Russian-Res-Devils Loop
Distance: 76 miles
Climbing: 7,000 feet
Season: June, or late September
The gist:
Start at Devils Creek Trail Head, take the Seward Highway 2
miles to Tern Lake Picnic Area, and head down the Old Seward Highway to where
it meets up with Crescent Creek Road/Quartz Creek Road. For a 90 miler and an
additional 1500’ or so of climbing, add an out-and-back on Crescent Lake Trail.
Otherwise, follow Crescent Creek Road to Quartz Creek Road to the Sterling
Highway. Cross the highway, heading left toward Cooper, and take the first jeep
road immediately on the right. The jeep road climbs steeply. Stay left past the
junction with a cell tower. After passing a high point with a great overlook,
the road spits you back down on the highway briefly. Ride the shoulder carefully
for about 100 feet until you spot the ATV trail heading into the woods on the
right. The ATV trail is actually rather techy in places, even though it
parallels the roadway. It will briefly spit you back out on the shoulder twice
on the way to Cooper: first very briefly onto a gravel shoulder before heading
back into the woods; and again to cross a driveway (take the driveway for 20
feet and the ATV trail will dive left off the driveway), before eventually
joining a utility corridor. The corridor can get a little mucky, and trail will
exit to the left to follow a wide and safe gravel shoulder the rest of the way
to Cooper.
This ATV segment sounds more complicated than it actually is,
and is a million times safer to ride than riding the shoulder of the highway! The
short section of highway between Cooper Landing and Quartz Creek Road is not
safe to ride!
Head through Cooper, cross the Kenai River (pedestrian
bridge is located on downstream side of bridge), and cross the highway onto Snug
Harbor Road. Take Snug up to Russian Lakes trailhead. After riding the 20-some
miles of Russian Lakes trail, it may be worth taking a quick side trip toward
the campground to refill on water. This is close to the mid-point of the ride. When
you hit the trail head/parking lot, go left, up the campground road toward the
campgrounds. Water is available at the RV dump station on your left, maybe ¾ of
a mile.
From Russian, head down to the Sterling Highway, go left on
the highway to the Resurrection Pass Trail Head.
Take Res Pass Trail to Devils Junction, and drop down Devils
Creek Trail back to the TH and your car.
Hints:
This is a really smooth link up, with a lot of gravel to tie
the trails together, with very limited pavement. The trails themselves are pretty
easy: Russian is about as advanced as things get, but it’s a “descent” on this
route. As noted, the ATV connection between Quartz Creek Road and Cooper Landing
sounds complicated, but it’s literally an ATV trail next to the road, just keep
following it. Also as noted, it has a few short techy sections to keep it
interesting, and is a major asset to have as an alternative a connection to
avoid a very dangerous segment of roadway.
Water is available at the Tern Lake Picnic Area (two people
to use this pump), Quartz Creek Boat Launch (spigot), and the Russian River
Campground (spigot).
The season on this ride is pretty much June onward, and is
limited by snow in Res and Devils Pass early in the month, and vegetation on
Russian later in the month. It’s pretty likely that this ride will include some
snow drift cyclocross action through Devils Pass.
This loop could open up in September-Early October in cold
and dry autumns.
I hit this loop for the first time on 2016 with Carey G, and
again this year with Chuck D. Both years, the early to mid-June timeframe
seemed to be the money spot for low veg and few snow crossings.
Both years, I opted for the simpler 76-mile option, and both
years, the total ride time was around 7:45 at a reasonable pace, though could easily
be driven down by quite a bit with more motivation.
In a head-to-head between this loop or the Resurrection-Devils-Johnson
Loop (90 miles), I pick this one as my favorite.
Res-Devils-Johnson 2017
90 miles
8,000 Feet climbing
Time: Mid-June through July 4
I’d completed RDJ in various formats and rig choices in
2013, 14, and 15, but I just wasn’t super pleased with this route, and I took a
break from the RDJ last season. The forecasts and fast-growing veg on Johnson last
year didn’t inspire me to get after it.
This year, I had a choice for the weekend of June 24-25: do
Arctic MTB’s Double-Down Race on a course designed by Ryan G, and well suited for
someone who does well on climb-heavy and rooty courses (ya, that’s me), or head
to the Kenai. It was a tough call, but the forecast was spectacular, and with July
Fourth the following weekend – a holiday I try not to spend on the Peninsula – and
a summer so far lacking in sunny weekends, it seemed like a Kenai Epic was a
worthy pursuit.
Meredith was interested in riding the trail portion of the
RDJ this year, and after mulling some different options, we came up with a new
twist.
For starters, we’d ride the route clockwise, which is the
opposite direction of how I’ve always ridden it. We’d also start the ride at
the North Johnson Pass Trail Head, and this time, I’d employ a road bike for the
long road segment.
The key element to this plan was just that: we’d be leaving
my road bike at a colleague of Meredith, Doug’s, cabin, outside Hope.
The bane of this loop is it’s 28 miles of road (24 paved) between
North JP TH, and the North Resurrection Pass Trail Head. This long stretch of
pavement has long steered the counter-clockwise routing of the ride, as at
least that put the bulk of the hateful road riding pointed toward sea level.
I tried to ease the pain of this long road connection in
previous renditions by riding a hard tail for the whole loop, or having a hard
tail staged at the North JP TH for just the road portion.
I wasn’t sure that riding a road bike after 67 miles would
really make me think better of this loop, but it was obvious almost immediately:
the 24-miles between Doug’s and the car went way smoother and faster with drop
bars and 28c tires. Lest I say it, I really enjoyed the road connection!
The other two benefits however, were less apparent
beforehand, but definitely afterward. First, riding Johnson Pass north to south
right off the bat gets the most technical part of the ride out of the way immediately,
and second, climbing Devils and up to Res is downright pleasant compared to the
opposite. Climbing the north side of Res is the most tedious, dull, and hateful
section of trail on the Kenai…not that I have strong opinions on it or
anything...
Early on in the day, we bumped into Kenai 250 riders Aaron,
Dusty, Anson, and Kevin. I had a feeling we might see a few of the boys later
on.
The clouds lifted as rode through swarms of hatching bugs on
Johnson, but temps stayed reasonable. In the south Johnson TH I popped my
helmet off my head, and a mass of dead midges fell from my head!
We stopped at the “rust pipe” at Tern Lake Day Use Area on
the 7-mile road connection between south JP and Devils for a water refill. Up Devils
we caught back up with Kevin, and could see Anson a little ways off as we neared
the high point.
For time management (Meredith’s ride would end around 67
miles at Doug’s cabin, while mine would continue another 24 miles to the car)
we decided this would be a good time to split off.
I bombed through the descent to Hope, and onward to the
cabin. Having learned from before, I left the clock running through my
turnaround for feed-management purposes. I dumped my pack, changed to road
shoes, snapped in some dark lenses, and made sure to grab my car key.
I felt really good, and as I steered the road bike out onto
the Hope Highway, my legs told me to give it all I had.
I had an absolute blast powering up Hope Highway and onward
on the bike path to Johnson.
About a mile or two before I made it to the car, my legs
started to fizzle, so I tapped a little deeper, casting aside the thought of a
cool down, and spinning the Solace’s slick tires over loose stones right up the
short gravel road to the car.
I rolled in an awesome and complete physical and mental wreck.
Great ride.
Ready for a Kenai July epic?
Here’s my favorite:
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