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A
Rookies Journey
November 19, 2005
Four wheeler
stuck in the ice (inverted) at
Metal Creek and recovery team trying to figure
out how to safely get across the ice to start
trying to get it out. Note the bluff in the background
everyone climbed to escape the flood
. |
I’ve been looking for a new place
to run the dogs where we can get 40 or 50 miles on the 4-wheeler while
we wait for snow. Cheryl Eldridge has been touting the glories of
the trail Jim Creek trail which starts just after the Knik river bridge
on the Old Glenn highway and runs along the Knik River flood plain
to the face of the Knik Glacier. We ran the first part of this trail
with Cheryl to guide us and had fun with the Jim Creek crossing (see
the October 30th journal) but I had not seen the entire trail
yet. Last Sunday there was a group going to Metal Creek which runs
in front of the glacier face to rescue a 4-wheeler that got washed
down the creek the previous weekend. I tagged along to see the trail.
The Knik glacier used to be famous
for building an ice dam across the river that drains Lake George at
a place called “The Gorge”. Every 10 to 15 years or so
the ice dam would release (break under the pressure of all that water)
releasing a flood of ice and water which would scour the Knik River
flood plain.
Four Wheeler
after extraction from the ice.
Note the ice covering the top of the machine and
the damage to the entire bike due to tumbling
down the river
|
Then the glacier would advance and dam
the creek and the whole process would start over. There used to be
a town called Matanuska about where the Knik River bridge is on the
old Glenn Hwy during the colony days in the 1930’s. The town
was washed away when the dam released one year and never rebuilt.
It must have been a terrifying sight.
Ice chunks from
the Metal Creek ice dam
brakeup. The pieces are about 5 inches thick. |
The week before my ride a group had gone
up to Metal Creek which fronts the Knik Glacier and flows into the
Knik River. They on the Metal Creek flood plain and heard a rushing
sound. An ice dam had broken on Metal Creek and a wall of ice and
water was rushing down on them. Everyone got to higher ground, but
one of the 4-wheelers was caught in the flood and washed about 400
feet downstream. When last seen it was in the middle of a large patch
of ice. The first photo shows the machine as we first saw it stuck
/ frozen in the ice. The ice was interesting. We had about 1 inch
of new ice over about 4 inches of water with bottom attached, sometimes
slushy, ice under it. Even getting to the machine to start working
on it was a challenge. There were areas of stacked ice from the flood
when the ice dam gave way up river that made safe crossing in that
area. To get from one part to another we picked the best ice we could
find, crossed our fingers, and eased over.
Stacked ice at
Metal Creek from the ice
dam breakup and flood. The stuck 4-wheeler
and recovery crew are barely visible in
the background. |
The country along the Knik River is exceptionally
pretty, the trail is relatively flat and smooth, although some rough
sections exist, particularly if you miss the “good trail”
and take one of the more interesting routes. This is very wet country.
With the freezing temperatures Jim Creek had a layer of ice and we
wouldn’t have to swim it.
Some of the peaks
that line the Knik River Valley. |
Several of the shallower creeks had not
frozen, but they were not deep enough to cause a problem. With the
new training schedule I am supposed to run the whole team on Monday,
then Bonnie and I will run split teams on Tuesday and Lexi and I will
go camping Friday night (back to back runs for the dogs with 6 hours
rest between them). The more I thought about taking a big team over
that trail by myself the less sure I was about it. I decided to run
½ of the dogs Monday, run the second ½ on Tuesday and
then run two teams with Bonnie on Thursday. That turned out to be
one of my better decisions, but poor Keiko took is very personally
when I left her behind Monday. She complained vociferously that none
of the dogs I was taking were nearly as good as her and if I was going
to leave my best girl behind, well! ?
Knik River flood
plain looking towards the glacier.
This was from Thursday’s run. Notice the lack of snow..
|
There are many things the dogs need to
learn to finish the Iditarod. Among them are to cross open water and
to cross large open areas without references. Dogs are built low and
close to the ground and don’t get the same perspective view
of things that we do, so they like to run along edges for visual reference.
This isn’t going to work for the Norton Sound crossing. It is
hard to find a good place to train that around Anchorage but as the
picture shows, the broad open Knik River flood plain should do very
well.
. 
Eric working
with his leaders (Bass and Keiko) while crossing
Friday creek on Thursday's run (Quark and Sisco in wheel).
|
Monday I had Platinum and Dash in lead.
Platinum is very right handed (likes to run with the “edge”
on his right) and I had to work to keep him from going to the far
right of the open area in the picture. We crossed the frozen, icy
Jim Creek without issue but when we got to shallower Friday creek
Platinum absolutely did not want to cross the creek. He tried going
up a small trail along side the creek. He tried going down stream
on the ice along the creek. He tried to turn back and find another
trail. Finally I put Bass in lead with 7 of 9 (Dash wanted nothing
to do with the creek either) and with a little coaxing we made it
across. Once I got Bass far enough into the water that it was closer
to go across than go back he convinced the rest of the team to follow
him.
After the creek crossing I missed
a turn somewhere and instead of the nice wide dry trail we had on
Sunday I was in a tight, heavily rutted trail winding through the
woods. It was actually very pretty and we were doing fine until the
entire woods became covered in ice! Somewhere a creek had overflowed
and large pool of water had frozen over. Imagine a frozen lake with
trees and brush growing up through it and you get the picture. Bass
was doing a good job of following the iced over trail when I saw a
dry trail about 15 feet uphill from us. I should have let Bass do
his job! I told Bass to haw to the uphill trail and got us wedged
tight in the small trees. I had to back everyone out and go around
to the right. Bass found a better opening and up we went. Boy was
I glad I had Bass in lead – and he did all of this on glare
ice.
