Eureka, Alaska Bellanger Pass ATV/UTV Ride and Hunt

Dave and I took the ATV's and the Toy Hauler and headed up to Eureka, Alaska out to Bellanger Pass area it is about 2 hours NE of Palmer (80 miles) and on your way to Glennallen (due west about 60 miles).  It has some beautiful scenery and 100's of trails to explore on an ATV/UTV or Moose buggy.  In the winter it is awesome snow machining/snowmobiling but in the fall the colors are breath taking.

We went out with friends and brought the gun along since Moose, Bear, Caribou and Wolf hunting was open.  There are some nice moose, black bear, grizzly bear, caribou and wolves out there if you have the patience and time to hunt them.  You can road hunt some of them but the best hunting is to use the ATV/UTV to get back in there and then take a walk and bring the spotting scope.  If you wait you can see the whole Alaska animal kingdom go bye, it is truly amazing.

We headed out with some friends to find some adventure, did some mudding, some rock climbing, fossil hunting, and yep a little pushing of the ATV's.  We went on some trails that I would NEVER recommend to a novice and would only recommend to some experienced ATV'ers and make sure you have a buddy.  You may need a push or a pull at times.  There are some great trails for kids and adults alike it just depends on what kind of ATVing you want to do. If you like mud and creek crossings and like to ride the ridge lines this is definitely the place for you.  It was myself, my husband and a couple of his buddies, and let me tell you ladies, don't ever let a man tell you it is too difficult, it just depends on your determination. If your a mud loving woman, who is tough as nails then you will be fine.  If you think shopping at the mall and getting a pedi is a rough day then you had best just stay back at camp lol.

So off we went, I think the guys were rather impressed that I didn't wimp out and even though I needed a little nudge every now and then, I didn't give up and kept up with them.  The only reason I needed help was because I am on a 2000 Arctic Cat and the clearance is not nearly as high as their 2007 Arctic Cat, 2010 Polaris and even the 2003 Suzuki King Quad.  I have the sport suspension so the ride is softer but it also makes me drag bottom in some of the more rutted out areas.

We explored an old mining site, saw some pretty interesting relics of the past and just some beautiful scenery. You can find some pretty neat fossils in some of the areas, which always manages to amaze me that life must have been so different here in Alaska 1000's of years ago.

We went about 18 miles and that is when we ran into a minor problem or major problem depending on how you look at it.  We had stopped at the top of a hill over looking a valley deciding which trail to choose, we picked one and headed out.  About half way into the trail I started to notice this little line in the dirt.  I started looking ahead and noticed some liquid coming out of the 2007 Arctic Cat, it took me a few minutes to realize "holy crap" that is OIL, not water !! We caught up to our buddy, he shut off the machine and then WHAM all the oil came out, NOT GOOD!  We discovered that he lost his oil plug. After cleaning up the oil from the ground with a portable spill kit, we thought, hmmm I wonder if we can find that plug.  So as you could imagine it would be like looking for a needle in a hay stack, but with a little luck we found it.  We discovered that the threads on the oil pan itself was stripped and we were amazed that it hadn't come out sooner.  So we let the machine cool down and with a little suggestion from the "woman" of the group we used a zip lock bag, wrapped it around the plug and put the plug back in there and it held tight.  We didn't have enough oil on us so we had to tow our buddy back.  Now here is the funny part.... earlier in the adventure the Arctic Cat owners were joking we better bring a tow strap with a Polaris in the party as we would probably have to tow him home.  So the jokes on us, the Arctic Cat was pulled 18 miles home through hills, valleys, streams and mud by, yep the Polaris lol.  Here are some pictures from the trip.  Even with the minor incident we still had a good time.

Hint, click on the pictures they are much better in a larger view. :o)

Mushrooms galore

Just thought I would try the mobile app for blogger. Here is a picture of a neat looking mushroom I saw today.

Anniversary camping trip near Lake Leila

Jen and I finally got a chance for a camping trip. It worked out nicely with our anniversary. I am lucky to have such a great wife, that likes to go camping on our anniversary!

We only had a couple of nights so we headed out Friday evening and made it to our spot by 9:30 pm. We just pick a spot to boondoc, as we are not much for campgrounds. It had been raining back in Palmer so we were delighted to see the partly cloudy skies. No aurora, but still a nice evening.

