Peddle Paddle
I have been experimenting with bike-rafting. The idea is not hard to understand; bike with a packraft to a destination with water. From there float home or elsewhere with the bike cleverly strapped onto the raft. Voila!
In the end it’s a lot of set-up/ breakdown but the great thing about bikerafting is that you get to ride your bike, paddle your raft, and see some fantastic country that wouldn’t be accessible otherwise.
The plan was to peddle my bike and gear from the town of Talkeetna, up the tracks and overland to Clear Creek. From there I would break-down the bike and strap it to my pack raft. With a little fly fishing along the way and a sparkle in my eye, I would float back to Talkeetna. I’ve pack rafted the route two other times (hiking-in) with friends and thought that adding a bike to the equation would be faster and more challenging.
It was 23 degrees F. when I left at 7:30 A.M. I made good time and before long I found myself at the gravel pit 5 miles in. I started up the hill, but suddenly my pace slowed to that of a small tortoise.
“Shit” I thought. In front of me I saw that the trail was completely submerged. It had rained hard last week. The last two days were clear and cold. The result of these two weather events was lots of standing water on the trail. I tried to ride through it. The thin layer of ice held my weight for a few feet but then I would crash through, into the mud puddle.
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| One of many long runs of standing water on the trail to Clear Creek. Oct 15th 2017 |
I decided to push my bike through it while I skirted to the side. This made for a trying effort because there wasn’t much room to skirt. I bushwhacked and sidestepped my way to the other side. A brief “dry” section brought me to the next pond. With one hand on the seat, the other on the handlebar I leaned into the bike and danced along the bank. The ice broke off in plates in front of the bike. I could see another long stretch of water around the corner. After 45 minutes of this with no end in sight, I had an epiphany; This sucks!
I decided that I wasn’t willing to spend my entire day thrashing through muddy troughs with my bike when I would be much better served with a gondola or canoe. Having already biked six miles, I realized that I had another ten miles to go to reach Clear Creek and after scouting further down the trail (without my bike) I discovered more of the same.
I retreated back through the slop and down to the railroad tracks. I headed North up the tracks with a new plan. I would drop into the Susitna River and float back that way. After a few miles of riding on the tracks the River came into view and I knew that this would be a good day.
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| Let the breakdown begin. I removed both tires and lashed everything down |
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| Denali was my companion all day. |
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| Almost home near the confluence of the three rivers; The Susitna, the Chulitna, and the Talkeetna. |
