleeping bags and MREs.

That sounds a lot like my Heeler mix. Great trail dog. His (your dog that is) being used to long days in the truck changes the equation a bit too.

Since you're coming out of Canada and not passing through, then obviously you have already dealt with any paperwork hassles (minimal for shotguns over there I guess?). I don't know if there are any hoops you have to jump through as a Canadian bringing a firearm into Alaska. I don't *think* so.

In general I am encouraging folks to bring firearms even less than I am bringing dogs. Not disallowing though (of course). In the case of you and Charla... Like you said she's used to having them around as a work tool. And I know what to expect out of you.


Mark...

 

[akcruzers]

It'll be the whole shooting match if it works out. I'm breaking all the rules and bringing girls, dogs and guns. Well maybe only one girl.

I should really be prepping my 45 but I'm pretty sure it'll be the BJ70 again. Charla's fleet gets to stay home for a change.

Woohoo, Bruce Charla dogs and Guns! You know that just makes my face happy knowing that the'll be bringin' guns from canada, diesel trucks and if i know Bruce, BEER!!!!!!!!!!!!

How about Peter, Tanis and the diesel dog?????

Yep Jim, you got it right, cam won't let me drive the Wagon....it's in Juneau going to college becoming an educated cruiser. But it will be back this summer to roam the home land again.

Last summer Cam was wheeling with some friends and hydrolocked the wagon. I got the call and we got it out of the river. The wagon had two feet of water in the interior, and that's on a SOA wagon W/ OMEs. Needless to say Cam spent the better part of a week getting everything dried out and all of the fluids changed. We got it running again and it ran fine all winter. It did start developing a tick that slowly got louder with time. So this fall i decided we better break it down and see what was wrong. Well it turned out to be a broken wrist pin! broken right in half. He ran that truck for 8 months like that and it ran fine just a little ticky!!!!

Well to make a long story short we bored out the block stuffed new pistons in, stabbed a Whatley cam in and shaved the head 65 thousanths and bolted it back together. We got it done the afternoon before Cam was suposed to drive to Haines to get on the ferry. So we filled it with gas and put 400 miles on it that night to make sure she ran. He left the next morning and said it ran great!!

As far as ACT2006, I'm there, sounds like the Kathy, Kyle and Cam are in too, so looks like two rigs, the wagon and my 40.

Bruce, I'll have the cooler if you have the CANADIAN beer!!!!! my freezer is well stocked this year.

As far as Grizzlies and other furry critters........well I'll have my serveying equipment along this year. I just hope Peter is along so I can make another attempt to sway him to the dark side of poymere concealable handguns!!! or maybe even evil black rifles!!!!

It's gonna be fun,

Greg

 

[dmc]

Mark,

We've been chatting directly via email but I thought I'd post up here as well. I'm pretty committed to making the ACT 2006 and can't wait for more official communication.

For everyone in the lower 48 that are thinking about making the trip I can say from my 5 trips to AK that 2 weeks is not enough. Physically it can be done if you don't mind driving 16-18 hours a day. Which isn't too rough with the long daylight. However you'll find that B.C. and the Yukon territories deserve more than just a drive by. I think 3 weeks from anywhere in the west is sufficient. 4 weeks would be much better. I normally go through Seattle to visit friends but I've used I-15 as well. I'm sure all the Canadians can provide local knowledge but for my dime I'd take the Cassiar Highway at least one direction and make sure to plan at least a day to spend in Stewart/Hyder.

My current plan is to take 11 days to travel to Anchorage from Salt Lake City. I'll be ferrying up from Prince Rupert to Juneau for a 3 or 4 days to visit my old stomping grounds. Then a hard push from there via Haines to Anchorage to pick up a passeger for ACT. The drive home will include a trip to Inuvik (sp?)in the Northwest Territories. Not sure yet but there is plenty of time to figure out specifics. My plan is to use 3 work weeks and the 4 weekends. Should be very doable.

Of course the picture that Mark and the ACC present of the ACT it might be worth 3 days driving non stop to get there.
dmc

 

[Behemoth60]

I just hope Peter is along so I can make another attempt to sway him to the dark side of poymere concealable handguns!!! or maybe even evil black rifles!!!!

Oh, I'll be there! And my little dog too. Also in flagrant violation of Mark's suggestions.

And bring your guns, Greg. Despite my political stance that city folk shouldn't keep guns, I cannot deny the sence of phalic enhancement one gets from shooting a big gun. So, bring your biggest and baddest with bulging boxes of bullets, and I'll be there to step on some caps and split some wigs. homey. word up.

Peter Straub

 

[kipper]

This is something I've wanted to do since reading about the first trek in '01. I'm going to work very hard to make it happen. The countdown begins....

Kipper