Tom Lake Cabin

Tom Lake Cabin
Cabin at Tom Lake

Friday, April 30, 2010

Preparing For Summer 2010

Susan and I went up the weekend of 18 April. The weather was very nice when we arrived at about 3 P.M., nearly 42 degrees. Way to nice for sledding as pools of water were mixed into the snow, gravel was showing at the lakes edge and the parking lot was mostly bare gravel.

We loaded up the freight sled and headed to Uncle Bud's (actually Cousin Fred's now) cabin at Young's Cove on the east shore of Lake Louise. We stayed there that evening and headed out early the next morning anticipating another warm bluebird day. It was a gorgeous blue skied day in the Alaska Bush.

We pulled into Tom Lake and went straight up the trail to the cabin. There had been several small bare spots on the trail in but it was pretty spotty. The snow on the lakes was packed down on the trails so I had to keep the old water cooled Skandic off trail a lot so the soft snow would get thrown up into the intercooler by the track. I kept it out of the red this way almost all the way in. To warm even that early in the morning for a liquid cooled sled with a heavy load.

We packed a steel 15 gallon barrel with food. We had about 50 pounds or more of instant oatmeal, add hot water rice and pasta dishes, pouches of tuna, cans of chili, boxes of potatoes,coffee, tea, and electrolight dishes with peach and other flavorings, lots of individual meals and lots to fix for a small crew.There was also a lot of condiments, spices and hot sauce so a person can spice it up or not. We filled a steel chest with toilet paper, paper towels and lots of paper plates, foam and plastic cups and a bunch of plastic utensils. The final load into the cabin was about 12 gallons of potable water in 2 big blue jugs and two cases (48 bottles) of spring water. This should be enough to feed us when we 4 wheel in and dig the hole for the outhouse, build the front steps and landing, and hopefully, get the mineral paper up on the roof to get it permanently sealed. If there is time we will put up the steel roof, but that may be asking a bit much.

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