Maclaren River Lodge

Febuary

2012-02-15T11:03:00.001-08:00

It is hard to believe it is already the middle of February. Wow, time is flying by. We have gotten past the extreme cold spell, so glad about that. This winter we have had more wind than ever, certainly more than we are used to. It seems every time Alan went out in the groomer, a blizzard would hit and be blowing the trail in behind him. It has been frustrating to say the least. I am not talking about mild little breezes, I am talking about 30 + mph winds. We have plenty of snow which usually softens the landscape rounding out the landscape, but the wind has created harsh edges on the winter landscape.

Now the temperatures are moderate, in the 20's. Last night was the first night that we have had really nice Aurora here, lately it has been too cloudy for us to see them. Even as I strolled around the lodge this morning the lights were still glowing faintly in the star filled sky. Standing outside in the early morning, breathing in the crisp clean air, watching the aurora and sipping a nice cup of coffee...life is good.

Alpine Glow on the Alaska Range

Sunset over the Maclaren Valley

Video Clip

2012-01-22T10:51:00.000-08:00

Denali Hwy Grooming.mov

Check out the movie clip Alan has made!

Things have been quiet around here due to the extreme cold weather we have been having. We have gone from snow, snow, snow to cold, cold, cold!

Having the cold weather sure has made for some beautiful clear days and crystal nights.

The temperatures are beginning to climb a bit today, all the way up to -6 already today! Clouds are moving in and looks like we might get a bit more snow.

Alaska Weather!

2012-01-10T10:57:00.000-08:00

Wow, the weather here has really kept us on our toes this year! Warm temperatures with a ton of snow, to high winds, to beautiful blue bird days! Then the temperatures will drop to -39 and immediately climb back to 0.
We have been digging out, grooming like crazy to turn around and do it all over again.

Here is the latest from the Denali Highway Trail Club:

Hello Everyone,
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years. We had a nice quite Christmas and a great New Years with plenty of fireworks, bonfire and lots of good friends.
The groomer has been up and running since late Nov, aand is running like a charm. which is a good thing since we have had our work cut out for us this year.
We are getting more snow out here on the Denali Hwy, then I’ve seen in 11 years. I am loving it.
However with the great snow year that we’re having, we are also getting a lot of wind. Which makes it pretty difficult to keep up with the trails.
80 miles of the Denali Hwy have been groomed at least once, and some of it has been groomed twice to three times.
We have not gone past the Su bridge at 80 mile because the construction crew that is cleaning up the F-22 crash site will be coming in to the Su on the 16^th of Jan. As soon as they are done, I will be heading that way to groom that section as well.
Maclaren River Road Trail is in, as well as Seven Mile Lake Trail.
We have received a lot of fresh snow and wind since these two trails were groomed so they will have some drifting on them.
The Maclaren River Trail has some water crossings that you should be looking for but these will all be marked this week.
Seven Mile Trail also has a small water crossing that will be marked as well.
If you are coming in from the Paxson side of the Denali Hwy, we now have a shelter building on top of 13 mile hill. Everyone is welcome to use it to get out of the wind or just warm up for a minute. There is NO heat in this building, just a place to get out of the wind.

For those of you that want to keep up with what’s going on with the Denali Hwy Trail Club, look us up and like us on Facebook. We are adding more pictures and info all the time on there.
Also the Denali Hwy Trail Club is looking for a volunteer to keep up with all of the membership dues each year. I know some of you have asked and we really need a better system for keeping track of this. Anyone interested in helping, please contact Alan at denalihwytrailclub@starband.net or 907-822-5444

If you own a snowmachine, you really need to make an effort to get out this year and play. The snow really is FANTASTIC!!!!

Remember, please be careful and look out for each other.

Alan Echols

2012!

2012-01-01T08:37:00.000-08:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

We had a wonderful time welcoming in the New Year.

2012 is gonna be great and we look forward to good things to come.

We spent the evening with good friends and a really hot bonfire.

The temperature was -5 and no wind,

perfect for a bonfire and champange toast at midnight

with fireworks over the valley.

Ahh, it just doesn't get better than this!

A rare shot of the mountains, it has been cloudy and snowy almost every day.

Shadow Dogs...Heidi was able to get this photo when she came in over the holidays.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2011-12-20T13:10:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

From our house to yours!

The Lodge is decorated for Christmas!

With all this new snow we have, we are expecting a banner snow machine season.

We went to Fairbanks to do some Christmas shopping and broke trail all the way.

Coming home, we once again had to break trail. From 3 - 4 mile we were lead by 2 moose that I am sure believed the trail was theirs! Finally they decided they would get off the trail and let us pass. Past Rock Creek, once again, there were fresh moose tracks right down the old trail. In High Valley, the wind had blown just enough to disguise our old tracks but not put giant drifts across the trail. Once we crested the Maclaren Summit, we had to side hill about 20 feet, then it flattened out and it was smooth sailing the rest of the way in.