Just as I breathed a sigh of
relief the dry uphill trail dropped down onto the ice. This time I
let Bass follow his instincts and sure enough every now and then I
saw tire marks / scrapes on the ice. We went on about 200 yards and
wound up going down a small depression with 1 foot high walls with
about a 30 degree slope. The tracks we were following went up the
gentle slope, but it was so slick neither Bass, nor I, nor the 4-wheeler,
could climb even this small slope. I found a patch of dirt about 6
inches long and 1 inch wide on the ice and was able to use that extra
traction to climb to the top. Then I pulled Bass up and he pulled
the swing dogs and they kept on until the 4-wheeler slid to the top.
What a trip! While in the woods I got turned around and when we came
out we were at the same place where we went in. I had intended to
do a 30 mile run, but decided that discretion was the better part
of valor and we ran back to the truck. With Bass in lead the run home
was uneventful. He crossed the creek with just a little encouragement
and even took a straight line through the middle of the large open
area. I sure was glad I hadn’t tried to take a 20 dog team into
that.
On Tuesday I went back to see
if I could find the other trail. I had Lycos and Keiko in lead but
Lycos is very left handed (wants to run on the left side of the area).
He was not nearly as amenable as Platinum and I finally swapped him
for Java (I thought Keiko would teach Java the yearling). Java is
going though a “dominant” phase and I have no idea what
he said to Keiko, but she wouldn’t even look at him. She did
her very best to get completely out of his way. Picture Java focused
straight ahead and Keiko at a 45 degree angle with her head away from
Java. Needless to say we were going in circles. I gave up and moved
Balu up into lead with Keiko and that did the trick. We crossed Friday
creek with just a little discussion, but again once I had the leaders
most of the way across they finished the job for me. This time just
before the turn into the iced over area I found turn to a trail that
went higher up the hill and seemed like an old road. It was very nice.
When we turned around to go back to the truck, Keiko and Balu followed
the trail to a much better way in. I tried to memorize the turn, but
it pretty much looked like all the other dead ends in the brush to
me.
Eric with Bonnie's
4-wheeler just after getting
unstuck from high centering on the ruts.
The ruts are filled with ice, which gave way under her.
Worf and Dukat in the middle of the picture
in front Tussock in wheel.. |
Thursday Bonnie and I took two teams
and went back to the same area. When I ran there Tuesday there was
over an inch of snow on the ground and the dogs were happy dipping
snow. On Wednesday it rained a little at home and just soaked the
snow we had. At Jim Creek about 1 mile into the run it was like someone
drew a line in the sand and all the snow had been melted into the
sand and froze into hard waves. I hadn’t taken any water for
the dogs this trip and I regretted it. We crossed Jim Creek on very
slick ice and the dogs did it like they had all their lives. I had
Bass and Keiko in lead and Bonnie was running Balu and Dash. We crossed
Friday creek with minimal discussion, you can see the picture above,
and Balu and Dash just followed us over. I was looking for the entry
where we came off the better trail on Tuesday when Keiko took Bass
into what looked like a brush cutoff and bingo – we were there.
The dogs have an incredible memory for trail and I know that, but
Keiko only saw the trail once and we were going the opposite direction!
Keiko and I discussed one other trail junction and, of course, she
was right and I had to turn the team around and apologize to her.
Once again I was trying for a 30 mile run, but after we passed the
place where we turned around on Tuesday the trail became very rutted
and then rutted with ice filling the ruts. We hit a bad spot and got
Bonnie 4-wheeler stuck when the ice gave way and it high centered.
When Bonnie bought the 4-wheeler they offered her a winch or a snow
plow. Luckily she chose the winch and we winched it out without trouble.
Once again discretion was the better part of valor and we turned back
to the truck. I was very pleased with the dogs performance. Unfortunately
most of the dogs nicked their pads during this run and came home with
sore feet. The loss of snow made a big difference in the wear and
tear on their feet.
On Friday Ft Richardson was open so Lexi and I did back to back 25
mile runs there with a 6 hour rest between them, almost like last
week, but much smoother trail (actually dirt roads). As we went to
load the dogs Java slipped on the ice in his area and hurt his hip
so he stayed home. Tussock was also sore and stayed home with Java.
The temperature had climbed
up to the mid-30’s and during our rest it rained the whole time.
Lexi slept in her Toyota 4-Runner and I slept in my pickup bed under
the canopy. But the poor dogs had to sleep on straw in the rain. It
was almost like we were training for the 2005 Iditarod. The dogs performed
well during both runs and I am very proud of them.
Many of the dogs seem to have minor aches and pains in addition to
the sore feet from Thursday’s run and I am debating giving them
some time off. Schedule wise the rookie meeting is December 3 and
4 and Bonnie has company visiting that week. That will make it hard
to get 4 runs (or 2 runs and a back to back camping trip) in that
week and it would be a natural break. However the dogs (and I) are
tired and sore now. I could give lay them off until Friday after Thanksgiving
when Lexi and I intend to go to Sheep Mountain or Lake Louise and
chase snow for our camping trip. Tune in next week for the answer.
Keep ‘em Northbound
Eric
© 2005 All rights reserved
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Have
you ever wanted to be part of the Iditarod adventure
but didn't
know how? Help support Eric Rogers Iditarod team
by joining the
2006-2007 season Rogers Rangers. Just $30 buys you
a bootie worn by the
team, a 2005-2006 Rookie season musher card, and
a signed certificate of
membership. All funds go to support Eric's 2007
Iditarod. For your
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All donations
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Thank
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