~ by Maria Benner
Did you watch the Animaniacs in the 1990s? One of my favorite segments was Good Idea, Bad Idea. On our recent trip to our cabin in McCarthy I kept recalling the comical cartoon as we stumbled through our winter adventure in a remote section of Alaska.
Good Idea: Driving over 300 miles to our cabin in McCarthy in a 4×4 Chevy truck. We had chains, a snow shovel, winter gear, and plenty of food and beer in case we got stuck.
Bad Idea: Not checking the weather report before departure. Minutes after leaving our condo in Anchorage we were driving through a snow storm that lasted for half the drive. Once we got to the McCarthy road we had sunny weather, and the first part of the road was not bad, but then the snow got deeper and we ended up getting stuck, and had to put on tire chains. The drive was super slow after that point.
Good Idea: Buying a snow machine last fall so we could take all our stuff from the truck to the cabin quickly in the winter. We parked it by our cabin up on blocks so it wouldn’t freeze to the ground, and covered it with a tarp.
Bad Idea: Buying a 1993 machine and neglecting to get it tuned up in Anchorage before bringing it to McCarthy. In the winter we can’t drive all the way to the cabin, so we park about 3 miles away, and ski up to it. Once we got there we uncovered the snow machine, dug it out, and tried starting it. We were really close a couple times, but it just wouldn’t start. So we had to ski back down to the truck, and haul everything that couldn’t freeze on sleds up to the cabin. We arrived after midnight! That was a really long day! In the morning we got the snowmachine to start, and got the rest of our stuff up to the cabin with minimal effort!
Skiing up to the cabin with a few supplies.
Scott hauling supplies with our snow machine across the frozen Kennicott River.
Good Idea: Picking a week to go to the cabin when we don’t have any major projects going on, or looming deadlines for about a week after our scheduled return date.
Bad Idea: Assuming that we can drive out of McCarthy on the scheduled day, and get back to Anchorage to complete projects before deadlines. While we were in McCarthy there was a big snow storm that lasted for two days. It was a gorgeous day, and we went for a long ski in the snow, but we were really nervous about how much snow was accumulating on the McCarthy Road, our only way out of McCarthy with our truck. We have a big deadline at the end of the month, and if we got stuck in McCarthy for a few extra days, we would have missed out on a big opportunity. The road only gets plowed when the airstrip in McCarthy has over 18″ of snow and a plow needs to get to the runway.
Heavy snow storm.
Good Idea: Making a meal plan and bringing enough food for a week. There are no stores or restaurants open in the winter in McCarthy.
Bad Idea: Forgetting to leave extra food at the cabin just in case we got stuck for a few extra days. We followed our food plan, and ended up having a bit of extra food that could last for about two days, but we decided to stock the cabin with dried goods for future trips.
Good Idea: Going skiing on the glacier, visiting friends, and relaxing around the wood stove in the cabin.
Bad Idea: Planning to do a little bit of work during our week long vacation. We brought our laptops and Scott packed his oil painting kit, and we did manage to work, but we were really tempted to play hooky the whole time.
Checking out an iceberg on the Kennicott Glacier.
Overall I have more fond memories of the trip, and am starting to forget all the inconveniences and challenges. I can say we learned many lessons from our experience, and hopefully our future winter trips will go much more smoothly!
Real Art Is Better! 