Outdoors

Photo(s) Bunker
11/29/09, 7:46 pm, By D. Bunker

Dirt Bag for a Day - North Pt. 1

By D. Bunker - 

 

Editors Note: Yes, this is where Dirtbag was when you were staring out your window. Click here for his beer/ski porn offering (in case you were slippin').

There are very few times in a person's life when driving north is a bad idea. But on a snowy, potholed road outside Tok, Alaska, as my sister's Toyota Solara inexplicably rolled to a stop even as I maintained my foot heavy on the gas, I wondered if I had tempted fate one too many times on Alaskan "asphalt" in ill-suited sedans.

You see, September's epic road trip to Homer, Alaska was an Act II of sorts to an earlier, even more ill-advised vehicular venture in 2000.

Then, it was a Chrysler LeBaron convertible, and the road trip took us from Dallas, Texas to the Arctic Ocean, with a few months of fish-gutting thrown in to boot.

I still remember the looks of incredulity we collected as we puttered up the 500 miles of dirt they call the Dalton Highway, passing what in winter are ice road truck stops in "towns" that bear progressively more foreboding names as you head north: Livengood, Coldfoot, Deadhorse.

By the time we hit the Arctic Ocean, I like to think we have given an entire platoon of Alaskan truckers some of the deepest belly laughs of their careers.

The ten-dollar plastic gas can strapped to our trunk definitely completed our greenhorn look. Only one thing could have made us look even more hilariously out of place — if we had rolled through Coldfoot with the top down, blasting a little Ace of Base on the stereo.

But back to Tok, Alaska, and our crippled mechanical steed. The Toyota appeared mortally wounded.

But the view was unreal. If ever there was a contest for "Most Beautiful Place to Have your Car Fall Apart" — the Richardson Highway bordering the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park would be hard to knock out of first place.

I immediately began a quick mental count of the granola bars left in the car. And then I thought about our nearest sources of help.

There was the metropolis of Tok, where hyperactive sled dogs outnumber people.

A quick glance at the snow cover on the ground (two inches at best) disqualified my first thought — ditch the car, buy a team of sled dogs and complete the journey by mushing into Homer in rented mukluks.

Too many Jack London novels do nothing for your mechanical abilities, but they sure can help you come up with a useless, and inappropriately humorous, idea in a time of crisis.

From my years of living in Truckee, my second course of action was pre-decided — make cannibal jokes.

My sister, who had endured a repititous series of hard brakings and cries of "Moose, moose, moose!" as we drove through the most dangerous sections of wildlife crossings on the Alcan highway, already knew this was coming and failed to laugh to the degree I was expecting.

My third idea, to see if I had Internet access on my Crackberry so that I could tweet "Broke down outside Tok, Alaska; somebody help. OMG. SOS." also went up in flames when I realized I was in one of those dreaded "dead spots."

So, as a last resort, I asked my sister to turn the key in the ignition as I craned my head under the hood.

Miraculously, minutes after completely dying on us, the car roared to life.

I apologized for all the cannibal jokes and we motored ahead through some of the most jaw-dropping scenery in the world.

Fall in Alaska is the forgotten season.

The hordes of summer tourists that caravan up and down the Alaskan highway, looking like the illegitamate children of Ted Nugent and a band of Gypsys have thinned out. A stillness rules the land. And the scenery, in places engulfed in the orange, yellow and read flames of autumn, is superlative.

Just outside of Fort Nelson, British Columbia the road snakes into the Canadian Rockies. Driving between Fort Nelson and Muncho Lake at the peak of the fall color show is one of those unreal experiences that makes you thank whatever deity or force or evolutionary process you credit with your existence that you were there then.

You may have the road to yourself, or like us, you may find yourself sharing it with a herd of 70 bison, a few caribou, moose, and couple of fat bears.
 

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First Friday at Brickelltown is back... just in time for fall

9/02/10, 8:18 am, By Alanna Hughes

  • 4 p.m. Friday in Brickelltown
  • Bring your cruiser bike (cheaper/better peeps than Burning Man)

Ski Porn season kicks off at Squaw Sept. 18 with Standard premiere

8/31/10, 9:22 pm, By S. Cowley

  • North Shore-based snowboard heavies preimere 'The Storming' Saturday, Sept. 18
  • Monster'll be there too... 

