Steady treading for Argo wood haul

Wintertime users of the cabin at Middle Ridge will be pleased to learn there's more fuel to burn.

With its elevated snowfall and roadway access, during the winter the spot is a popular staging area for residents keen on snowmobiling and skiing. Maintained by the U.S. Forest Service, users will often keep the stove going to warm up, with firewood provided by the Stikine Sportsmen Association.

The weather this winter has so far been fairly odd, with warmer than usual December temperatures keeping the road up to the cabin in a semi-snowy state, ill suited either for trucks or for snow machines. The weather suddenly changed for the colder last month before the wood could be resupplied, leaving cabin users without a reliable source of fuel.

Clay Hammer, Wrangell's electrical superintendent and a member of the Southeast Alaska Power Agency board, thought he had an idea to solve the situation. SEAPA has an Argo Frontier eight-wheel all-terrain vehicle, which is amphibious and equipped with tank treads. Able to lug just under half a ton, Hammer thought the vehicle would be uniquely suited to the task of resupplying the cabin.

"This kind of presented a unique opportunity to try out," he said.

SEAPA approved the use of its Argo for the run, with two of its maintenance crew conveying about a cord of firewood up the steep, mountainous gravel road. Staging from Tunnel Creek Road down below, Hammer accompanied them on his snowmobile to see how the Argo worked. Also a member of the fire department, he said it has been its interest to collaborate on some cross-training on the Argo for possible search and rescue purposes.

Hammer had been an early proponent of the machine, having come across one when a contractor was undertaking a transmission line job on the outlying islands. He'd first been skeptical of the squat, blocky Argo, which he assumed would be unable to navigate the stumps and holes of the surrounding muskegs.

"I had to completely eat crow on this one," he said.

SEAPA subsequently acquired one for itself, able to fit in the bow of the agency's landing craft and haul linemen and equipment across uncooperative terrain.

Approaching the wood resupply early last week, a planned run hauling a trailer up the hill had to be ruled out, so the team instead took several trips up to the cabin. The going was slow, but steady, Hammer estimating about a seven mile per hour run speed. He was surprised by how it handled the rutted road, despite its seemingly low clearance.

"This thing was a much flatter, smoother ride than what you'd get out of a snow machine or four-wheeler, anything like that," he said.

It's for this reason he thinks the machine could be useful in certain emergency situations, particularly where access by helicopter is not safe or possible. The ride back would be less jarring to a potential patient.

SEAPA is currently trying to get wider use of its Argo, applying with USFS to use it on select areas of the Tyee transmission line's right-of-way. A decision notice was published in early January, and after a 45-day objection period ends the agency anticipates being able to implement procedures for use of the vehicle in its maintenance operations, likely at the start of March.