2018 Alexander Mackenzie Trail, West to East

[binch]

Dates:  Saturday, JULY 28 to Sunday, Aug 12th, 2018

The word has been going around for quite sometime now and there seems to be very good interest in running the AMT again.   We worked our butts off the last trip and had several long hard days....but we had a GREAT time of it, all things considered.    So I'm putting out the word to get some feed back on interest.     We are currently looking at 12 days total in the last half of August to run the trip.   

We will be holding a meeting (date TBA) for those folks who expressed an interest in this home grown Camel Trophy event, so we can begin to discuss gear, menus, logistics, etc.   Looking for a little adventure in your life.....???   if you are interested in this trip please let it be known!!!!!     

Let me start by saying  "I'M IN LIKE DIRTY SHIRT!!!!"  ;D

And just in case you needed some motivation....  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrWdnFflDKk

[pechanec]

Bushrat are most definitely in!!

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[B-Red]

I am in. Just like The Pointer Sisters say:
https://youtu.be/8iwBM_YB1sE

Off course, I am thinking of Tigger lol

[Trevor]

Slot me in as tentative at this point guys. Definitely interested on doing the run again, and west --> east would be nice to try.

[Matt H]

My son and I are in. I've been hoping I would have the opportunity to get in one of these amazing looking AM trips one day!

I will most likely take the 110.

I know Yoda is also interested and possibly Simon also as a copilot.

[binch]

Looks like we have some good interest for this trip.....The original five vehicles from the 2015 trip sound interested again and we have lots more interest too.   Maybe.....with a bit of Luck we'll get two teams starting from each end.....maybe...... 8)

[pechanec]

Now I guess I have to get in gear and whip the discos into fighting shape. No sleeping untill August!

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[binch]

Prep for wading and fuel carriage.     The d110's diesels can do the trail on a single tank of fuel but it's good to have spare can or two.   The D90's diesels with the smaller fuel tank (unless modified) should bring at least two cans.  The petrol vehilces.....bring four to six cans of spare fuel (whether you're a 4, 6 or 8 cylinder).    There is an option of caching  fuel ahead for pick up on Day two and again near day 4 or 5.    But that means someone will need to go a day ahead of the group to spend a day caching.     So far the two trips I've been on we carried all our own fuel and that's with diesels, 4 and 8 cyl petrol vehicles and it worked out okay.

But we'll be sending out an overview for the trip to give those interested a better idea of what they need to do to prepare.    Once we have the group meeting (in February or march) we can start with the fine tuned details indicating, spares, tools, meal plans, travel days, etc.

;)

[Red90]

Underbody protection is a good plan.  There are a lot of hidden rocks on the trails.  Diff guards as a minimum.

Everyone should really have a winch.  There are some possible long winching sections and it is a pain if there are winchless trucks.

And a chainsaw.  Maybe a chainsaw safe use training day would be a good plan.

[Trevor]

I would recommend for this trip that EVERYONE be trained on proper chainsaw use, and be prepaired to use one. That did kick us in the ass last time with only a few people running saws.

Hopefully one doesn't see that amount of deadfall again, but I would expect to see a comparable amount for the first leg at least. No one has run that portion of the trail since us (all other groups bailed before the last leg), and with all the pine beetle kill  there will a lot across the trail.

The big question is what were the effects of the wildfires on the trail There were quite a few throughout that area.

[binch]

I was going to send out more details later but I'm glad to hear some of the "Experienced" speak out on this.    The first trip I did in 2008 or so took us 6days.   But the pine beetle hadn't hit the area yet.   Now that pine beetle has hit this area there is a lot of standing dead timber, and our 2015 trip took us 8 days and could easily have turned to 9 days.   If it's standing it's not so bad.   But now that the roots are dead and the trees still have crowns they are very susceptible to wind throw (they fall over, root and all).    As Trevor explained....we had A LOT of trees to clear!!!!!    And it slowed us down considerably.   The Camel Trophy guys would have been proud I'm sure.

I'll be sending out an over view eventually that will give a list of equipment you will want for your trucks, as well as a list of what we will share (in order to keep weights down).    This time around we will be doing one or two clinics on chainsaw work (safe operation, hazards, felling, bucking and dealing with hangers, chain sharpening, and basic maintenance).    We had 3 saws on the last trip and 3 gallons of saw gas.   Well we came very close to running out of saw gas and we DID run out of chain oil (nothing a little 15w40 diesel oil won't cure).     So...if you aren't cutting you WILL be moving logs....but it's ALL hard work!    When it's all said and done, and everyone comes home in one piece, it will have been an Amazing adventure!!!

As for the burnt areas Trevor....they will stay standing for a few years after the fire and will eventually start falling over too.   But the big burnt trees act as lightening rods in the new regen.   But that won't affect us now.    If anything the pine beetle stuff that got burnt will have had the small branches cleared off the crowns and pose less of a risk of being blown over right away.    If you remember the second big crossing we did, just before the logging area, that area was burnt out and it was some of the fastest trail we had ;-)   Over the next five years after the fire you will see a lot of pine regen growing back thick and heavy, and it could start to grow over the trail if it's not used.     One note to make....burnt wood is very hard on saw chains.

Hope I didn't scare anyone away...that's not my intention.   It will be  a lot of work but it will also be very rewarding.     And if I'm not mistaken there was talk of adding a second rest day into the trip ;-)

[binch]

It's official....the whole gang from the 2015 is ready to tackle the AMT again ;-)

We better make sure there is more ice on this trip  ;D   LOL

[Trevor]

It's official....the whole gang from the 2015 is ready to tackle the AMT again ;-)

We better make sure there is more ice on this trip  ;D   LOL

Need some Yeti coolers for the ice...or another ARB on freezer mode!

[pechanec]

Haven't scared us off bunch, we love the trail blazing aspect of overlanding. Have a couple saws I use on a weekly basis out here at the homestead, and a pelican cooler! If I get my butt in gear, there will also be a folding tow bar available in case of major breakage( my non- folder has rescued several Jeep's now, but awkward to carry)

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[pechanec]

Binch! Stupid auto correct!

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