Seward Ranger District-January 8, 2020
Good afternoon on yet another gorgeous, cold, and frigid day. I hope all of you are getting comfortable with staying warm while on your outside adventures with appropriate equipment, gear and clothing for the outings you choose because we have a plethora of winter activities available to do right now on the Seward Ranger District, though, snow is thin at lower elevations and glaciation is growing in most locations requiring the aid of ice creepers, and careful travel. We have been fortunate on Seward Ranger District to be enjoying blue sky days during this cold spell as many other locations in Alaska are shrouded in a fog, see attached photos from yesterday and today.
While this is a motorized winter season for Resurrection Pass Trail I would like to point out that Resurrection North from mile 3 to East Creek Cabin at mile 14.5 has numerous difficult sections of trail due to narrow side hills between mile 3 and 6.5 that glaciate when snow cover is thin, and also all the entrances and exits at all (appx. 4 the drainages between Caribou and East Creek Cabins.
Dale Clemens Cabin on the Lost Lake winter route now has a Nordic oil drip stove for its heat source.This stove requires one gallon of kerosene or number one heating oil per day June-August and two gallons per day the rest of the year. Users should plan to carry one gallon of heating oil for each day spent at the cabin June-August and two gallons per day the rest of the year. While the propane stove is still hooked up, there is almost no propane available at the cabin, the propane stove will be removed this spring.
Several areas on Seward Ranger District have recently been groomed for skiing; Seward Nordic Ski Club has been posting when and where grooming has occurred, here is their web site: https://www.sewardnordicskiclub.org/trails I do know that Mile 12 Divide is hard pack and difficult on some of the steeper down hills due to the hard and somewhat icy conditions and boot prints in the middle of the trail. Trail River C.G. is hard pack and easier to bike or walk due to similar conditions. Folks out for a walk on groomed ski trails please stay to the side and do not walk in the middle of a groomed ski trail, same thing goes for folks on bikes, Thank you.
This cold is good for adding ice, I read an interesting article written by Craig Medred about how our cold temps are adding arctic sea ice at a fast pace;
“December 2019 sea ice grew by an average 31,700 square miles per day. This is faster than the 1981 to 2010 average gain of 24,700 square miles per day) and is the third fastest December ice growth rate in the satellite record, behind 2006 and 2016.” For more information here’s the link to Craig’s article; https://craigmedred.news/2020/01/07/icy-north/ DISCLAIMER – This information is taken from a published electronic information source, is uncensored and unedited, and do not necessarily report or reflect the opinions or the policies of the U.S. Forest Service.
Irene Lindquist Forest Technician
Forest Service
Chugach National Forest, Seward Ranger District
p: 907-288-7748 irene.lindquist@usda.gov
33599 Ranger Station Spur
Seward, AK 99664www.fs.fed.us
Caring for the land and serving people
