I was getting a case of the mid-winter doldrums and decided it was time to get out of town for a bit. So I loaded up the pick-up truck with supplies and lit out for the territories.

I had been watching the weather forecast for the Copper River valley and it looked like it wasn’t going to get too cold. No -40 nonsense at any rate. Still, when you do remote travel to places like McCarthy in the dead of winter you have to prepare with a full set of survival gear and clothing. If you break down halfway up the McCarthy road you better be prepared to spend the night out in forty below temps, no matter what the forecast.

The last bit to McCarthy is 60 miles of unpaved road and while it does get plowed in the winter it’s done on a pretty irregular basis. So I took along a full set of chains for all 4 wheels.

Mostly what you have to worry about on the road in winter are the glaciers. Not real glaciers, it’s just what we call them. The ground freezes and forces water up to the surface where it flows and freezes. It can create thick sheets of ice across the road up to 100 yards long. But what you really have to watch for are the spots were the ice is soft or there are sections of open water.

As you can see, there was one nasty spot around mile 35. It was touch and go and for a moment I really thought I wouldn’t get out of it. But I floored it and my chains clawed their way up and out the other side. Whew. Didn’t really want to sit and wait for someone to pull me out, or camp out.

Got to McCarthy and to my friend’s cabin just as light was fading fast. The road to her drive had been plowed but not the drive and there was no place to pull off the road. So a bit of furious shoveling was required to clear a pull-out in the foot and a half deep snow. It was pretty much getting dark by the time I pulled up to the front door with my gear sled piled with stuff.

Put the key in the door… and it wouldn’t turn. I thought maybe it was frozen, but no, it was just the wrong key. Oh great. I was standing there in the wash of my headlamp in the snow with temps around zero and it’s now dark. I was not going to give up easily however and scouted around the cabin for a window that I might be able to open.

Amazingly the kitchen window was not latched and after pulling back the screening I was able to crawl through and onto the kitchen table. It was a pretty inelegant maneuver but at least I was inside.

Within minutes I had the wood stove roaring. The generator out back fired up without too much complaint so then had lights with heat on the way. Things were looking up.

I spent the next 5 days hauling firewood, doing some reading, a bit of snowshoeing and even some work online though with a very slow connection. The place is just magical when it’s covered in white.

It was a very relaxing time. There were not very many people around the area and I only  saw a few while I was there. On the last day it was around 15 below and I had to fire up the generator and plug in the engine heater before it would start. So it was a great winter road trip and a good time in McCarthy. I’ll probably get out there for again before spring.