Had a good feeling when this came up as the first picture from the trip. After driving out to Dry Creek the day before, this Johnson River ride started a long day of biking and driving-sightseeing. Perfect conditions for winter play and the river ice seemed at a higher level of variety and beauty. I guessed it was result of our snow drought and record warmth. Whatever the cause, I've traveled river ice and overflow for 30 years and never seen anything like it.

I was using my first set of Nokian Extremes and with the snow cat rims the traction attained almost made me forget ice was underneath. Most of the ice had surface that would have allowed fairly normal riding even without studs but the occasional slick as snot spot was traversed without a change of handling or pace and no way could I have done that without the Extremes.

About 7-8 miles in, the good ice was getting covered more and more by 3-5 inch deep snow that was crusty and very hard to pedal through. The wind was also picking up and coming from the mountains, as usual, so it was time to head back with the tailwind.

Coming back, one long stretch was so perfect I got into a rhythm propelled by the tailwind and hard, mainly smooth, ice. Suddenly there were no more gears to grab and I was smoking over the ice, flying over a huge horizontal canvas that an army of artists and engineers couldn't replicate. Slowed down to enjoy a series of miniature stiff snowdrifts.

Getting closer to the bridge and the end of a 3 plus hour ride. Great start to a week of spring riding in a favorite spot.

The next morning I got an early start, which is the rule for late spring riding. You want to get the trail riding in before the temperatures climb much above freezing. River and creek ice riding is best in the cool mornings too, but it's not as critical; the surface will get a little softer but unlike trail riding, the bottom won't fall out and leave a hard slog home. Rode familiar trails to the horse trail and headed up. It's a gentle climb towards the mountains which crosses some swampy spots before getting steeper as it enters beautiful spruce forest with moss covered floor. Got near the hunting camp where the trail gets really steep as you hit the edge of the mountains and what's this? A new trail busted out by snowmachine heading west off the main trail.

Rough at first this trail improved as it wound down through some deep spruce forest. Narrow and twisty it was a great treat in an area where I have a long history with all the other trails. It only went a mile or so but every foot was appreciated.

Back to the head of the horse trail and headed out Lynx Point trail. Lots of up and down on this trail and parts were very icy; the Extremes continued to impress. My confidence in them grew by the minute and it was a blast to motor over stuff that without studs would have had me creeping if not dismounting and pushing. This is a sweet trail that used to be winter only but via 4-wheeler and horse use over the years has become a fun and challenging summer trail too.

The Lynx Point trail runs East-West along the edge of the mountains and some years is not well packed. This year I was able to ride almost as far as I'd ever gone. The picture above left shows how the packed trail petered out and this was as far as I got. The picture on the right shows how the trail looks just a hundred feet from the other picture.

It was only 2 years ago that the creek overflow ice was the most I'd ever seen. Well this spring had that beat. Like the river ice conditions, I attribute the amount of ice to the record warm temps and severe snow drought of last winter. Under the ice in this picture is a rock and boulder strewn creek. Coming down the steeply dropping creek with a trailerload of water, the Extremes showed their worth again. Except for a straggler or two and spots on the higher sides, no rocks were above the ice until you got up creek to the water hole.

Woke up one morning and was delighted and amazed to see the results of Mark's little runoff stream depositing a load of yellowish runoff water sometime during the night out in front of Charlie's. There was an initial larger flow which tapered off leaving beautiful and almost eerily large crystalline forms suspended inches above the overflow ice and an inch or two of water. Below, you can see this surrounding some blue overflow creek ice which was higher, having formed a typical swollen, cracked hump.

There's not enough room to show all the different forms this ice took but here's a couple of shots that hopefully capture a tiny bit of this winter treat. The small tree on the extreme right of the next picture is about 3-4 inches in diameter.

Some of the larger pointed crystals above are almost 2 feet long.

