Another Lost Coast expedition

[ScottM]

Anyone see this?

Looks like another duo is setting off to ride and packraft the Lost Coast.

http://www.bikingthelostcoast.com/

They have live twitter updates via a PN-60 with SPOT attachment.

Anyone know if there's any difference between their route and the route Eric/Dylan did a couple years back?  (Their site: http://lostcoastbike.blogspot.com/)

[wdlandparker]

Well, if I had to guess, and I am, I would say they are taking all the things dylan and eric did that sucked and axing them, making the route a bit more enjoyable. I could be wrong though...

[caseygreene]

Here is the route Eric and Dylan did. Looks pretty much the same.

[Eric]

Hey Guys,
Cam and Brett are skipping the Joys of Hubbard Gap and headed across the west side of the peninsula that divides Russel Fjord and Disenchantment Bay to make for a shorter and safer crossing. This probably cuts about 4 days off the whole trip but otherwise same route. Not sure what they are planning when they get to the Copper river Delta. Cameron is a pro photographer so his photos should be stunning. He flew most of the route 20' off the ground last summer (works as a mountain pilot up here) so he got pumped for the bike attempt after doing that and hearing of our trip. Hope all is going well for them.

great job on the map Casey!

[caseygreene]

Thanks Eric,
Had some good shaded relief to work off of. The Park Service stuff is public domain and this one happens to be a piece that was airbrushed by hand. Whoever did this (i cant make out his name) would have only used aerial photos and contours. No computers. The glacial representation is top notch. Here is a raw clip of the relief image file:

[aljee]

i tried taking it into PS and adjusting the contrast/brightness to get it a bit more readable. i still couldn't make it out, but here is the adjusted image in case someone else could.
btw, while looking around with a popular search engine a bit for who did this, i came across a very extensive list of old topo maps for Alaska. i thought it was worth sharing: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/topo/alaska/

also, has anyone been able to get to their site lately? apparently it was infected at some point and now i can't seem to get past the blocks.
i talked to Cameron a bit on flickr. nice guy. look forward to checking in on their trip.

OT: hey Casey, i am a cartographer too! working for the regional government in the Portland area, Metro. Adventure Cycling sounds like a cool place to work and Missoula must be a great place to ride.

[Eric]

that is pretty impressive being hand drawn.
Too bad their site got hacked.  

Here are some photos of that area;
Malaspina Glacier narrows:


Mt Saint Elias


 from Icy bay.. 18,000' vertical relief... huge!

[ScottM]

That hand drawn relief map is super cool.

I grabbed their SPOT info before their site went down, and it appears things are going well (see map).

Last few messages:

"today, also saw a grizzly catching fish"
"With a huge tailwind we had great riding"
"Just crossed the ice-filled Seal River"
"Found our first glass bouy"
"ATVer dumped trash all along the beach "
"Hurricane-ish winds, tailwind at least"

[Eric]

awesome! they are doing great. Scott what is the url for that spot page?
Here is where they are now:
Kinda gnar before the seal river.

Seal river, this one was enormous and just ripping, we had to cross 1/2 mile up on that bend to not be flushed out to the ocean

Cape Suckling -fitting name, wishing for low tide.

Riding out the Oaklee spit

[aljee]

i must do this before i die.

[jeremy11]

This kind of trip is so on my wishlist for life.  They need to throw down some fixie freestyle stuff on a firm beach up there.

[Eric]

we did not see too many hipsters out there.

[caseygreene]

eric: oooofff, those are great photos. really puts the relief in perspective.
aljee: missoula is a pretty awesome place to ride, unless you like technical stuff, which i'm terrible at. (Say hi to Matthew Hampton for me over there at Metro )

[caseygreene]

Looks like they got back a couple days ago: http://www.bikingthelostcoast.com/blog/note/were-baaaaack/

Eric, i love this video you guys made of your trip:

Lost Coast Trailer

[aljee]

"aljee: missoula is a pretty awesome place to ride, unless you like technical stuff, which i'm terrible at. (Say hi to Matthew Hampton for me over there at Metro thumbsup )"

haha, will do! i see him pretty much everyday. lot's to learn from that guy.

i am thinking of going freelance someday, so i might be hitting you up with some questions soon.

RE: fixed freestyle - i can almost ride my pugs backwards fixed pretty well, but it would be a lot harder on the sand and rocks!