On Mt. McIntyre with the e-bike
I had it in my mind that Mt. McIntyre (“Mount Mac”) would be a great place for the e-bike. That turned out to not be particularly true, but it’s so beautiful up there I’ll show you how these two days went anyway.
My first drive up was on Monday, August 8. The weather forecast called for sunshine and 20°C so it looked like a perfect day for it. The new rack setup on the Tracker works just as I’d hoped – it’s really perfect.
A friend was behind me as I turned off the Alaska Highway, and sent me this photo 🙂
Unfortunately, conditions at the top were not at all what I expected – it was cold and the wind was screaming. It wasn’t even pleasant to go for a walk, and the bike never even left the rack. I was soon headed back down. Oh well, it’s a lovely drive anyway, and the summit is only about an hour from home.
Four days later, on Friday, August 12, I decided to try again. The next photo shows what Mount Mac looks like from the Alaska Highway just over a kilometer from my house. It’s the ridge on the left.
Leaving the Alaska Highway, Hamilton Boulevard starts the climb up the mountain. This road was built in 2007-2009 to provide a second access to a large residential area.
Just 12 minutes after leaving my house, I was on the Mt. McIntyre Road.
That “puddle” ahead is quite deep, and an old plank sitting up could cause a big problem for a driver not paying attention. The road used to get minimal maintenance to access the air navigation system at the summit, but that stopped a few years ago. Runoff from the past two winters of very heavy snow has done a lot of damage and made the drive much more challenging – vehicles with four-wheel-drive and high clearance are now needed to get anywhere close to the summit.
The views over Fish Lake for a couple of kilometers as you climb are stunning.
I saw this interesting rig by the side of the road, with a whole lot of bicycle tracks leading away from it. Kids out doing some single-tracking, I expect. Pretty cool.
This very steep and loose section of the road used to be where vehicles without four-wheel-drive had to quit, but they can’t get anywhere near this now.
By noon I was parked just past the summit and was set to head out on my Adventure. There was a bit of wind but it wasn’t bad.
It was soon apparent that I had dramatically mis-remembered these trails. I had driven the first couple of kilometers with the Tracker years ago, but I was surprised by how rocky and steep many sections were.
The next photo shows one of the nice sections that I had expected a whole lot more of. Right above the bike handlebars the Alaska Highway can be seen, and Marsh Lake is above and to the right of that.
The next photo is about where I turned around. I basically had no idea where I was going, the trail was much more difficult than I had expected, I had forgotten some equipment (the bear spray coming to mind as the trail dropped down towards grizzly country), and even the operation of my riding apps and the bike itself were confusing me. Oh well – it’s spectacular country that I’m grateful to be able to get to.
I really would have liked to be able to remember how to do power-assisted walking of the bike for some of the climbs.
Back on one of the truly superb sections of the trail, maximizing my Vitamin D intake as summer nears its end.
The final climb to the summit is ahead.
Another photo shot at the same location shows the view over the Yukon River valley.
Ready to head home. I had hurt my left arm while riding and putting the bike back on the rack finished it off. “Golfer’s elbow” is my diagnosis, and I was in a lot of pain for a few days.
I won’t take the bike up Mount Mac again, but it was a good day anyway.
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Good day, thanks for the breath taking views that took your breath away literally, in the event of a grizzly encounter always run down hill in the high county because there build to go uphill, but sometimes they tumble by you and meet you at the bottom, then not sure what you do, maybe make yourself big as possible and scream like a crazed mountain man, hopefully that works, or remember that bear spray, or a big handgun for the backcountry use only and a last resort of course, keep on truckin Murray 👍 a million thanks eh🇨🇦
Murray, but always some great photos, vistas… something that I always enjoy about your posts… Time to get to the other side of the Tracker w the tape and paint! Glad to see you got out, bummer that it was not the right ride even the second time, e-bike or not. Did you find your can of bear spray on the way back from your RR ride?
You certainly live an interesting life. God bless for keeping going. Your zest for adventure is admirable.