ASK A YOOPER: ‘Sled-less’ winter so far tough on this rider

So it’s 2017...a new year. And for me, withdrawal symptoms. Allow me to elaborate.

Since my late August arrival to Alaska, of course I’ve been enamored with its vastness, beauty and majesty. The latter two are the main reasons for the move in the first place. The first week or so, I was busy getting settled in Big Lake and finding my way back toward Wasilla. The second week was spent getting used to the new digs at the office. By then, we were into the rainy season.

I recall the first weekend off, it rained. Before I left the Yoop (Upper Michigan), those kind of days meant puttin’ around in my garage. Up here, even though I have a garage stall, I have nothing to work on. So I spent the time moping around the cabin, despite being forewarned that Alaskans don’t let rain stop them from getting outside.

The following weekend was more of the same. By then, I was going stir-crazy. So I sucked it up, broke out the rain gear and got out to enjoyed the Mat-Su’s vast outdoors. As the days shortened, I took advantage of every spare hour of light soaking in everything from Government Peak to Hatcher Pass to Talkeetna. Of course, I didn’t get to see a lot of any of it...yet.

September came and went and midway through October, we started seeing snow on the Chugach and Talkeetna peaks. And while editor Matt Hickman started contemplating taking the SAD lamp from office closet home with him, my spirits brightened. Winter back in the Yoop usually doesn’t set in proper until mid-December. At least winter enough where the roof-rake was out of storage, the snow blower moved to the garage and shovels strategically placed around the yard.

More importantly, the 4-wheeler was moved to the back of the garage and the sled...let’s not debate the “snowmobile versus snow machine” issue again, was pulled out of the corner. As the temperatures continued their downward spiral and the snow levels rose, so did my spirits. Usually by the end of the month, I was able to ride most of the two-tracks that, like up here, wend their way to nowhere for miles. The Yoop doesn’t have a Hatcher Pass...or any other pass to ride on and you can’t take a mountain sled off-trail, so two-tracks satisfied the urge.

By mid-January, the backwoods were ready and beckoning. Every Saturday, “the gang” would show up at the house, unload the sleds, and off we’d go. One of the advantages of living in the state’s highest town, altitude-wise...marijuana isn’t legal in Michigan...and right off Lake Superior, is that the little berg of Herman has plenty of snow. It’s known as the snowiest town in Baraga County and always rivals the Keweenaw Peninsula for state bragging rights. Nothing like being able to ride from your front yard and hit the woods...just like here in Big Lake.

Once there was enough snow cover out here, I’m started seeing the occasional sled zipping along Big Lake Road and West Susitna Parkway. As those of you who have read my past musings in the paper, you already know my sled is still back in Michigan...for now. I couldn’t tow a second trailer behind a 24-foot camper trailer so I thought I’d soldier through my first Alaska winter without my “big boy” toys.

However, for the past two weekends, every time I set outside the cabin, my ears are tuned to the sounds of motors running. Not because the neighbors are warming up their vehicles...it’s the sound of two and four-stroke motors zipping across nearby Big Lake and down the surrounding back-trails out here around Kenaka Subdivision. Now that ice conditions are safe for driving on Big Lake itself, I had to partake. Back in the Yoop, you could take your vehicle out along the shallow shores of Lake Superior, but I digress. Touring the roads of the lake itself only compounded the urge to ride and the more it snows, the stronger the urge.

Now that I’m seeing more and more sleds gassing up at Three Bears or Tesoro, zipping along the roadside, or just seeing track and ski trails in the snow, I’ve become mentally unstable. Yes, I have a pair of snow shoes, and no, I haven’t cross-country skied for since college. I’m reaching the point where I physically need to put my hands on a handlebar with a hand-brake on the left and a throttle on the right. Yes I know you can rent a sled. But like a junkie, that will only lead to a stronger urge to “use” more.

If the winter weather here in the Mat-Su continues to hold, unlike the past several years I’m told, I may break down entirely. I’m valiantly trying to find a financially reasonable way of getting my sled up ASAP. If that happens, the world will rebalance and life is good. If not, I fear the worst. If anyone sites a tall, lanky guy in a black sled suit wearing a modular helmet aimlessly wandering around the area mumbling incoherently, please point him toward Kenaka Subdivision and he’ll eventually make it back to the cabin!

Contact Chris Ford at 352-2270 or chris.ford@frontiersman.com