Alaska Cruiser Trek 2010

[alaska60]

Hey Mark,
I have never been on this trek or wheeled out in that area before..... I am interested though. I have enough guides to cover me if I am invited to go.. I just need the heads up so I can plan all of my guided fishing trips around this. I have some friends in Talkeetna that we can take over too.
Just curious if I am invited, or is this a special event to only the exclusive??
Thanks again.
Tom

 

[Mark W]

Nope, nothing "exclusive" about the Trek.


But....

It is an organized and planned "event", not just a trail run with a bunch of buddies. We aim this primarily at folks from Outside for whom it is generally a once in a lifetime thing. Fees are paid, plans are made and slots are filled. We made the official announcement that the Trek was happening and that we were taking reservations here and a couple of other places on the 31st of July. Had our first commitment for a slot and fees in hand in about 4 hours after the applications were available to everyone IIRC. From Australia even. We filled up pretty quick and actually had a couple of people on a "waiting list" status until just a few days ago.

Over the years we have held it to around 15 rigs or so. Total, including those of us "guiding" the event, the support trucks carrying parts, and fuel and gear, and any of the Alaska Cruiser Crew who joined in. One year we only had 3 rigs from outside! and we still had 12 total with all of the local and club guys who were there.

This year we had a very strong response and we decided to push upwards from out original limit of 15 rigs total. We will have between 21 and 23 rigs on the trail with us depending on whether or not a couple of The Alaska Cruiser Crew folks make it out to help or not. this is our Support truck and 5 Alaskan rigs guiding and helping out and the rest are visitors from Outside.

Really a bit larger than we would like if the truth were told. This is a LOT of rigs to wrangle for a week.

For an outing like this, the size of the group is a major concern. Impact to the trails, suitable places to set camp for the night and, often overlooked, rate of travel throughout the day...time to set and break camp, putting up "outhouse" facilities at each camp spot... Hauling more fuel along with us for more rigs, dealing with vehicle breakage (more rigs ALWAYS means more breakage.... All of this stuff is affected by group size.

We have always given Outsiders first chance at slots for the trek. This year we had to gently let a lot of the Alaska Cruiser Crew folks know that unless they were gonna be along as "help", there probably would not be room for them on this run. Sadly we have had to offer our apologizes to a couple of people from the 48 already too and tell them we are full


So.... nothing exclusive about the Trek. But it is a limited participation event simply because it has to be. At one point we had thoughts of up to 50 rigs on a Trek... yeah, that lasted for about 15 seconds before we all burst into laughter and groans of horror


Anyway, while I hate to say it.... we are not inviting anyone else to join us at this point.

Folks are always welcome to join myself, Kevin and others in the Cruiser Crew when we go out on our own. If you know what you are doing on the trail and you have a rig that can keep up on a particular run, you are always welcome. For that matter we are usually happy to bring lower experience guys and gals along too... New blood in the club is always a good thing.

This coming summer, prior to the Trek it is doubtful that we will have any outings that are not aimed at scouting for the Trek. In other words hard and fast, sleep under the rig, eat MREs and push onward. Runs after thr Trek is over will be largely dependent on how the trek goes. We may be out in the field recovering busted rigs for a week... it's happened before...


Mark...

 

[Mark W]

I came across a couple more pics of my '55(s) that I used to use for my exploring



This one was a family run out into the Eureka Highlands. Only took the canoe out there once beopre realizing that it would really serve little purpose in that area.

I *think* this picture was actually taking in Knik Valley. Don't really have any spots that see enough traffic to muck them up this much when we go further out of town.... Although with 20+ rigs on the Trek this year....

This is one of Gina Bringman's photos IIRC

Mark...

 

[coldtaco]

aktundra

Hey, just wanted to let you know that I did that trip to Deadhorse a while back and if you plan a minimum of 3 days round trip from Fairbanks, it would give you a pretty comfy pace. Of course taking longer would give you more time to explore. When we drove it we where pretty soon after the road got graded so the pot holes and wash boards where not bad at all. The mosquitoes where pretty bad though. I might be interested in going with you if I get my project finished in time, this would be a good shake down trip for it. I work a 3 week on/ 1 off schedule so if we can plan around this I would like to go with you.
Stephan

 

[Mark W]

I love showing people bits of my world when we are out on the Trek... but to be honest, mornings like this, just my rig, my tent and my dog waking up to a view that perhaps no one has ever enjoyed before me... that is heaven. These pictures were taken on one of my quests for my personal Holy grail... trying to push a route through the mountains to connect two different trail systems. No luck so far... but a lot of fun trying.

You do have to take a more cautious approach sometimes... Later that day I found myself very very off camber in a hole in a small river, trying to climb a waterfall in a notch... it occurred to me that if I went just a couple degrees to far and laid it on it's side in the deep pool.... 45 miles from the road.... I would have been just a little bit screwed!


Mark...

 

[Mark W]

Just a couple more teasers. These two shots were taken at the end of summer so the color are changing. Everything will be full green during the Trek

Mark...

 

[Ratpuke]

Mark - Where was that bottom one taken?

 

[Mark W]

Remember the hill that we camped on the first night in 2007? Near Black River Creek Camp (braided cord, Porc in the tree)? The lake at the bottom of the hill with the moose feeding in the shallows at nightfall? This picture is taken from the other side of that lake looking westerly. The hill is just out of the picture on the left, overlooking the lake. The high ground in the distance is the terrain separating the "Big O" from the Black.

The trail is about a 3/4 mile from the camera if you headed for the small knob on the horizon... running North/South across the picture. Black River Creek Camp is about 1/4 mile north once you hit the trail.




