Third day out. Again, thinking of how attentive we must be to our secondary mode of travel, three Icelandic mares. We got off to a late start because the Ahtna Native campground, while expensive, was quiet and had all the amenities. Picnic table, minimal number of people quietude. $30.00. Ouch.

We set out and stopped to get water at a well to do lodge – Noticed, as we were pulling in, a woman walking along the roadside airstrip. She was being pulled by a German Shepherd. The woman’s name was Lora and the dog’s name was Echo. She and her husband were lodge sitting for their friends. A good gig, I thought.

Lunch break on trail off Lake Louise Road

Lora explained to me that she and her husband go where the Lord sends them – the last place was Wrangell, where they lived on a boat. They were there when the landslide occurred, last November.

I have a healthy skepticism when it comes to missionaries. God’s telling people where to go just strikes me as odd. But I was polite and listened to Lora, a bit antsy as the conversation with her husband and Pete seemed to go on for longer than either of us would have liked.

The couple suggested that we check out the Nabesna Road, so we did. The National Park Headquarters was actually close to the road entrance. Marjorie, the interpreter, was very personable. She in fact was one of the nicest, most articulate National Park Service people that I have ever met. She was wearing the obligatory pressed uniform and dangling earrings, blue, half circles, with silver in them framed a weathered face.

It was 20 minutes before closing time. Marjorie went over different trail particulars with us and gave us a lot of information about off-road trails. So we changed our plans and instead of immediately heading for the Yukon, we instead decided to check out the trails on the Nabesna Road. We ended up at mile 28.1, at a free campsite with two picnic sites. It was difficult, getting the trailer into this site. We’re now settled in. Our neighbor is a motorcyclist from S.W. England. The site is surrounded by spruce trees. We are close to the Wrangell St. Elias Range.

And today’s ride, it was short, down a double track, with the Gulkana River on our right. There, at the turnout area (with an excavator on one side and an RV on the other, we met a cyclist from Dillon, Colorado, in his late 40s, had a receding hairline, tall, with a noticeable gut. He was traveling in a car type van. His bicycle was on the rear. I told Pete that I thought he was recently divorced. The cyclist was doing what we were doing, the good bits of various trails that he encountered.

He went ahead of us (doing recon) and came back and said that up a ways the trail turned marshy. It was, he said “kinda soft.” We didn’t go far before we came to this part. There was a small, brush lined creek with firm ground on the other side. I was riding Hrimmi. Pete wanted to cross this marshy ground. I said no, adding that I wasn’t sure where the bottom was.

Next: 157. 6/9/24: Day #4, Kaansaii Campground