Double glacier tour

As spring marches into Alaska the longer days and warmer weather give opportunity for some spectacular riding. Visiting a glacier is always a cool experience and seeing reports online of trips people were making fuelled my interest to get out for myself.

Amanda has had a busy work schedule and it seems if she isn't working has been sick with whatever plague Fiona brought home from school. I haven't been hit nearly as badly so I seized my opportunity on Sunday while Amanda and Fiona rested. 

Skookum Glacier

The plan was to head out early and visit Skookum Glacier, this tends to be a lot quieter than Spencer which is in the next valley over. The main reason for this as far as I can tell is it's not as spectacular. 

It was a last minute decision to take this trip and many of my friends had been out on the Saturday to see the glaciers but I did manage to convince Ryan and Oscar to join me. 

We arrived at the Placer river parking pullout around 08:15 and by 08:25 we were rolling out to head for the Glacier.

It was a pretty cold start at around 8F and got colder as we pedalled out along the river.

Heading out towards the river. 

After around 30min of riding we turned left on a snow machine trail to head out towards Skookum Glacier. We followed the trail all the way to the glacier and arrived around 1hr 20min after setting out.

The first part of Skookum we arrived at. 

At the face of the glacier we rode around until we found some interesting features. We were not disappointed. 

Ice cave

I see Ryan

Cool ice feature

my bike leaning

Ryan again. 

Ryan got some great photos of Oscar and I, see all his photos here

Silhouettes 

riding into the massive cave

Look at us we are so insignificant

After exploring here for a little while we headed up for a little riding on top of the glacier. The sun was just coming over the mountains and it had warmed up significantly. It is still a little early for crust riding but there was a little bit to be had. Oscar and I rode around whilst Ryan got some snaps.

heading up on snow machine trails

the ever amazing crust riding

Having a wheelie good time. 

My photos of the same area

Ryan heading up

Up we go

Oscars on crust you can see where we are
punching through in the background. 

Crusty

The crust was a little punchy so we called it a day and headed back towards the vehicles.

Back down the valley

All smiles

On the way we passed some of Oscars neighbors and as we hit the Placier river we stopped to talk  with some people to give directions. It was still early and Oscar and I hadn't been out to Spencer. Ryan suggested that Oscar and I head out and check it out. Oscar and I decided that it was a great idea. Although neither of us had been there before we had directions from Ryan and a great highway of bike tracks to follow. 

Spencer Glacier

Spencer sign, at least we know we are going the right way. 

There she is... 

crossing the lake

still crossing the lake

Airplane

The thing with riding in Alaska is, everything is big and further away than you think. Riding across the lake took around 10min. 

Spencer Glacier really took my breath away. We didn't explore as much as some others have done. Here are some shots of what we saw. 

I believe this is called the Cathedral

It's pretty big

Blue ice

more blue ice

the face of the glacier

carefully leaning bikes

so blue

Silhouette 

blue crack and blue sky

more of that blue ice

and again

more cave

more blue ice

another silhouette

The two of us

After looking around we headed back a slightly different way which took us under two bridges and thus no crossing of the railway tracks. 

Bye Spencer Glacier you were fun

Bridges

Catching up with friends on the way out

The last section from the river to the road. 

It took Oscar and I around 1 hour to ride back from the glacier. Last weekend the trails were fast, who knows how they will be this week. 

All in all doubling up on the glacier trip was a blast. If you can only go to one I would recommend Spencer however if you have the chance Skookum is well worth a visit. 

GPS track of our trip

Almost famous again.....

A couple of weeks ago some friends and I were asked to help with filming for a video article for the local paper.
Four of us met with a local videographer who works for ADN (Alaska Dispatch News)  We ended up talking with him for about 1 hour and he put together a really neat edit of the local trails and basics of fat bikes.
Full article can be found here
Video article can be found here.

Scott also kindly uploaded the raw footage from the bikes which gives a real sense of what the local trails I ride around here are like with low snow.  As I type this its currently raining but I am hopeful for more snow to get the trails back into better condition than the videos below.

This is the raw footage from the front camera
This takes us down Speedway trail/fire break trail which is one of my favourties in Anchorage, although it can be ridden in the summer it is pretty technical.  The reason I like this trail so much is due to the views.

This is the raw footage from the rear camera
This takes us through some swamps which are unrideable in the summer and up to the top of baseball boogie.

This is the raw footage from the tyre camera
This takes us along part of Birch meadow which is a hard packed trail in the summer and can be ridden year round.

1 glacier and a lot of moose

Monday 14th December, another epic ride with Kevin, Its been way to long buddy.

This all started on Friday when Kevin messaged me and asked if I was working Monday, I was but a check of the schedule at work and some rearranging with Amanda meant I was able to go and play on my bike.  

We met at Backcountry Bike & Ski in Palmer where Kevin works.  We got our gear sorted and hit the road, riding from the store.  We cruised the 9 paved miles to the trail head before the real fun started.

Crossing the Matanuska river

Cruising the road on fresh legs

Selfie time

Our target was the Knik Glacier though with a couple of creeks/rivers to cross we were unsure if we would actually make it.  From the trail head its approximately a 40mile round trip. 

Once off the road network we started along the glacial valley, the trail was a mix of silt, rocks, ice, snow and the occasional open section of water. We also counted 15 moose though unlike in Anchorage when you made noise the moose just ran off.
Picture dump follows

Trail head map

Silty trail 

Stopping to refuel and admire the view

Swamp buggy snack stop

Open water crossing

Open water crossing

And here is me crossing the same section

Our first unobstructed view of the glacier

working out a way to get a closer look

Admiring the view again

Onwards!

Another great view!

Bikes and a view does it get any better than this?

Well yes it did 

Bikes and blue ice

And happy riders with blue ice

Crossing some more open water

The sign of a good ride, needing lights to finish.

I totally agree

So all in all an epic ride, we rode from the Jim Creek side and only had two open water crossings to deal with, one we were able to ride though see above video, the other we used some willow to get by.