Edit: Might have been the second night, not the first. I can not remember now if we pushed straight on in or stopped along the way that trip. it was a long day I recall, but with the delays and stuff it would have been anyway.



For those of you to whom that description is meaningless... We don't expect to see this spot with the Trek this time around, but it is indicative of the country we will be in as we turn downriver on the Chistochina and a couple other areas that we may be traveling in.


Mark...

 

[PabloCruise]

Just a couple more teasers. These two shots were taken at the end of summer so the color are changing. Everything will be full green during the Trek

Mark...

Oh! Could you post a larger version of these?

 

[Mark W]

The original files or on the hard drive of one of two dead computers that I have tucked away. Eventually I will strip the hard drives out and slave them to get at these shots and some other stuff. But at the moment all I have handy are these smaller clips of them.


Mark...

 

[Mark W]

Hi Tony,

If you read back a page or two in this thread you will find the answers to your questions.

To recap, if we have any drop outs at this point, we will just hit the trailhead with fewer rigs. The group size is a bit larger than ideal anyway. While someone may pop and answer otherwise, to my knowledge every rig has at least one additional passenger planned already, some have a couple. We are not maintaining any sort of official list of potential ride along seats, but from what I see in the applications there do not appear to be any.

If we wind up having to make additional trips out into the field to recover any vehicles that suffer failures we are unable to repair during the Trek, it will not be a recreational outing. It will be work, with a hand picked selection of rigs and people, numbers kept to a minimum to get in, get the job done and get out. I don't want to sound like an ass about it, but when we do runs like those, it really is not a time to bring along someone new and unknown who is unfamiliar with the trails and conditions or a rig that we are not familiar with. There are a lot of our own guys and their rigs that are not called upon for something like this

Plus.... we are hoping that we do not have to take on this sort of task. ESPECIALLY on the behalf of anyone who has joined us from Outside.

An finally, the scheduling and logistics of any recovery runs will be completely unknown until it happens. There have been times when rigs have had to be left in the bush for a couple of weeks waiting for parts to be shipped in and for people schedules to be coordinated. Other times we make a fast run to the shop, grab parts, tools and a couple hours of sleep and head back out.


So... the best I can offer you is the suggestion to keep your eyes and ears open for discussions of the Trek in 2011 and 2012. If all goes well we will be looking to those buy the beginning of fall 2010


Mark...

 

[Mark W]

Just a couple shots of a low traffic trail... 2-3 buggies a year during hunting season and two or three Cruisers a year in the summer. Maybe. It is hard to really see, but a spot like this would be a muck hole with multiple rigs crossing it. We will see places like this in 2010 if we attempt the trails we are hoping to tackle. The nice thing about spots like this is that they recovery quickly. No erosion concerns, and stirring the decaying organics up actually seems to speed up the growth/regrowth. But the last rig through these sort of spots will be working a LOT harder than the first.

Mark...

 

[aktundra]

In response to Coldtaco's post 464.

I am not currently planning a trip to Deadhorse. I thought I saw a question MANY pages back, wherein some ACT 2010 trek participants had a few days before/after the trek available for side trips due to ferry schedules or vacation windows.

For those that had a few days available due to individual travel timetables, I was simply posting suggestions for side road trips that could be further researched and done independently.

I am not sure if people will have an extra day or an extra week, before or after. Not to say something could not be organized, but that was not my intention.

 

[DSLTOY]

I may stay in AK for a week or two after the Trek and would be interested in the trip to Deadhorse or other areas, if there are others intrested.

 

[jonb96150]

SNIP

But the last rig through these sort of spots will be working a LOT harder than the first.
Mark...

I call dibs on the #2 spot, bwahahahaha!!!!!!!!

 

[Mark W]

Our normal approach is to send one of the most capable rigs (in terms of getting through muck) across first. If it is not equipped well in terms of winch, then the next rig is. Then the least capable mud rigs go, with the more capable ones bringing up the rear.


Mark...

 

[AKcruzr]

I may stay in AK for a week or two after the Trek and would be interested in the trip to Deadhorse or other areas, if there are others intrested.

I will be off 6 weeks straight, 2 weeks before/2 weeks after the Trek. I could help with a few local destinations off the beaten path I.E. Hiking, fishing, and sight seeing. Including a few local 4wd trails, like the one diagonally across from my house
I've been mentioning Deadhorse to the wife lately, maybe this could be my excuse to go.

 

[DSLTOY]

Wheelin and fishin sound great, I am not into hiking anymore, which is why I quit driving a jeep. I am getting a aftermarket high tec hip joint in a 3 weeks so I should get around a little better. I would like to go to Deadhorse, but am open to other options. Lookin forward to wheeling with you again.

 

[DSLTOY]

Wheelin and fishin sound great, I am not into hiking anymore, which is why I quit driving a jeep. I am getting a aftermarket high tec hip joint in a 3 weeks so I should get around a little better. I would like to go to Deadhorse, but am open to other options. Lookin forward to wheeling with you again.

 

[jonb96150]

Our normal approach is to send one of the most capable rigs (in terms of getting through muck) across first. If it is not equipped well in terms of winch, then the next rig is. Then the least capable mud rigs go, with the more capable ones bringing up the rear.


Mark...

That was actually a lame attempt at a joke!
But yah I'll prolly be one of the more "mud challenged" rigs there. I don't think I can swing 37's due to the extra work fitting them, but I do plan on getting new 35's that will be better mudders than my old style mtr's. I really like the new kevlar mtr's on my heep, and I've read that they are fairly good in mud, and are close to an actual 35" when mounted. Anybody have any mud experiance with them?