Swede lake

[AK Bearcat]

Has anyone been on the Swede lake trail off the Denali Highway lately? We are thinking of doing a trip back to Dickey lake this weekend and was wondering what condition the trail is in.
Thank you

[mod elan]

Swede Lake Trail

I haven't been on it lately, but BLM has been in there for a few years fixing various areas of the trail. Mostly before the river, but I know they went across the river at least once this year. That's all I know right now.

[broncoformudv]

I went in the week of the 4th in my truck and didn't have any problems, the crossing was low and once you made it up the hill the rest of trhe way was pretty dry(one muddy spot) only about two or three boggy spots before the middle fork. Ddidn't see any of the atv's having any problems. BLM has done a lot of repairs in the area, some seemed to of worked others I am still wondering about. That was the first time I had been in since 97.

[mod elan]

What Bronco^^ said. BLM is still having trouble trying to fix up the last mile or so before the river. Every time they get in there it rains and they can't do what they need to make the repairs hold.

On a side note: At least BLM is making the effort to repair trails and keep them open. Don't know what the Park is gonna do. What I've herd so far isn't good

[chef viktor]

suide lake

When you were back in that area around the 4th did anyone see any caribou? I am debating on going in there opening day. Thanks Viktor

[Contender]

Interesting, I used to hunt back in there for years with my Cushman Trackster. There was no upkeep on the trail and there was one real bad spot before the turn to Swede Lake and another just this side of the river. You wouldn't have been driving trucks in there back in those days as it was all track vehicles and farm tractors with tracks on them. When the 3 wheelers and then the 4 wheelers came out it was getting very crowded at my moose camp. Also I never qualified anymore for the tier two caribou so I gave up on the area and just have my memories and pictures of a lot of moose shot back in there.

[broncoformudv]

Didn't hear of any caribou sightings nor did we see any sign of them. Did have a wolf howl while I was fishing Dicky one night, thought that was pretty cool.

Ran in to the BLM guys the last day they went in to Dicky then turned right around and came back out just checking the trail out. Talked to the older gentleman in the group on a 6x6 atv based out of Glenallen. He was explaining all of the fighting between the feds/state/and blm for the trail use off the Denali HWY. I wasn't able to make the meeting in Anchorage when it was brought up and have not heard what the latest news is.

It will be a real shame if they put more restrictions on that area.

[mod elan]

I make it a point to sign in at every trail head where they have a log book posted and would recommend others to do so. We need to make sure they (gov't) know how many people use these trails.

Contender: I know how you feel. We used to hunt with track rigs. Unfortunately as wheelers got better and the trail we were on started drying out, we got overrun with ATV's. So we built big trucks and went to an area with less mud, but a lot of deep river crossings to get away from the swarms. Now we rely on draw hunts and winter caribou.

[AK Bearcat]

Swede Lake

We went to Swede lake this weekend and had a good time. We had 13 riders, some of which had never ridden before. I was surprised as to the conition of the trail. BLM, or who ever, has done a good job on the trail. That country is always hard to put a good trail in and keep it that way. The kids with us had a good time catching grayling, which were biting good. We went all the way to Dickey lake and again had a good time fishing. We saw one set of grizzly tracks on the trail befoe the lake and some caribou tracks on the trail. Friday and Saturday the trail was dry and DUSTY. Those in the back of the pack caught lots of dust. I would be willing to bet that once hunting season starts and the area gets more rain, the trail is going to get UGLY. Also a good job was done at the trail head parking area. All we need to do now is to help keep it clean and in good condition.
I hope that everyone enjoyes the area as much as we did this last weekend.