Alan plans on getting some grooming completed once it quits snowing. The trail from Paxson to Maclaren will be groomed for the Christmas rush and then for the New Year's celebration.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Alan & Susie

Maclaren Snow

2011-12-08T08:01:00.001-08:00

We have been loving this warmer weather with all the snow. The wind could stay away though.
Since I last posted we have gotten about 2 feet of fresh snow. The first foot of snow was blown around and then it warmed up and in one day we had....snow/sleet/rain/sleet/snow and topped that off with 25 mph wind. What a slick mess that was! Alan did get out and groom a bit, only to have another snow storm come through with some more wind.
Yesterday it started snowing again and really dumped the snow on us, we got over a foot of the most beautiful snow you have ever seen!!!!! The warm weather put a nice crust on the snow and now with this fresh powder, WOW the riding will be awesome!
Alan & Megan went out snow machining last night, went to the West Fork of the Maclaren, they were only gone for 45 minutes to an hour, no trail left on their way home......it was really snowing that hard, and a bit of wind (4-5 mph).
Bandit and Jackson are loving this, they went out with Megan skiing. Of course they put on 2 miles to her one.

Several trail breakers for mushers are here, breaking trail for the dogs. We have 3 teams coming in this morning to spend a couple of days training. According to the trail breakers, they have been pushing snow all night long. I bet they are exausted, but that is ok, I have a big pot of chili going and home made bread made. They will not go hungry!

Cold Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T09:27:00.001-08:00

The temperatures are finally beginning to climb a bit. When I came in the lodge this morning, it was already up to -7. We are supposed to get a warming trend by Wednesday with a possible 40 degree rise in temperatures.......Yah, right! If that happens we certainly hope we get a lot of snow with that!

Jackson on his -22 degree walk

Megan enjoying the winter

Frosty Bandit

Thanksgiving was pretty quiet, well at -30 we did not really expect a lot of folks to show. Friday the temperatures here were clear up to +10 then dropped drastically back to -22 where it stayed until last night. At least I will not have to cook for the next week (or two) because of all the leftovers.

Alan has the trail groomed from Tangle Lakes to Maclaren, all those nasty wind drifts are gone now.

News from Maclaren

2011-11-18T11:12:00.001-08:00

Sitting here in the Lodge, looking at the mountains glowing pink with the sunrise. It is not windy today which is a good thing today since it is -30! We rode in last night from Paxson and the "trail" is back to bare pavement from the wind. Once we got past Tangle Lakes there was snow on the trail, however the drifts became a challenge. Alan will be out grooming tomorrow to smooth out the trail and you can get fresh trail reports on the Denali Highway Trail Club facebook page.
I just spent 15 days in West Virginia and went from +70 to -30, burrrrrr! Only a 100 degree temperature change! But from seeing the temps from around the state, we are apparently lucky it is not -54 like in Manley Hot Springs or -49 like in North Pole!

Conditions

2011-10-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

The temperatures are beginning to drop to the winter level....today it is 0 degrees. We have not gotten more snow, but the weather looks like we will get some more by the end of the weekend....let's just see how that works out! As of now, the snow is deep enough to cover the old ruts and there is just a set of ruts in the Denali Highway. A nice wind storm will fill these ruts in. If there is one more good snowfall the Denali Highway will be closed.
Although from Paxson the road is bare the wind can be terrible in the 9-15 mile area. This year, the Denali Highway Trail Club has placed an Emergency Shelter at the pull out at 13 mile. A place to get out of the wind for a bit and regroup physically and mentally or to us in an Emergency situation to "hole up" in through the storm.
We are so excited to see what the winter season holds. Winter is definitely our favorite time of year, and although it can be hard at times, there is something special about this country and all the changes it goes through during the winter. Of coarse we're hoping for a good snow year, as that sure helps with the business.

SNOW!!

2011-10-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Winter is really here! This morning we are having 40 MPH winds and 35 degrees. What this means is the 6 inches of nice fluffy snow we got yesterday is turning to mush. :( People have been driving the Denali Highway (still), always pushing it to the limit. The road is slick and rutted out from the traffic, and with a good foot of snow from 36 mile to 26 mile the wind is really going to play havoc.
Now that being said, We are the ones that are pushing it to the end. We still have our pickup in here and will be trying to get it out today.

Beginning of Winter

2011-10-21T11:12:00.001-07:00

The quiet of the Maclaren Valley settles in. A bit of snow on the ground here at the Lodge and more on the Maclaren Summit (about 8 inches or so). It will not be long now that there will be enough snow to close the highway and then the winter fun begins!
Today is the first day of the re-opening of caribou season, with only approximately 300 permits to be filled, this should go quickly. Already there have been several vehicles on the Denali Highway, out for the last hunt of the season.