Trails in the Woods ?question? for Glacier

[Cinder & Smoke]

It's been *buggin* me for an eternity ...

Tamara ~

You've posted hundreds of beautiful photos showing the Husky Mob running,
hiking, sledding, and otherwise *enjoying* themselves on many nicely maintained dirt & gravel Roads -
some of which appear to be two-lane public roads.

And a huge number of the photos show what might be called "Trails" of much
narrower width, but still extremely well maintained. EXAMPLE >>>

So ... WHAT is the purpose or function of this Road / Trail in the Woods?

And WHO does such a beautiful job of maintaing and grooming it?

Fire Road? WHO maintains Fire Roads THIS well? None that I've seen are more than grass-covered dirt fire-breaks ... certainly not graveled and bare.

Snowmobile Trail? Again, these look too well groomed to be volunteer-maintained.

Municipal Road? Seems a lil "narrow" to be considered a public road ...
how do you "pass" an oncoming vehicle?

You've photographed what seems like MILES of these mini-Roads or Trails ...
they can't maintain themselves ... they'd be vegitation covered in a year,
and the trees would be low-hanging and invading the pathway.

So WHO maintains this network of mini-Roads and Trails?
It's a Beautiful patch of God's Country you enjoy and share with us ...
I'm just wondering who ought to get an Atta-Boy for doing some of the work.

/s/ Phred

[Glacier]

Orginally they were mostly mining roads. This area was once full of copper mines. The quarries Kayleigh goes swimming in are actually abandoned open pit copper mines. The trail directly out of my yard is actually the pipeline reserve. If the Alaska Highway pipeline is ever built, it could go right there.

Current purpose is just a network of trails--people hike, bike, mush, ski, run, ATV, camp ect on them, but they don't go anywhere specific anymore and aren't used by a company. Vehicle traffic is minimal, at least anything bigger than an ATV. The widest trail is barely wide enough for a single truck. There is no room to pass an on-coming vehicle. A head on pass with another dog team can be tight in some sections.

They are completely unmaintained. Some of them are within the city limits, but the municipality takes no responsiblity for them. There's no gravel added to the trails. That's just what the dirt looks like around here. Black top soil is a rare thing in the Yukon. Rock, sand and clay are much much more common.

The local snowmobile club does maintain a trail network, but not the trails I use. They graciously fixed one of the trails I use alot last winter after some moron took his 4X4 truck on it, but that was an exception, not something they normally do. They maintain the TransCanada Trail, which I can access pretty easily from my house. I don't go over there much though. It's pretty heavily used, especially on weekends.

There are two full time residents back there, well off the grid. Occasionally they will plow the main part of the trail(the part in that picture) in the winter, but that's only when they need to go to town!

Some volunteer labour maintains the trails at times. 3 years ago we had a windstorm that knocked down thousands of trees(We lost 200 trees on our property alone). A bunch of people who use the trails got together with chainsaws and cleared the most used sections. I always have an axe on the dog sled and clear a few fallen trees every year. Other mushers and snowmobilers do the same.

There are thousands of miles of trails back there. If I knew where I was going, I could probably get to Anchorage without crossing a major road.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Orginally they were mostly mining roads.
This area was once full of copper mines. The quarries Kayleigh goes swimming in are actually abandoned open pit copper mines. The trail directly out of my yard is actually the pipeline reserve. If the Alaska Highway pipeline is ever built, it could go right there...

Current purpose is just a network of trails ...

They are completely unmaintained.
There's no gravel added to the trails. That's just what the dirt looks like around here.

There are two full time residents back there, well off the grid.
Occasionally they will plow the main part of the trail (the part in that picture)
in the winter, but that's only when they need to go to town!

There are thousands of miles of trails back there.

<gasp> Whatta History!
WOW!

I guess you otta Thank the old Copper Miners for building such durable trails!

Kinda hard to believe the trails don't get routine maintenance; but without a lot of traffic they probably don't get abused too badly (other than A$$es with 4WD Trucks).

Hard to imagine the Back Country Folk have to rely on that narrow trail for
their pathway to civilization, but they're probably not the only ones living off the beaten paths ... I'd bet there are a lot who either hike into town or hitch up the Dogs and *sled* in for provisions. Makes you thankful for Municipal Snowplows, maintained roads, and warm vehicles.

Do you have Topo Maps of the area?
I've searched on Canadian web sites and can't find any that publish Web versions
of the Canadian Topos. I remember Dad always had Canadian Topos when we used to
"go fishin" for two weeks in Ontario ... they were wonderfully detailed and accurate ...
would make good "sleddin maps"!

THANKS, Tamara, for the very Informative "History of the Trails"!

[Glacier]

Hard to imagine the Back Country Folk have to rely on that narrow trail for
their pathway to civilization, but they're probably not the only ones living off the beaten paths ...

Do you have Topo Maps of the area?

They live back there by choice and were there long before the subdivision was! I'm always nice to the one true bushman who's back there. If I ever get in trouble out there, he's the one who will find me! He watches everything that goes on in "his" forest!

Road maintenence is a low priority around here, focused almost soley on the Alaska Highway. We're lucky if the main road through our subdivison gets plowed twice a winter!

Yup, we have topo maps. I don't know where to find them on line. yukonbooks.com would have them for purchase. We got ours from the gov't lands branch office several years ago. They gave them away back then. Not sure what they charge for them now.

[crow_noir]

I'm not sure how accurate they would be for AK, but I LOVE my MI DeLorme atlas. There's "roads" on there some people have never seen on other maps. I've converted a few people. Well worth $20 in my opinion. (Not if you're just browsing... but if you're taking even ONE road trip somewhere.)

[cyber-sibes]

Good questions, Phred. I guess I never thought about it much till you brought it up. Knowing how fast the kudzu takes over & eats up everything in its path around here, does make me wonder how the paths stay so clear up north. Must be a kudzu-free zone!
I'm so envious of all the off-leash areas for huskies up there, Tamara. It's always a joy to see those pups flying down the trails! Wish there was someplace like that around here to let the dogs (especially Jack) go free, but its just too dangerous with all the distractions from people, animals, & traffic. Although I talked to a woman at the beach whose huskies "freed" themselves and ran to the beach! The police called her at work when they picked up those beach bums who were happily greeting people & playing in the sand!

[Glacier]

Must be a kudzu-free zone!

I'm so envious of all the off-leash areas for huskies up there, Tamara. It's always a joy to see those pups flying down the trails!

There's no Kudzu up here, but I bet the moose would eat if there were! Foxtails are probably the most invasive plant around right now.

There aren't any fenced dog parks here, but it's legal to let your dog loose anywhere that is at least 200 metres from a residence. It's a calculated risk with the huskies and I'm careful about who gets off leash! That's why you never see Bandit loose, except in the yard...he'd be heading for Nome given half a chance!