Did a couple of rides on the lower section of the Johnson River. Came upon this yoni and felt compelled to ride right down the middle.

On one of these rides the lack of snow tempted me to make a rare visit on the frozen Tanana River. The Tanana is a major river and doesn't get overflow like the much smaller Johnson, so it is snow covered and not usually ridable. This far from any town or village there are seldom snowmachine tracks and when present are almost never packed enough to ride. Due to the lack of snow the Tanana ice was available for riding but must admit it took a bit of riding near the southern bank before I worked up the nerve to cross. By the end of the visit I was riding back and forth and, although it became more comfortable, the fact that I never once knew for sure when I was on top of the main channel was bothersome. Rode up and around a corner where my friend Dennis used to have burbot lines set at the bottom of the ridge at left. Bike is in background at right.

The picture on left above is from the Tanana looking back towards the Johnson River and surrounding riverbottom. On right is the required shot of the crack where the Johnson flats meet the Tanana.

While out on the Tanana, I saw what was perhaps was oddest river ice I'd ever seen. Crossed a few spots about 10ft by 10ft of this stuff that was about the size of uncooked macaroni.

Took some pictures including a close up with studded tire. When I got home and saw this on the computer screen...well lets just say it got a wow when the intricate detail jumped out.

Riding upstream on the Johnson revealed this icebridge providing access to the western side of the flats. Took this picture of water running below the surface of the ice into the river just on the other side of the icebridge. The sound of that much water dripping was somehow comforting after the long rigid winter.

The first picture below is from the Tanana downstream of the Johnson. I did quite a bit of exploring this day, even following a slough which curved around to the north of the Tanana creating a good sized island. You're looking south from the river and the big ravine heading into the mountains is the path of Dry Creek. On the left ridge where light and shadow meet is the general course of the trail going up to the Macomb Plateau and the next shot was taken this summer from the edge of the plateau looking back at the Johnson River and the gravel bars leading to the Tanana River running thickly along the bluff. The church people's fields are to the east, part of George Lake is on top. This Lake is so beautiful, with sandy beaches and such great fishing, that the Indians living locally considered it a vacation spot. The straight line at bottom is the Alaska Highway and just above middle left you see the bluff descending and the beginning of the slough and island.

It was so beautiful and with all the interesting ice forms hard to make progress, as photos were required almost constantly in some stretches. This picture was so odd and I'm glad it captured the unusual setting. Notice how the shadow doesn't seem to match the stump? Walking around it made the illusion even stronger.

As great as all the trails, creek and river riding was, it all took a back seat to what I ended up calling the "Icepark". On the first ride down the creek I came upon some ice flowing over the bank and joining the overflow ice on the creek. With the studs I thought why not see if they will get me up the short, steep, icy bank, no problem. Now I'm on ice in a brushy area and putting along when suddenly it opens up and I can't believe my eyes. There is a huge ice covered area gently sloping up to a steep ridge which has 4 springs creating all the ice. All told there must have been 20-30 acres of ridable ice. On the lower areas it was almost flat where it covered a boggy spot. While the ice was more technically demanding than the upper sections there were some beautiful frozen forms to ride around.

You can see some of the upper section of the icepark in the background of the photo above.

On the larger area the gentle slope gave way to a series of terrace-like ledges which ran up to the springs and provided fantastic testing grounds for the Nokian Extremes.

I rode here after morning river and trail riding. With the studs I was soon climbing right up the steepest ledges which led to feeling spooked about descending until the Extremes once again proved their worth. Ledges that I was initially attacking by switchbacking up were soon being bombed straight up. Finally had to go slow up the steepest ledge depending only on traction, no momentum to get the tires to slip and even then they slipped only for a moment before a weight shift had them biting again. Simply amazing performance.

The ice ran into trees in places and it was fun picking a winding path between them.

As always winter conditions make for great biking and pictures. Here are 3 of my favorite photos from the 10 days spent at Dry Creek this last April.