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Dylan and I made it back to Anchorage today after a ferry ride from Cordova, then a hitch in the rain back to Anchorage, and brakeless pugsley singlespeed ride across town with a stop for proper re-hydration at Speedway.

How do you sum up almost 3 weeks of wilderness travel?

you don't. In the end we really had a fun filled trip and did not want it to end when we reached the Cordova road. Adventure mountain biking with the right tools is limited only by one's imagination. A simple joy comes from mountain biking in places they have never been before. The untangables that come with traveling through and experiencing these raw, wild, awe inspiring landscapes is what motivates us and will keep us coming back again and again.

Some photos below to should give a taste.

An enormous thanks is due to:
Jill ! - For transcibing these rambling scratchy sat phone calls and adding super cool content.

Greg Maytas and Speedway cycles for making things happen in a huge way when mechanical chaos ensued. Greg really pulled through when we needed it - huge thanks man.

Les Hartley of Alsek Air - Supercub beach landing crank arm delivery and route beta.

George Davis of Icy Bay Lodge - For feeding us twizzlers, scones and a huge slab Halibut we cooked on the fire

Kim Menster !! Codrova super hero - Gave us a ride in her fishing boat across Controller bay in really bad weather, fed us till we were stuffed and hosted us in Cordova. Kim is our new best friend!

Erin and Hig - Tremendous inspiration. Detailed route info and planting the seed in the first place.

Dave Grey and the crew at Surly for their support and passion.

Jon at OMM for the killer racks.


Cheers!

Click on the photos for a larger view:


Paddling up Russel Fjord:


Day and a half Bushwacking attempt to avoid Hubbard Gap:


Exiting Hubbard (aka Terror) Gap:



Endo's and grizzly tracks:




Boulder fields on Sitkagi Bluffs:



North of Icy Bay:


Perfect Beach near Cape Yakataga:



North of Cape Yakataga:


A stormy day near the Seal River:


Skirting Cape Suckling:


Mud on the end of Okalee Spit:


In the Copper River Delta:


Biking up the Copper River Delta:


Bar hopping nearing the end:

Dylan and Eric made it to Cordova!

Sometime Sunday. Expecting a full report soon.

Another broken call

Eric called sometime Thursday evening, and again, only the first 11 words were clear. I heard: "Hi, this is Dylan and Eric of the chronic wet and ..." after that it was really too garbled to make out syllables let alone full words. Maybe if I had some bomber sound equipment, but I am just using a standard answering machine (not voice mail, answering machine.) So I'm probably just going to have to leave it at that and hope they call back with a location soon.

Pugsleys float

Eric called at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday from the end of Okalee Spit, where the guys were waiting to see if the wind calmed down and created a window for crossing Controller Bay. Here's Eric's report:

Hey, it's Dylan and Eric. We're at the end of the Okalee Spit on Controller Bay. It's been a wet and windy last three days. We left Cape Yakataga and were crossing the Kaliakh River and Dylan's bike slipped off his boat. So we found out Pugsleys actually float. Yeah. Pretty crazy. Let's see. Um, pretty slow going getting to Seal River. We had to push most of the day yesterday. Um, yeah, lots of wind and crazy surf. Today we made it to Cape Suckling and across some crazy boulders and stuff. Then we rode out the spit today and were kind of intimidated by the crossing to Kanak Island. So we're going to wait here and see what it looks like tomorrow morning. We have a bail-out by taking a fishing boat across the center nearby. This is kind of a long one, sorry. I hope you're well, and we'll talk to you from somewhere in Copper River Delta.

Eric told me before that he suspected Pugsleys could float when he and Dylan rode from Hope to Kenai. Dylan walked across a slough that was deeper than he had anticipated and discovered the bike bobbed beside him rather than sinking to his side. Those big balloon tires float great atop snow and sand ... now we know they also float in water. I'm guessing that's a pretty reassuring thing to know when the bicycle with all of your survival gear strapped to it has just slipped off your packraft into a deep river.

Okalee Spit to Kanak Island is a long open crossing based on the map - about five miles. There could be some mud flats in there, but any kind of wind and weather is going to kick up big surf, completely exposed as they are to the Gulf of Alaska. The weather forecast is not looking good for calm seas. Wednesday's area forecast calls for rain with highs in the upper 50s, and a southeast wind from 15 to 30 mph with local gusts to 45 mph in the morning.

Icy Bay

At 9:40 p.m. Saturday the guys called to report smooth sailing and happy riding. Here's Dylan's report:

Hey, it's Dylan and Eric. I don't know if our call got dropped yesterday or not, so quick recap: As we crossed Icy Bay, it was bluebird, it was awesome. Fuckin three-hour packraft, open-water paddle. It was amazing. We did some hero biking yesterday and today on the sand. It was flat. We got to Cape Yakataga. We got our resupply. We got fire. Everything is great. We're going on to Cordova tomorrow. We're in good spirits. Over and out. Goodbye.

The guys have a bit of distance to cover before they reach Cordova, but from Cape Yakataga, they do have a long stretch of sandy beach to look forward to, based on the map. And if they don't feel like sand biking on the beach, there's a road, an actual road, that leads into the Yakataga State Game Refuge. After that things may get a bit rougher, with lots of wetlands, marsh and mud, followed by the promising slog of the Copper River Delta. But after that, they're on the Copper River Highway and a heartbeat away from the grand prize.

Brief contact

Eric called at 9 p.m. Friday, but his call cut out before he was able to reveal to much. "Hi, this is Eric and Dylan of the Icy ... " was all that came through. I have been waiting to see if they would call back, but they have not yet. I hope this means they're safely across Icy Bay. Anxiously awaiting the next call.

Sitkagi Bluffs

(photo from groundtruthtrekking.org)

Eric called at 10 p.m. Wednesday from Fountain Stream after fixing his crank and starting back up the coast. Here's his report:

This is Dylan and Eric. How's it going? We're about a mile and a half east of Fountain Creek, on the west end of the Sitkagi Bluffs. Anyway, yesterday ... beautiful last two days weatherwise and we got a box from Greg at Speedway with the cranks and a fine bottle of Belgian beer and Doritoes, so we put in a good half day of excellent fun biking and then, yeah, today it was pushing and ( ... call cuts out and words are garbled). Anyway, I think this is cutting in and out but I'll talk to you later. We got to get over to Icy Bay. See you.

Sounds like where they were at 10 p.m. was about 20 miles east of Icy Bay, which is their big open water crossing. I imagine they're moving late into the night to try to hit Icy Bay as early as possible Thursday, if winds are favorable. The weather forecast for the area calls for light winds and a 40 percent chance of rain. Could be favorable conditions for a packraft crossing if all goes well.