Sorry Burning Man - it's all about the Ski Loft Tent Sale

8/30/10, 7:52 pm, Staff Report

  • 8 a.m. Friday
  • Bring all your pennies... (what's left of 'em)

REI Cookware - Ticker

  • REI Cookware specials

Basin Bargain Basement - The bargain of bargains

8/29/10, 8:59 pm, By A. Pridgen

  • $105k for starter condo in KB
  • Yes, we toured a similar unit in '06 for more than $300k ...actually, maybe it WAS this unit

Bomber pre-season ski sales from local manufacturers

8/25/10, 7:50 am, Staff Report

  • From Praxis Powderboards to Moment Rubys ...to a surprise entry
  • It's time to buy local... buy new

Skiing is no more

8/22/10, 11:47 am, Staff Report

  • RIP Skiing Magazine
  • ...Are you next, SKI?

Date set for 7th annual Downtown Truckee Wine Walk And Shop

8/22/10, 9:25 am, Switchback PR

  • Filling up that fall calendar yet?!
  • Well, here's where to start

REI Cookware - Ticker

  • REI Cookware specials

Squaw to host SATELite Festival in September

8/22/10, 7:28 am, By A. Richmond

  • New outdoor(ish) event pronounced 'satellite' ...not 'Sate-lite' like we orig. thought
  • ...Not 100 percent sure what it is — but ncludes wine, so we'll be there

Tahoe Mountain Sports gets you warm for Ski Loft tent sale

8/20/10, 6:44 pm, By Lis Korb

  • First come tent sales... then ski porn premiers
  • Then (gulp) snow... are you ready?!

Legendary Incline bear featured in WSJ

8/18/10, 8:31 pm, Staff Report

  • Free BUBBA
  • That's right - It's our fault... not the bear's... but is that what the Journal thinks?!

Trail Building Backcountry Camps

8/17/10, 8:49 pm, TRTA

  • Get on those trails
  • ...and get your build on Saturday and Sunday (and again Labor Day weekend)

REI Cookware - Ticker

  • REI Cookware specials

Win an iPad from IVGID

8/15/10, 7:03 pm, Staff Report

  • Golf, ski, beach, compute
  • repeat

Squaw creates new top marketing position... sale rumors spark again

8/10/10, 8:18 pm, Staff Report

  • Wait, Squaw CREATED a position...
  • Ok, something's definitely going down... (25-year industry vet Scott Clarkson tapped as VP of Marketing and Sales)

Jim's trip ...halfway... round The Rim

8/07/10, 1:16 pm, By. A. Pridgen

  • Hammerel raises triple his goal amt. to benefit the TRT
  • ...and tears up his knee

Volunteer trail-building workdays with the Tahoe Rim Trail Association

8/05/10, 7:45 am, TRTA

  • You heard about Jim Hammerel's mission to speed-traverse the TRT
  • Now you can pitch in too 

REI Cookware - Ticker

  • REI Cookware specials

Goodbye Norm

8/03/10, 8:08 pm, By A. Pridgen

  • The Godfather of Incline, Norm Rosenberg, passes - he was 92
  • Incline's left-leaning champion leaves legacy ...starting with the library

Test drive a Tesla... before it's too late

8/01/10, 9:30 pm, By A. Pridgen

  • Tesla, the Palo Alto-based electric car company has gone through more than $300 million VC $
  • ...but still hasn't tapped into Uncle Sam's reserves for the Model S - go check it out at the Hyatt

Sugar Bowl dining room and Belt Room Bar open for business

7/30/10, 10:22 am, By John Monson

  • Good grub, great views
  • And nothing beats Belt Room post PCT

Ultimate Frisbee - ultimate course

7/27/10, 8:56 pm, By A. Richmond

  • Squaw opens disc golf course
  • Signature hole (no. 4) has 1080' downhill... wow

REI Cookware - Ticker

  • REI Cookware specials

Squaw's MTB park open for first time since '03

7/23/10, 7:22 pm, By Amelia Richmond

  • 2k feet of single-track
  • 'K, we're in

Remembering Kenny Guinn

7/22/10, 10:08 pm, Staff Report

  • The man who created the Milennium Scholarship and SNPLMA passed away Thursday
  • Guinn, who oversaw Nevada during its most prosperous years, was 73

Lokal boy makes good - former PlumpJack star Edge shines in Sonoma

7/20/10, 6:23 pm, By A. Pridgen

  • Rick Edge takes saucy edge down to downtown Sonoma
  • Lokal is the (new) place to be and PlumpJack alum makes it so

Tahoe skier visits were estimated to be up 17 percent last winter

7/19/10, 8:40 am, Staff Report

  • Numbers of skiers on the hill increased - but overall spending stayed modest
  • Cheap passes the plan again for 2010-'11

REI Cookware - Ticker

  • REI Cookware specials

Cushing steps down from Squaw post ...rumors of sale sparked

7/13/10, 6:06 pm, Staff Report

  • Former Intrawest exec takes over
  • ...Rumor mill turning overtime: is Cushing family getting ready to bounce?

