Alaska Cruiser Trek 2010

[RockDoc]

Man, this is going to be a lot of great scenery packed into a short period of time I'm hoping I'll get in the Top of the World highway too.

 

[Mace]

Ahhhh...

 

[FJ40 TOOLMAN]

Top of world highway

Top of world highway is a nice drive from Tok to Dawson City.Hatcher Pass is very nice drive from Willow to old mine at end of drive.

 

[FJ40 TOOLMAN]

Hatcher pass

Picture old mine on Hatcher Pass drive.

 

[Mark W]

Here are some from ACT 2003, These are all Bob Bancrofts pictures.


Shot from inside his rig on one of the first crossings of the Trek... not a great shot but you can see the water coming over the hood. SUA '60 with Alcan springs and 35s.

Wolf track left during the night at camp

and bear track a few nights later

yep snow to get stuck in in July

Might make camp here for a night or two

Mark...

 

[FJ40 TOOLMAN]

Looks like crossing a chain river wide and cold.

 

[Mark W]

On this run we will follow 5 different rivers and see the head waters of four of them. One of our optional additions will add two more rivers to the mix, all the way to the glaciers that spawn them.


Mark...

 

[D'Animal]

Is that an airplane propellor on the front of the silver FJ60 coming out of the river?

 

[Mark W]

Yep it sure is. We came across the remains of a crashed super cub buried in the gravel outwash up in a high side valley of Gillette Pass. Pulled it out of the ground with a winch. A couple of the guys grabbed the prop for a memento. We checked to make sure it was a known wreck, and it was.


Mark...

 

[pismojim]

Here are some from ACT 2003, These are all Bob Bancrofts pictures.

Is that Jack's green FJ40? The same one (a year AFTER) the "Rescue" in Mark's avatar?

Looks like that bear dropped his Swiss Army knife.
I thought the Swiss Army Knifes, whistles and bells are usually mixed in with the scat.



Awesome pictures!

 

[Mark W]

Yep, that is Jack's. None the worse for it's soaking

I saw an ad for a lost dog once, years ago in the local paper... it was a poodle... "answers to Fifi"...last seen wearing a red sweater and bells. Lost on Resurrection pass Trail. I busted out laughing. There are more bears there than there are hookers in Times Square. They might as well have lost a steak in a crocodile pen at the zoo! I was picturing the puzzled look on a bears face when he heard the bells ringing as he took a dump


Mark...

 

[Mark W]

Picture old mine on Hatcher Pass drive.

Hatcher Pass and the various valleys associated with it are beautiful. But what the State has done up there breaks my heart. I used to have to lock the hubs to get to Independence Mine. It was a muddy two track and I have pulled several people out of stucks right in the middle of the road in years past. The mine was simply abandoned and going back to nature. Then the state "improved" the road. Now you can take a motor home or tour bus all the way up the paved road to the parking lot and pay a fee to be there. The paved walkways in and around the mine, closed off mine portals and put up informational signs everywhere. Great place for the blue haired little old ladies with the white box lunches from the tour buss company. But it makes my stomach hurt when ever I go there. Fortunately there is a lot more to Hatcher Pass than just this one spot, and there are other abandoned mines to explore too. The ones that the State will never attempt to turn into any sort of tourist destination. Independence Mine is still a neat place to see. But if we take the Trekkers up there, we will see much less visited spots


Mark...

 

[Mark W]

I was puzzled at these tracks for a bit. No vehicles make it up into this valley. Not for a few decades. Then I realized that this old rutted track across the alpine tundra is kept looking this way by foot traffic. There is a cabin at the head of the valley. A shack really. Cool place actually... often visited (well, relatively speaking)... and the tracks are spaced at just the right comfortable distance apart for two people walking together... so people tend to walk in them and keep the trail looking as if it still sees wheeled use.

 

[FJ40 TOOLMAN]

One of many old mines on Hatcher Pass

 

[powderpig]

I used to ski out of that cabin in the 80's(and many other places in hatcher pass area). Would drive my 85 runner up(before that a 58 chev truck). Stock it with Kersene for the stove. I used to teach mountaineering year round in this valley and a few others for the community college. Last time I visted there was in 1991.
There used to be 2 small glaciers just on the other side of the pass that would hold snow year round. It was fun to spend a week or two hiking back(summer) in these valleys as a young man.
How old is that pic Mark? It seems like the snow people are keeping the cabin in good shape if the picture is recent.

 

[josharre2000]

This abandoned jeep is NOT one of ours. We would have gotten through

Mark...

Jim's Creek???

