This Sunday’s trail tour (January 26) will be on the lovely and well-maintained trail system near the Little Chena River – part of the Yukon Quest-North Pole-Two Rivers winter trail system. If you have never explored these trails, now is your chance to do so.
Meet at the pull-out/snow machine launch/winter trail crossing on Nordale Road at 1:00 PM. If you are coming from Chena Hot Springs Road, this pull out will be on your left, about 1.5 miles (give or take) from the CHRS/Nordale Rd intersection (If you cross the Little Chena River on Nordale, you have gone too far). This is a big pull out, so there will be plenty of room to park; it also has not been well cleared by DOT this year, so there are some small berms to bump over to get to the packed down area.
The trail tour will be a loop, with options for further out and back exploration beyond the turn around for the loop, for those with fast dogs and/or more than one dog. Trail is largely through woods and abandoned sloughs of the Little Chena, with about 1/4 of the trail along a powerline. It is wide, flat and suitable for two-dog skijoring. There are a few narrow, twisty spots on the inbound part of the loop, and in one section there is a downed tree near the trail that will require some fast foot work if you are skiing with two dogs. Otherwise, this is a tour that is well-suited for two-dog/faster skijorers.
Estimated time to do the loop is 1 hour at Tansy-dog speed (moderate, single dog skijoring). The area is heavily frequented by moose and long distance teams, as well as snow machiners.
Trail tours are free for ASPA members; nonmembers pay a $5 penalty fee. Minimum temperature is -10 degrees at 11:30 AM; since this trail system is low-lying, we will use the airport temperature at 11:30 as the cut-off.
For further information or questions, call Mara Bacsujlaky at 347-9687 or mbacsujlaky@acsalaska.net
