Went to McDougall Lodge on the Yentna this weekend with a group from ASC.
Great time!!
We left Mile 10-12 Oilwell Road (49 sleds...no kidding) on Friday morning in two groups, and made our way to the Kahiltna via Oilwell/Shulin Lake trail. The small group (18) left first, and went north on the river while the big group went down river to the mouth then up the Yentna to McDougall.
I was in the small group. It was amazing. Granted not the mountains, but how can you call 35 miles of unbroken waist deep powder and endless jumps anything but amazing? We took the river to the Collinsville Trail and then turned west heading for Angel Haven Lodge. We gassed up, ate, and headed down to McDougall.
We did have a few mechanical mishaps...nobody hurt. Early into the river leg, a guy broke his chain. Two others teamed up with him and went back, taking turns riding double. Later on one of our guys broke through some shelf ice and tore up the left lower A-arm on his M7. He hit hard enough to shear the bolts/bushings. We teamed up and in true Alaskan style cobbled it back to rideable condition with a 3/8" Allen wrench, a ratchet strap, some bailing wire and a gob o' duct tape. Later on a couple of XPs blew belts, no real surprize there (Not bashing on XPs).
McDougall went all out for us and is a nice place to stay. A big thanks to Chad and all the staff. The only negative was the lack of bathrooms but they really never catered to snowmachiners in the past. Chad told us they had more year-round bathrooms planned for this summer.
*Edit* A big thanks to ReconRoss for coming along and snapping a few pics.
Great time!!
We left Mile 10-12 Oilwell Road (49 sleds...no kidding) on Friday morning in two groups, and made our way to the Kahiltna via Oilwell/Shulin Lake trail. The small group (18) left first, and went north on the river while the big group went down river to the mouth then up the Yentna to McDougall.
I was in the small group. It was amazing. Granted not the mountains, but how can you call 35 miles of unbroken waist deep powder and endless jumps anything but amazing? We took the river to the Collinsville Trail and then turned west heading for Angel Haven Lodge. We gassed up, ate, and headed down to McDougall.
We did have a few mechanical mishaps...nobody hurt. Early into the river leg, a guy broke his chain. Two others teamed up with him and went back, taking turns riding double. Later on one of our guys broke through some shelf ice and tore up the left lower A-arm on his M7. He hit hard enough to shear the bolts/bushings. We teamed up and in true Alaskan style cobbled it back to rideable condition with a 3/8" Allen wrench, a ratchet strap, some bailing wire and a gob o' duct tape. Later on a couple of XPs blew belts, no real surprize there (Not bashing on XPs).
McDougall went all out for us and is a nice place to stay. A big thanks to Chad and all the staff. The only negative was the lack of bathrooms but they really never catered to snowmachiners in the past. Chad told us they had more year-round bathrooms planned for this summer.
*Edit* A big thanks to ReconRoss for coming along and snapping a few pics.
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