Moved outside 3 years ago from Anchorage and was actually planning a trip next summer and just saw this thread... Please shoot me a packet, maybe I can re-arrange a couple of fishing trips so I can at least catch up with you all. emial is josharre2000@yahoo.com

BTW--for those of you who are interested in shipping your rigs from the POA, it took $2500 and 2 weeks to get my F250 here to Bentonville, AR.

thanks,

josh

 

[josharre2000]

An 'Alaska Cruiser Trek 2010' group has been set up on facebook. It is intended to be a way for everyone attending next year's event to get to know one another better before the trip. Membership is limited to only those people who have received confirmation that their application has been accepted. Privacy settings have been restricted to only registered individuals and their copilot(s) as a precautionary measure...

For individuals familiar with the facebook platform, do a search for 'Alaska Cruiser Trek 2010' and you should be able to find it. If anyone has any problems joining, send me a PM or an email to ratpuke@gmail.com and I'll hook you up.

Looking forward to 'meeting' you all soon.


Charla Downey

Just sent a request to join the FB site--- Josh Harrell

 

[Mark W]

I used to ski out of that cabin in the 80's(and many other places in hatcher pass area). Would drive my 85 runner up(before that a 58 chev truck). Stock it with Kersene for the stove. I used to teach mountaineering year round in this valley and a few others for the community college. Last time I visted there was in 1991.
There used to be 2 small glaciers just on the other side of the pass that would hold snow year round. It was fun to spend a week or two hiking back(summer) in these valleys as a young man.
How old is that pic Mark? It seems like the snow people are keeping the cabin in good shape if the picture is recent.

The pic was taken yesterday evening

There are a couple of spots that would stop a truck now without a little bit of work. The old "road" built with tailings is too narrow here and there. Crossing the creek between the lake and the cabin would best be done with some timbers and boards to spread the load so as to not tear it up. And vehicles are prohibited off the road in that area. I thought they had been for a lot longer than since '91. Except for those concerns it would be an easy drive. there are still the remains of one or two OLD vehicles up there.

The area around the cabin could really use a visit from a truck with an empty bed. a lot of beercans and crap left by the hikers ans skiers. Oh... wait... I must be lying, only motorized users would do that... right?

Maybe we will approach the state about getting there blessing to drive up there and clean it up.

The cabin is well taken care of still... Lot of graffiti and mementos left over the years. But no vandalism or anythung like that. Fun place. Looks more like a loveshack/party house than anything else these days. A lot of sleeping bags left on the bunks and in the loft... I would be a bit squeamish about using them for anything at all though. Even for the dogs to sleep on!

AFAIK the glaciers are still there. Met a couple of guys coming from the cabin with skies on their back just a week ago. I have not climbed up past the cabin myself. Just a pleasant place to take the dogs for an afternoon for me so far. Perhaps I will try to make time for a more strenuous jaunt before it gets much cooler.


Haul the accumulated sleeping bags out, wash them and haul them back for padding on the bunks and in the loft... take M416 worth of trash out... and it would be a great little place again


Edit: I just thought about this. I must have misunderstood your comments. Are you saying that you took a 4runner all the way to the hut? I have not seen any route through or around a couple of narrow boulder fields that a stockish truck would have a hope of getting through. Even a built truck for that matter unless it was a competition style buggy. I do not see us getting a rig up there now, that is for sure. Or there is a route up there that I have not seen?


Mark...

 

[Mark W]

Jim's Creek???

Moved outside 3 years ago from Anchorage and was actually planning a trip next summer and just saw this thread... Please shoot me a packet, maybe I can re-arrange a couple of fishing trips so I can at least catch up with you all. emial is josharre2000@yahoo.com

BTW--for those of you who are interested in shipping your rigs from the POA, it took $2500 and 2 weeks to get my F250 here to Bentonville, AR.

thanks,

josh

This pic was taken right by the glacier. That is the east fork of the Knik River. What a lot of folks call Metal Creek, but that is not Metal creek. They just can not read maps

I will fire you off a packet this evening. We are currently full with one invitee not yet commited, but one person already on the waiting list. Over full actually. We had to push beyond the ideal numbers because of the number of response we got!


Mark...

 

[Mark W]

Just sent a request to join the FB site--- Josh Harrell

Josh, not to sound snobbish, but the Facebook group is just for participants in this years Trek. So we can all share a bit more personal info and specific details about the Trek, coordinate convoy travel up the road, meet times and places, pre and post trek gatherings and stuff like that. We will be keeping this thread alive and there will be pic, info and discussion here too.


Mark...