Overnight a few rain showers moved in and made for some nice sleeping conditions. Saturday morning we awoke to a little light drizzle and some fog. It wasn't too bad so we took a small atv ride to explore some new country. Here is a map and some pictures of the loop we rode.

http://www.everytrail.com/view_trip.php?trip_id=2262564

There was an abandon mining sled along the trail. I can only can imagine where it has been. The area has a lot of old mining trails to explore. It is very easy from here to access the Belanger Pass, Squaw Lake and the Alfred creek trail.

By afternoon the fog lifted and the rain had stopped. We gathered some firewood for a fire and headed back to camp.

The old faithful suzuki 300 with over 5k miles ran well. I was worried as it has been through a few tough times here lately. Last fall it ran well over 20 miles on little to no oil mixed with water. Tough little machines.

The blue berries were out in full force. Everywhere you looked there were plenty of berries. Lots of people pick blue berries in Alaska, and this weekend was no different. We saw a lot picking berries close to the road.

I threw some steaks on the grill. Jen made a few items to go with them. As you can see by the picture she overloaded our plates (no complaints here). Not sure either one of us was able to finish a quarter of our meal. The Henry Weinhards went down smooth though.

Sunday morning was another beautiful morning in this great state of Alaska. We hiked up to take a few pictures of the scenery. It's always hard to believe that so many people spend so much money to visit Alaska, and I live here everyday.

Riding the motorcycle and spyder in Alaska

It has been awhile since the last post. Lots of adventures and pictures to catch up on, and still adventures from last year to still publish.

We took the last 2 days to enjoy the good weather and do some site seeing on the bikes. Saturday we joined the Goldwing club for a ride from Anchorage to Girdwood.

Parking lot where we had breakfast.

With this being such a short ride we broke away from the group and headed farther south to Portage Glacier. Three Can-am Spyders and on Harley along for the ride. the ride along Turnagain Arm was spectacular, with just some high thin clouds and plenty of blue sky.


Portage Lake below the Glacier, still some ice.

 Turnagain Arm waters were very calm.

On Sunday we headed out the Glenn Highway to have some blueberry pie at the Eureka Lodge.
Skies weren't as cooperative as on Saturday but still made for a nice ride. Stopped about 5 miles short of the lodge as a very large thunderstorm was putting down some serious rain with what looked like some possible hail. We turned around and had an awesome lunch at the Grand View Lodge. If you want an awesome lunch around mile 110 of the Glenn Highway then stop at the Grand View. The Jalapeno Burger with homemade jalapeno mayonnaise is to die for. The mixed berry pie was also very well worth the stop. We hit the lodge just as the rain started.

The spyder.

 Matanuska Glacier

 The Harley in front of the glacier.

 Jen and her spyder.

The ride back to Palmer had a few raindrops here and there but was an awesome ride.

Here is a picture from a previous ride.

Eska Falls

We have seen pictures of Eska Falls, but have failed on two previous attempts to actually see the falls in person. A couple weeks ago we decided to give it another try. This was the first 4 wheeler ride of the year, all winter maintenance was done and a fresh oil change.

Eska Falls is located north of Sutton. We camped at slipper lake. In the previous attempts we got lost and stuck, but after looking at some maps, we felt that getting lost shouldn't be a problem. Getting stuck is another question. The lower part of the trail is rather tame and just an enjoyable ride. Once we crested over the lower ridge we immediately dropped into an area of mud. A side by side was stuck and being winched out, but we were able to pick a reasonable path and continue on. There were only a few more areas of mud and a couple of steep climbs before we crested the upper ridge and the falls were visible in the distance.

Here are some pictures of the weekend.

The dog ready to!

 The campsite.

 Eska Falls.

 

View of the valley below the falls.

Aurora Borealis gone wild!

March 15th and 16th were very good nights for the northern lights here in Palmer. We were able to take several pictures from the house and Hatchers Pass.  The northern lights are caused by solar flares from the sun, and when the radiation hits the earths atmosphere it produces the northern lights.  You can typically only see these in the winter as it is the only time that it really gets dark enough to see them.

