Beautiful weather confounds snowmachine hopeful

Outdoors in Alaska, by Howard Delo

Last Sunday was just one of those days! I was invited to ride "sweep" on a 60-mile snowmachine day-tour with Ron Wilson and Alaska Winter Excursions, out of Susitna Landing. I was looking forward to a fun ride, seeing some new country, and trying out my brand new digital camera to see if I really had figured out the directions.

I had "earned" this invitation earlier in the week by helping Ron haul a couple of loads of freight out to a remote cabin construction site. On the last run, I hauled the freight while Ron pulled his trail groomer behind me to smooth up the trail where the freight sleds had passed.

I called Ron on Saturday morning about the tour and, because of the previous couple of days' snowfall and relatively warm temperatures, Ron was waiting to get some trail updates before he positively decided to go on Sunday. Reports had been circulating about overflow on many sections of the area's rivers. Parts of Ron's tour route ran along these same rivers.

When I checked in with Ron Saturday evening, my wife and I had already seen the evening weather forecast calling for high winds, temperatures in the 40s, and rain mixed with snow for Sunday. Ron had decided to run the tour but hadn't heard the forecast and was concerned about the possible bad weather.

Because I had a 35-mile drive to get to Susitna Landing, hadn't readied my gear yet, and was worried about road conditions for the drive up and back, I thanked Ron for the invite but backed out on the trip. Ron was going to watch the weather and make his final decision Sunday morning.

If you remember the weather last Sunday, you'll know how this turned out. Mostly clear skies, sunshine, and no winds were the order of the day. Unfortunately, I couldn't get organized and on the road in time to make the tour departure time at Susitna Landing. I missed a good ride. The phrase, "The best laid plans of mice and men…" comes to mind here.

While we're talking about snowmachines, here are a few other snowmobile events happening around the area.

In case you haven't heard, the Big Lake Eliminator K-400 snowmachine race, sponsored by the Big Lake Aurora Lions Club Inc., finishes up today at the Call of the Wild in Big Lake. The race started yesterday at the Call of the Wild, ran to Yentna Station, to Skwentna, to Shell Lake, back to Skwentna, and finished at the Forks Roadhouse in Petersville. Today's leg of the race was the same route in reverse, coming back to Big Lake for the finish. If you're interested in seeing the finish, call the folks at Call of the Wild for approximate times the racers are expected in.

The big snowmachine race kicks off in Fairbanks tomorrow. The Tesoro Iron Dog race route runs from Fairbanks to Nome to Wasilla this year. The last time I checked, there were 25 professional teams and 14 trail class teams signed up to make the run. A lot of folks are excited about this year's race since last year's was canceled because of lack of snow and poor trail conditions. For more information, you can call the Tesoro Iron Dog at 907-563-4414 or check their Web site at www.irondog.org.

Now, to a totally unrelated topic I am somewhat tardy in reporting. Local residents living along the edge of the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge and other folks, who are regular visitors to the Hay Flats, like R. K. Butts, have gotten together to form a citizen's group to oversee activities on the refuge and encourage users to enjoy the area but not abuse it.

If you are interested in finding out more about this group, their goals, their working association with Fish and Game, how to join, or any other information, call John and Chris Abshire at 373-7484.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist living in Big Lake. Send your comments and ideas to editor@frontiersman.com, or call (907) 352-2268 and leave a message for Howard.