Mouse trap line: 7 (caught 2 today!)

Snowfall: 14” (way low for this time of year!)

How about a little drama to add to your day? Here we go….

Last fall (2024) the Alaska Railroad decided to work on the bridge that crosses the river to get to all of the remote properties out here. That’s the only way in and out of this area, which is called “Chase”. We are not allowed to get onto the tracks with our four-wheelers and snow machines so we cross next to the tracks on what they call the “trainman walkway”. The width of the walkway has been 47” wide for years (even though the sign says 45”). So if your machine was any wider than that, it wouldn’t be able to cross. We knew that when we bought the property. The railroad wanted to make it at least 50” to allow first responders, etc. easier access but our brilliant “Chase Community Council” (which we refuse to be a part of because it’s filled with a bunch of whiney, good ole’ boys with very little forethought) threw a hissy-fit and pushed back. They said they didn’t want “weekenders” coming up and ruining the trail and stealing stuff from homesteads up here. Because they put up such a stink, the result was a new walkway that stayed at the 47” width. The problem, then, was that because that walkway had seen so many machines going through there over the years, the metal had been pushed out a bit in places. So with a true 47” width, now all of our machines were rubbing the railings and some even had major damage to their machines. Then the grumbling started….

The council asked the railroad to go ahead and widen to 50”, please? The railroad refused because of the cost. Then some guy got stupid and ran his four-wheeler on the tracks and it got smashed by the train! Luckily no one got hurt but the damage was done and the railroad agreed to widen it because of all the negative messages and publicity they were getting. So this summer/fall, they completed the work and now the width is 60”! We don’t blame the railroad at all for going wider…in fact, we love it! Our machines don’t rub and you can bring bigger loads through there now. The council is unhappy and as far as the rest of us are concerned, they can kiss our backsides!

So there’s the backstory. All of that to tell you about what we did this fall to protect our property in case any undesirables come out. We are located at the very end of the trail so if someone ends up out this far, it COULD be by accident but not likely. So we put up a cattle gate and a couple of panels!

Okay, that’s all for now. So much to catch up on since we haven’t chatted in awhile. I’ll be back in a day or so. In the meantime, stay wild!

Let’s start catching up…

Animals

We’re back!