SCOUTING THE ALASKAN WILDS
Alaska. It evokes thoughts of wilderness, wild animals, adventure, and—with under a million inhabitants in an area several times the size of New Zealand—great expanses of uninhabited land.
The state spends half the year frozen, and in winter, travel becomes “easier”. With extreme sub-zero conditions, the bogs, lakes and wetlands freeze, and snow begins to fall. Sled dogs and snow machines open up the backcountry for travel, pulling huge loads through hundreds of miles of wintry arctic terrain.
But is it a great place for mountain bike adventures? Absolutely, though relative to the size of this state, you’re never really doing more than just scratching around the edges of a huge landscape, one where day-to-day travel usually happens by bush plane or along the great river networks that remain the arteries of travel.
Luckily, even the edges are wild. Or maybe the wild just comes out from the edges, like the moose casually passing through the front yard of our house. Humans have made their marks, too, and old hiking trails pass through long sections of backcountry, though the window for riding them is short, as you compete against the rapid growth
