8906-R1_MSA_November2024_Newsletter

ALASKA,THE L By Mike

W here to start? Well, this whole trip was more than a dream come true. A trip to Alaska to snowmobile in and around Denali National Park. A personal invite to come spend the week with Kim Bergeron and his crew riding in Alaska. Only took about a second and a half to run it through my head and I spoke a resounding “YES, I can make that happen”. The next week was figuring out the details. Who, what, when, where and how do I get to Anchorage, rent a car and find Trapper Creek in Petersville, Alaska. Well, that got a lot easier, once I was informed that another acquaintance of mine, Jeff Miller, Executive Director of the Snowmobile Association of Massachusetts would also be making the trek north. We quickly purchased our plane tickets while we “zoomed” to make sure we had seats together and the same flights in both directions. I then asked Jeff about renting a car when we got to Anchorage, he said that “Dean” would be get ting there ahead of us and we would be joining him for the ride to Petersville. I had no idea who “Dean” was, but things were falling into place for the trip and we would be meeting “Dean” at the airport in Anchorage. The next 8 or 9 weeks were full of excitement, stress, anxiety and many other emotions. Packing for a trip of 13 hours or so, flight time, with all your snowmobile gear, clothes and other necessities was probably the most stressful part. Doing online research about Denali NP and Petersville was a once a week ritual of trying to know more about where I was heading and a little history if possible. Let’s just say, I learned a lot more history while I was on the ground in Alaska. Finally, it was time to go. Everything was packed, tickets were downloaded onto my phone with the Delta app (printed tickets too, in case the phone died) and after working all day, we headed to Augusta, where my daughter picked me up for the second leg of the after work trek to Portland. A quick stop in Gray at Pat’s Pizza for a real Maine meal and then to Dana’s apartment. She made me up the couch as it’s a 1 bedroom apartment but it didn’t matter as I couldn’t sleep. I was too worried about oversleeping and missing this massive trip. I watched as the clock struck 2:30 am and woke her for my ride to the JetPort. As we unloaded my stuff and said our “goodbyes”, I saw Jeff waiting inside and made my way to where he was with all his gear. He had a really nice Yamaha gear bag. I had to ask why he had that as he rides a Ski doo and I’m pretty sure he said he won it. True story, his Yamaha bag was overweight and he had to pay extra, go figure! We made it through TSA with no issues, boarded and wheels up at around 5:30 am from Portland, ME. We were on our way, no turning back now. Good flights all the way to Anchorage, which was clouded in but as we landed about 2:30pm, we could see snow on the ground and massive mountains in the distance. We were in Alaska, now to meet “Dean”. We got our bags off the carousel and Jeff called “Dean” to find out where to meet him. Well, Dean was parked right out front with a Chevy Tahoe so we

loaded up and headed for Petersville. The next few minutes were spent getting to know Dean. Well, Dean is Dean Beaman, from New Hampshire. He is on the Executive Board for NHSA and does a ton of work for the grass drags as well AND Dean had already been to Kim Bergeron’s place, sooo, he was our chauffeur for our time in Alaska. A 2.5 hour trip to Sheep Creek Lodge for dinner was next as we all got more acquainted with each other over a great meal. A quick stop at a convenience store to grab a few staples for our cabin and we headed to Petersville. We arrived at Trapper Creek about 6 pm (still light out). We went to the main cabin and met Kim, then headed to our cabin and unpacked and crashed. It was a long day, but Kim asked us to come to a bonfire at dusk, so we pulled up a chair and relaxed until about 9:30 pm (mind you it is now 1:30 am Eastern Time, and we have been up since 2:30 am, 23 hours) before heading to bed. Sunday morning, I woke up at 4:30 Alaska time (8:30 home time). Showered, dressed and ready to go. Stood in the cabin window and just admired the beautiful morning with a fresh coating of snow on the evergreens, almost as if it was ordered for my first morn ing. Headed up to Kim’s cabin for breakfast (Eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes, Kim likes breakfast?). Met Randy Bedard, Tim, Chris and Nick. They would be part of today’s ride which consisted of about 90 miles of some “ trail riding” and some “off trail” riding. I never thought I’d say that in any article I would ever write, but I was in the correct place to do it. First day out, we had lunch in a meadow with about 5-6ft of snow, so we parked real close together so as to pass lunch around. Lunch was burritos that Kim had made that morning after breakfast with dinner leftovers. Yummy! We ended the day at the only “establishment” in the area, The Forks Road house and headed back to camp for the night and another dinner prepared by our host. Monday morning and day 2 of flat light. When there is flat light, you try to stay in the woods to read the trail and terrain better. After a breakfast of omelets, moose sausage, toast and homefries we headed out. Left camp about 10:30 am and did about 120 miles of “trail” and “supply route” riding, some of which was part of the Iron Dog race trail. Our party of 5 rode over the Telkeetna River and Pickle Creek area and saw 5 moose and a bald eagle. Tuesday morning and hello sunshine! Up at 4:30 again and ready to go. Another great breakfast at Kim’s cabin and a new rider this morning. Dan Bembenek, another of Kim’s friends who would make an impact on me today. We rode to the Kanikula Glacier which was very cool as we had to ride up the semi frozen river to reach it. Before reaching the river, we encountered a gathering of Moose, with at least 15 yarded up together on a stream. While at the glacier we took pictures of it and observed its layers and make up while eating lunch. During our lunch, you could hear the eerie sound of the glacier, moving ever so slowly. After lunch we rode a little further up the river valley, observing how the glacier had cut it’s way through the valley. The next day brought a mostly sunny day and another great adventure. After break-

16

b e r 2

e m

0 2 4 l M a i n e S n o w m

o v

N

er

i l

o b