Yentna- Skwenta- Finger
Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2022 4:57 pmWillow to Yentna Station ....................................................................................................42 miles
The trail begins on Willow Lake, travels across frozen lakes and swamps before the trail winds through a birch forest before dropping onto the Big Susitna River via Corral Hill. Most of the trail is flat. Once theteamsdropontotheBig SusitnaRivertheytravelviarivertotheYentnaStationCheckpoint,whichis located on the Yentna River.
Yentna Station to Skwentna................................................................................................30 miles
The mushers run the Yentna all the way to the confluence with the Skwentna River and the town of Skwentna, three miles from the mouth. These slow moving glacial rivers normally provide very good trails. They are all from one fourth to more than a mile wide and freeze thick enough to provide a good trail until late into the winter. Hazards are sometimes plentiful with rough ice to manhandle a sled over and around. Overflow, water running on top of the ice, can be a very real problem in some.
It’s uphill most of the way to Finger Lake, but the trail isn’t overly tough. The trail leaves Skwentna southbound on the Skwentna River, cuts off the left bank to parallel the river in a swamp for eight miles, then swings west to cross the river at the site of the old Skwentna Roadhouse about ten miles out. It then climbs up into the heavily wooded Shell Hills for a mile and a half, down through open swamps and wooded areas to cross Shell Creek after another mile and a half, then on for another three miles across small lakes, swamps, and woods to Onestone Lake, where you’re about 25 miles from Finger Lake. After two-mile-long Onestone Lake, the trail works west along open swamps and meadows, through occasional treelines, and across a few lakes, steadily climbing to Finger Lake.
The trail begins on Willow Lake, travels across frozen lakes and swamps before the trail winds through a birch forest before dropping onto the Big Susitna River via Corral Hill. Most of the trail is flat. Once theteamsdropontotheBig SusitnaRivertheytravelviarivertotheYentnaStationCheckpoint,whichis located on the Yentna River.
Yentna Station to Skwentna................................................................................................30 miles
The mushers run the Yentna all the way to the confluence with the Skwentna River and the town of Skwentna, three miles from the mouth. These slow moving glacial rivers normally provide very good trails. They are all from one fourth to more than a mile wide and freeze thick enough to provide a good trail until late into the winter. Hazards are sometimes plentiful with rough ice to manhandle a sled over and around. Overflow, water running on top of the ice, can be a very real problem in some.
It’s uphill most of the way to Finger Lake, but the trail isn’t overly tough. The trail leaves Skwentna southbound on the Skwentna River, cuts off the left bank to parallel the river in a swamp for eight miles, then swings west to cross the river at the site of the old Skwentna Roadhouse about ten miles out. It then climbs up into the heavily wooded Shell Hills for a mile and a half, down through open swamps and wooded areas to cross Shell Creek after another mile and a half, then on for another three miles across small lakes, swamps, and woods to Onestone Lake, where you’re about 25 miles from Finger Lake. After two-mile-long Onestone Lake, the trail works west along open swamps and meadows, through occasional treelines, and across a few lakes, steadily climbing to Finger Lake.