The Pass That Wasn't
Eric and company had suggested that if I took Hatchers pass I would avoid all of the traffic around Wasilla.they said it would be a beautiful and worthwhile shortcut, albeit a little difficult. Pen and paper in hand, Eric (of Revelate fame) proceeded to draw me out a nice little map. It seemed doable and always up for an adventure, off I went.
It would take me two days to get to Fishhook road leading out of Palmer and heading up to the pass. Cycling in the snow with a bike that weighed more than 100 pounds was a challenge to say the least. In had stopped at the bike shop in Palmer to double check that this was possible, and lets just say the looks we're not encouraging at all. I proceeded anyway.
It was early afternoon, which up here meant that darkness was not far away. The ride was windy and hilly with the sunset light bouncing off the snow peaks. On my right was the little Sustina river, normally raging in the summer but now silenced by a thick sheet of ice covered with 4-6 ft of snow. They had gotten lots of snow up here which should have been a warning sign for me. Onward I went.
Legs tired and lungs burning I was cursed with fading light and mile markers that were not in my favor. Imagine driving up to your favorite overlook where there is no place to get out on either side of the road. No choice but to keep going and hope for the best. The stretch to the top was at mile marker 19 and I was at 11 when I saw what was surely some type of park building in the distance. Brown roofs are always a dead giveaway.
I rolled up to the small building which was a rest stop in summer time. The problem now is it wasn't summer, it was winter, and that meant a snow burm on the side of the road more than 8 ft tall. The entire parking area was engulfed in snow that looked to be anywhere from 4-6 feet deep, depending on what type of structure was encased in the white stuff. What was looking good was the overhang of the building was on the lee side of the wind, meaning no snow and a safe place to camp. The problem was simply how to get there?
The building was no more than 50ft from the road, but how was I going to get myself and my gear thru all that snow. I stripped the bike of its bags and began to work the bike up and over the roadside burm. Some of it was firm while some caused me to plunge waist deep. I got the bike over and now repeated the proceeds for bags, body exhausted, sweating up a storm, and that was just to get off the road. I still had 45 more feet of snow to work through.
The task was tedious and painful. A full days ride had left me beaten down, but I knew there was no choice, I had to make this work. It took me almost an hour to get Ll of my gear and bike over to the out building. When I was finally done, I collapsed in pile of exhaustion. All of this work just to camp, how was I ever going to do the pass...
To be continued....