There are websites you can visit that will forecast the chance to see the lights, here is one we use. http://www.gi.alaska.edu/AuroraForecast

There are many Native legends about the lights, below is one of them;

Legends and Folklore of the Northern Lights

The aurora borealis has intrigued people from ancient times, and still does today. The Eskimos and Indians of North America have many stories to explain these northern lights.

One story is reported by the explorer Ernest W. Hawkes in his book, The Labrador Eskimo:

The ends of the land and sea are bounded by an immense abyss, over which a narrow and dangerous pathway leads to the heavenly regions. The sky is a great dome of hard material arched over the Earth. There is a hole in it through which the spirits pass to the true heavens. Only the spirits of those who have died a voluntary or violent death, and the Raven, have been over this pathway. The spirits who live there light torches to guide the feet of new arrivals. This is the light of the aurora. They can be seen there feasting and playing football with a walrus skull. The whistling crackling noise which sometimes accompanies the aurora is the voices of these spirits trying to communicate with the people of the Earth. They should always be answered in a whispering voice. Youths dance to the aurora. The heavenly spirits are called selamiut, "sky-dwellers," those who live in the sky.

Picture from the house here in Palmer.

 Shooting star in the middle of the picture.

Valdez Alaska

Took the time to drive to Valdez this weekend. We have been there in the summer, but never a winter visit. I noticed that Valdez had 92 inches of snow on the ground and over 424 inches so far this year. The record for Valdez is 550.7 inches of snow in one season. The season average is 276.6 inches, so we had to check it out. Valdez known for being the end of the oil pipeline that comes from the North Slope (Prudhoe Bay/Deadhorse) and also holds the record for the snowiest sea level town getting on average 276.6 inches a season. Valdez is located about 129 miles east of Anchorage with a population of around 4000.

In March of 1964 Valdez was hit with the largest earthquake in North America. The earthquake shook for 5 minutes and damaged streets and buildings and triggered a huge slide of earth and rocks into Valdez Bay; this sent waves into the city which caused even more damage. The entire city was rebuilt in a new location shortly after the earthquake. They have a marker of where the old city used to be and you can still see some of the old foundations that were not washed away.  It gives a rather awe inspired view of the power of an earthquake.

This town is really a fishing town and they have great fishing charters at a pretty reasonable price.  The only draw back is if you have a weak stomach like my wife, know that they do not bring you back in if you get sea sick, so take your dramamine and you will be fine.  They have some great fishing derbies and the salmon and halibut fishing can't be beat.  If whale watching and seeing wildlife is more your style then the charters to see whales and sea life are also pretty reasonable. They also offer heli-skiing which is a pretty awesome adventure for those who enjoy great powder in the back country on snow that is any skier or boarders dream. 

We left early Saturday morning from our house in Palmer so we could stop and watch the Valdez Mayors Cup. It's a 200 mile cross country snow machine race. The Roads were good until we reached Thompson Pass which is a 2800 foot pass in the Chugach Mountains with the only road access to Valdez. Now 2800 foot doesn't sound all that impressive for someone like me being from the Idaho and Montana area, but it can have blizzard conditions almost all winter long. 

This was our view heading over the pass.

Notice the speed limit sign on the right. (You may have to click on the picture to zoom in)

After making it down the pass we drove through Keystone canyon which was very beautiful in the summer time with Bridal Falls and Horse Tails falls. The winter drive was no different. The falls were all frozen and even got to spend some time watching some ice climbers on Bridal Falls. Below are the summer pictures of each and then a winter picture.

Horse Tail Falls Summer and winter.

Here are a couple more pictures taken in the Keystone canyon area. The rock wall with all of the ice coating on it was spectacular and couldn't be caught with the camera.

Just an awesome site!

Just outside of Valdez I had to stop and take a picture of this opening in the water.

Once in Valdez we had lunch and took a few pictures around town and the Harbor. The Harbor had a lot of ice in it, much more than I expected.

Notice the snow is a couple feet above the guardrail.

 Not sure that boat is going anywhere soon.

Nice view of the Harbor.

View looking out in the open bay. 

This picture was taken from the same position as the picture above. Picture taken June of 2009.

An awesome trip and very happy to finally see what Valdez was like in the winter. Hope you enjoy the pictures.