I planned to tow my sled from Iola in Kansas to Garnett along the Prairie Spirit Trail, this is an ex railway line that has been converted to an excellent flat, straight trail. The full trail is 51 miles long, I aimed to travel the 26 miles to Garnett and on for 2 to 3 miles further to the campsite.
I spent a couple of evenings buying wheels and other tackle from pawn shops and hardware stores and fitting them to the sled. I'd spoken to a park ranger who had informed me that the trail was 'like tarmac', so I had designed the wheels accordingly. I'd packed everything needed for a 2 day outing including much of my YAU kit for testing: sleeping mat, sleeping bag (which would have been too hot), stove, flasks, new 1 man lightweight tent, sled towing system, freeze dried meals, trail-mix, etc..
The trail was not to be used during the hours of darkness and no camping was permitted, the plan was to set off at 7am and average a speed of 3mph, including rests, which would get me to the campsite about 10 hours later at sun-down.
The first 9 miles of the trail were covered with an inch of wet snow, all other snow had melted except on the trail, I considered removing running gear but suspected the snow would cease soon and I was short of time. This made dragging the sled a strenuous affair and put a considerable strain on the sled until it buckled and was digging itself into the trail.
A running repair stiffened the base sufficiently but cost 30 minutes in time. (I found a piece of wood that I screwed inside the base of the sled then wired the centre of the sled base to the wood..).
I averaged 2mph over the first 10 miles, I'd used up half of the available daylight and covered one third of the route, I needed to speed up and accepted that I would be travelling for a few hours along the trail in the dark.
The trail was largely tree lined with some open expanses providing views of the prairie which was predominantly farm land. I saw a lot of cattle, a few owls, squirrels, deer, rabbits and much bird life. I did not see any other human traffic. I regularly saw a very striking bright red bird and tried without success to snap a photo, so here's one from t'internet.
Its a Northern Cardinal, more widely seen in the Angry Birds computer game.
At mile 10 the snow cleared from the trail but the trail was very wet so I was not able to speed up, each of the three wheels ploughed a track half a cm deep.
I passed through Welda at 18 miles and soon after the sun set, I still had 10 miles to the campsite. Dogs were barking from each farm and then the Coyotes started howling from the fields, I started thinking there may be a reason why trail use is not permitted after dark. The temperature dropped below freezing and I switched off the ipod so I could hear any inquisitive animals approaching. Then the rear axle snapped...
10mm of threaded steel, surely that should have been strong enough... I had no real option but to remove the remainder of the rear axle and wheel and return the 2 miles to Welda. I disturbed my wife's movie night to recruit help in finding taxi numbers to get me back to the car in Iola. Lucy could find none so sent me the numbers of the local police(!).
I arrived back in Welda to a chorus of all the towns dogs barking at me, I thought should I call the police before someone else does? Some people appeared with torches to see what all the commotion was about, the sled made quite a noise but not as much as the dogs. I walked over to the elderly couple with the torches and tried to explain myself (not an easy sport in a very sleepy Kansas town 100 miles from Wichita). I called the police in Iola and Garnett to enquire of taxi numbers - there were none. The couple very generously offered to drive me the 20 miles to my car, we had a good chat about the trail, which they lived alongside, they remembered the last train to pass through back in the 60's. They also said there were bob cats and cougars on the trail to Garnett(!). An hour and a half's drive had me back in Wichita for 9pm.
Not quite the outing planned but good strenuous training, very touched by the generosity of the first people I met in Welda and back in time for a shandy and some real food in the warm.
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