Trip to Red Shirt Lake well worth the wait

Outdoors in Alaska, by Howard Delo

This past week, I finally made a trip I have been thinking about and planning for a few years. I had studied the maps and planned the route. Mileages were estimated and travel times anticipated. Gear was packed and departure times set.

No, my destination wasn't Hawaii, Seattle or even Anchorage. It was Red Shirt Lake, in the Nancy Lakes State Recreation Area. And no, the route wasn't seven miles down an unmaintained gravel highway from the parking area at Mile 2.2 of the Nancy Lake Parkway.

I had wanted to make this trip by snowmachine from my home in Big Lake, connecting onto the Big Lake snowmachine trail system, across the Little Susitna River, touching the Iditarod Trail at Cow Lake and going north to Red Shirt Lake.

Many experienced snowmachiners will read this and wonder what's the big deal. A round-trip like that takes maybe a half-day and is probably made on the spur of the moment while wondering where to ride that day. Here's some background.

For the last few years, we haven't had the snow, until this winter, to easily make that trip by snowmachine. Last winter, I called State Parks and was told there wasn't even enough snow to allow snowmachine travel on the SRA road system. Travel across the backcountry was a definite no-no.

My friend, Doug, and I had been talking about making this trip to scope out the winter icefishing for northern pike in the lake. Rather than drive up the highway, park in the designated lot, load and unload snowmachines and gear sleds, and worry about the security of the vehicles in this "off-the-beaten path" parking lot, we figured a ride up through the backcountry would be an adventure in itself.

A couple of years ago, on a March day with only three inches of snow on the ground, Doug and I readied our tire-chained four-wheeler ATVs and headed out. I was pulling a trailer loaded with all the ice fishing gear. We actually did pretty well. We got to within an estimated three to four miles of Red Shirt before we came onto a glaciated, approximately 45-degree slope on the trail.

Neither machine had enough traction to make the climb up the hill. Both machines had winches and we could have winched our way up during the next hour or so. However, it was already early afternoon. We figured even if we made it out to the lake, we would be pushing sunset if we just turned around and made our way back to Big Lake without stopping to fish. And fishing, after all, was the reason for the trip. We turned around at the base of the hill and headed home.

A couple of weeks ago, Dan and his son, Andy, home on semester break from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, were out riding their snowmachines and stopped by the house. As we talked, I mentioned wanting to go to Red Shirt, just to learn the way. Icefishing would be part of a second, later trip. We set a date and they left.

On Friday, we met on the ice in front of Big Lake Lodge at 10 a.m. and headed out. The Big Lake trails apparently had just been groomed and were in the best condition I've ever seen them, with a minimum of moguls and bare spots. We made excellent time, even with several stops to check trail maps, and were on Red Shirt by 11:30 a.m. After a "trail lunch," we followed the marked course from Red Shirt over to South Rolly Lake and the campground area.

We then headed home. The trip back went even faster, since we now knew where we were going and the various trails' conditions. At times, I hit 45 mph (that's awfully fast for this pokey rider), just trying to stay up with Dan. I didn't even try staying even with Andy.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist. He can be reached at editor@alaska.net or you can leave him a message at 352-2268.