TRPA's Asian clam bake

7/11/10, 9:19 pm, By Jeff Cowen

  • $1.4 million effort to eradicate invasive species from the lake...
  • And it involves (no joke) laying a rubber mat on the lake's floor... hi-tech

Kids' zip line at Squaw ...Boo ya

7/08/10, 5:12 pm, By A. Richmond

  • KT zip line
  • What about for the grown-ups?!

Just like that ...red flags are up

7/06/10, 6:22 pm, Staff Report

  • Three-year anniversary of Angora looms ever-present
  • Thunderstorms Wednesday/Thursday portend danger

REI Cookware - Ticker

  • REI Cookware specials

Nevada County approves PR firm's contract the same week it OKs budget cuts

6/30/10, 9:19 pm, Staff Report

  • Wait a minute - you're saying Tahoe will spend more than a million dollars this year on, sloganeering...
  • Meantime, budget cuts include child care, welfare-to-work and MediCal programs ...nice

Truckee's Lautner drops a PCT hiking book

6/28/10, 8:55 pm, Staff Report

  • 32 eco-friendly trips on the Sierra stretch of the PCT ...with GPS coordinates
  • Two thumbs up - pick it up...

Lake Tahoe Based Russian-American Partnership turns 20

6/24/10, 11:27 am, By TBI

  • Tahoe-Baikal Institute celebrates two decades  of watershed protection and cultural exchange
  • Political and economic ups and downs notwithstanding

Tour de Nez photo gallery

6/22/10, 8:20 pm

  • The weekend that was from Reno to Northstar
  • And lots of Nash

REI Cookware - Ticker

  • REI Cookware specials

Rebuild the Rim Trail every summer Saturday

6/11/10, 9:07 pm, TRTA

  • Start summer right by giving your most precious gift
  • ...Your time

TRPA tries to clarify

6/01/10, 8:30 pm, By Dennis Oliver

  • So, what, if anything, does this have to do with Boulder Bay?!
  • ...More importantly how 'bout that casino (strip club?) corridor...

Opinion ...TRPA ensures Tahoe times they area a-changin'

5/22/10, 8:35 pm, By Ann Nichols

  • Density to increase under proposed TRPA regional plan
  • But, will they build it (or will they come?)

TAUs on the table from TRPA

5/14/10, 10:08 pm, Staff Report

  • If you don't understand the headline
  • ...Go the the May 26 meeting and you'll see puh-lenty

REI Cookware - Ticker

  • REI Cookware specials

Cal Neva now in TRPA doghouse

5/09/10, 6:49 pm, Staff Report

  • TRPA will handle foreclosed property with kid gloves over more than a decade of flunking its eco report card
  • Time to blow everything up but the casino floor, Sinatra Showroom, the lakefront cabins and the Indian Room

Celebrate National Trails Day with the Tahoe Rim Trail

5/06/10, 5:33 pm, TRTA

  • Build a trail
  • ...Get a free lunch

Save Martis Valley - one click at a time

5/04/10, 7:13 pm, By Renee Deinken

  • Well, it's not like Martis Valley is in any danger of getting developed by broke-ass East/West
  • ...But still good to preserve; Check out the new site

LTVA spends almost a mil. on slogan ending in preposition

5/02/10, 8:21 pm, By A. Pridgen

  • That's right, your new slogan to lure Affliction-wearing d-bags to Stateline's new strip club
  • ...'Get your vacation on' (ohh noo). Inside: Our five (free) slogan suggestions ...Holla

REI Cookware - Ticker

  • REI Cookware specials

Cost of doing nothing too high for Tahoe

4/29/10, 8:22 pm, By Joanne Marchetta

  • If you can make it through TRPA director's tome...
  • We'll have resident feedback for you Friday

No downhill slide for Diamond Peak

4/09/10, 7:00 am, Staff Report

  • While others founder
  • ...DP in the black and breaking ground on new $4 million admin/ticket/locker/child ski center building

Foreclosed Cal Neva casino goes dark ...for good

3/24/10, 10:32 pm, By A. Pridgen

  • One year after 'no-sale' at a foreclosure auction and interim management team shuts down Nevada's most legendary casino
  • ...Sad, sad day... Casino doors to shut March 31 - rest of Basin gaming on life support

And yes ...the KB roundabouts were originally scheduled to be complete this summer

1/27/10, 9:35 pm, Staff Report

  • Tahoe Regional Planning Agency board votes unanimously (again) to approve three-lane/roundabouts in KB
  • ...Yes, you've heard that (here) before

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