River Trails Really Shetchy Still;

[Ard]

Yesterday morning I was able to fly the complete 75 mile trail system from Willow AK. to the cabin. The 3 main rivers that make up the Ice Road system between Willow & Skwentna as well as all points beyond are still what I would call rough with some areas having very little snow. There are so many large areas of open water I can't really make an accurate guess at the number. These are in some cases large stretches of deep water that remain unfrozen.

At the cabin there is about 2 1/2 feet of snow but I expect there was more but due to warm weather that melted some and reduced the loft of it there is around 2 - 2 1/2 feet currently. I took snowshoes along and walked from the lake where the plane dropped me off and had a look to see how the building fared through the earthquake. No broken windows and the foundation is solid so my rebuild of the corners was a success.

Based on what I saw along the rivers I've made the right call by delaying any trips that would involve hauling heavy loads via freight sled. A normal trip with the trailer / sled takes around 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours based on trail conditions but what I saw computes to more like 5 as a baseline time. Once there all will be good as there is plenty of snow but a whole bunch of shovel work needing done.

On the up-side, the flying was good, a clear day with upper air around 24* at 1000 feet and ground air at -3. That's called an inversion and does create some weird patches of ice fog in places along the way. For me, a non-pilot it's always a treat to get up where you can really get a look at the lay of the land.

I don't see any extended stays until February...….

 

[mcnerney]

Ard

That is certainly good news that your cabin fared well through that big earthquake.

 

[Ard]

Hi Larry,

That was the big ticket item when going out there, both I and the pilot have places there so we both wanted to do a check. Because of the plane we were able to follow the trails all the way to check conditions. Even when flying it takes over 50 minutes to get there when you follow the trails.

We saw 2 sleds running together hauling double freight loads behind them and that was it. There were also 3 snowmachines parked at the junction of Susitna and Yentena Rivers. Other than that there was no traffic that we saw. Pretty quiet out there.

 

[karstopo]

Love those low altitude small airplane runs over terrain. Hope things get snowier and colder so that you can more easily make the trek.

 

[Ard]

Oh you could make it now but it looks as if there would be lots of detouring around water. Combine that with rough trail conditions and it isn't really attractive. What was noticeable was the lack of 'fun sledders' those are the people on high horse power plush suspension bump & powder machines. When they aren't out it's a sort of omen.

 

[Joey Bagels]

A buddy of mine in Anchorage said sea surface temperatures are 4 degrees above normal and that the long run is not projected to be good this year or possibly for quite a number of years. Seems like there’s a lot going on up there between the changing climate, heavy exploitation of natural resources, and ongoing environmental degradation all over the place. I hope things somehow get better up there, but I’m not overly optimistic. Glad your cabin is ok Ard and good luck in the 2019 season!


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[Ard]

Fortunately I like fishing and don't get emotionally crushed if they are hard to find. That said, all bets are off on the coming season. We found out around January 3rd that the fishing for kings will be closed in the entire Susitna drainage which covers everything from here to the cabin and beyond. With the Sockeye numbers in very great danger of disappearing completely that leaves Silver salmon as the only species people will focus on for harvest. The silver numbers are right on the line every year. Drop the run by 1000 fish and they will be closed also so...…………….. The good news is a huge drop in the number of anglers and guide boats jammed with 4 or 5 clients each hoping to 'Limit out' on the few surviving fish.

I see it as a very gloomy picture that unless Kings - Sockeye and Silver salmon are all regulated to C&R (which also reduces angler pressure) all these fisheries are headed for endangered status. Remember, last year the Mighty Kenai Sockeye season was closed. That's a first! Something to consider is that each time a river or drainage is closed those closures funnel all of the angler / harvest pressure onto any rivers that are open. That creates an almost circus like environment on the destination waters.

It's a mess fueled by ignorance and greed.

 

[Ard]

My positive views are that due to reduced numbers of salmon which leads to reduced numbers of boaters I will have a good trout & steelhead season. The heavy boat traffic caused by hundreds of salmon anglers stirs the waters up to the point that at times it appears there has been a heavy rain upriver. The water becomes muddied to the point I just head home.

I'm happier in a river with few fish if that is mirrored by the number of anglers also. I just had company over Friday night for some fly tying and we were talking about fishing a river in Western Alaska. I had mentioned that I was planning a 24 mile float on one in particular but was waiting to see the steelhead count above 1000 for another year before setting things up.

What that means is that if I know there are at least 1000 of the target species within a 24 mile stretch of river and I have 10 or 12 days to find them I believe I'll have great fishing. I have that much confidence in my ability to find the species I'm after based solely on the ability to recognize the proper habitat conditions for that species. So, as long as there are still a few I'm good here

 

[dharkin]

Hey Ard,

Happy to hear that all is well at the cabin. That must have been a tremendous relief to open the cabin and find everything intact and that your repairs held up. When you can finally navigate the route, how long will you stay there?