Jess Kayser Forster, Jenn Walsh and Mandy Park skied with the children and Chariot strollers along Chilkoot Lake Road Sunday. Walsh hauled nearly 100 pounds including her two children and gear to get to the lake. Alaska State Parks recently chose to close the road to motor-vehicles every winter.
Alaska State Parks has permanently closed the Chilkoot Lake corridor road to motorized vehicle traffic during the winter months, citing lack of funding to patrol the popular wintertime recreation area that has experienced vandalism and vehicle accidents in recent years.
“The gate will be closed approximately the beginning of November or possibly sooner depending on weather (and) snowfall,” said state parks Southeast superintendent Preston Kroes. “Throughout the years there has been a variety of vandalism and unwanted activity occurring back in the park, the campground and parking lot area, including cutting the lock off the campground gate by unknown individuals who caused a variety of problems with the park facilities, and a variety of other miscellaneous incidents.”
Kroes said a driver created deep ruts in the snow-covered road in November and drove over and became stuck on wooden posts at the lake’s parking area and caused additional damage. In the fall of 2019, a pickup slid off the road into the river.
“Both of these situations could have easily ended in severe injury or fatalities during the time of year when we do not have a daily presence or patrols due to limited budget and staffing. The closed gate limiting access by foot likely could have prevented both these incidents,” Kroes said. “The gate closure is a great preventative tool during the winter season that is applied in most state park units around the state, including Chilkat State Park Road, which has been gated every winter season for decades.”
The gate closure didn’t stop residents from hiking, snowshoeing, fat-tire biking and cross- country skiing to the frozen lake on Sunday where skaters enjoyed a sunny day on the ice. Jenn Walsh, mother of two young children, and her friends skied while pulling strollers with ski attachments along the snow-packed road to reach the lake. Walsh said between her kids and the gear, she pulled nearly 100 pounds.
“We all parked at 11 a.m., but we didn’t get to the skating until almost 3 p.m. Getting toddlers or kids across that mile or so of road and the need to bring the whole kit to the lake is so much more work,” Walsh said. “I should have felt more fortunate for all the time we could drive out there. I wish they would reconsider it, but it’s way too hard to argue with the budget. It’s disappointing the budget doesn’t allow for easier access for families with young children.”
Parks and Recreation Committee chair Scott Sundberg last week made a motion to recommend that the borough assembly ask Alaska State Parks to keep the road open to vehicle traffic during the winter. “They close the campground portion, which I think is reasonable, but the road itself, I don’t know why they’re closing it. It makes it harder to get back there and ice skate or recreate.”
He later withdrew the motion after hearing State Parks’ reasoning for closing the road because he didn’t think the borough would be successful in its request.
Kroes acknowledged that there “may be some user inconvenience in certain instances, but the park is open for use the entire year, just not the road itself for vehicle traffic.”
The corridor is slated for road improvements in the spring. The project includes repaving the road, improving drainage, installing bear-viewing platforms, creating designated parking and commercial vehicle drop-off areas, and constructing a pedestrian pathway to keep people off the road.