This is a report for Dave Chenault's trip report contest.

Trip Report on the 'Coal Wood Glitter' route, including the tail-end of the Black Rapids to McKinley Village Alaska Mountain Wilderness Classic route:
http://www.joshspice.com/2011/08/coal-wood-glitter-third-times-charm.html

Bump!


Josh, what route did you guys use going down Edgar to the Yanert? The brush we found in Dick Creek (going down the gut to the horse trail) was such a low point of the classic, and it's been burned into my mind that there must be a faster way. For us, I think staying high on the west above the brush and heading down once we got in to the Yanert valley proper might have saved an hour.

Maybe.

first, sorry i haven't seen your post on here since i put the thread up. i never got an e-mail saying you replied, like i thought i would, so i never went back to check.
on the route: we obviously went up over big griz and then camped in driving rain about a mile or so into the edgar valley from the pass. (then woke up to snow!) we literally had some sort of trail over about 95% of the entire route, including game (some say horse) trails down edgar creek to the yanert. at times, the brush was really old & thick, but there was almost always a 'trail' on the ground and it wasn't all that slow, just lots of parting branches. we stayed on the east side of the creek, since the west side cliffs out, all the way to the yanert. although it's shorter (mileage) to do Dick creek, i couldn't be convinced otherwise that it's faster than big griz/edgar. bg/e is a straight-line shot from the wood to yanert, with good hiking. the yanert flows twice as fast, if not faster, than what anyone (minus luc mehl) would be walking at that point in the race/route. from what i saw from the yanert, yeah... i pity your memories of Dick creek! eek.
if you want, let's continue this chat through e-mail: joshspice@gmail.com
later dave. take care and thanks for doing the trip report contest.