snowmobiling and skiing at Chena Lakes

[akcampr]

We got the MH out to see how it can do in the winter weather now that it has warmed up some. Camped at Chena Lakes Rec Area near North Pole, Alaska. It got down to -22F on Friday night, but was a gorgeous day on Saturday, and only got down to -2F on Sat night. We rode our snowmobiles, went ice fishing in the lake and caught a few rainbow trout and one arctic char. Ice thickness about 40" so I was glad to have a gas auger. The camping loops are closed, so we parked by ourselves in the main parking lot.

[rewaters49]

"Warm days and cool nights" is my mantra, but I AM curious. What's it like camping in temps that low? What's the average temp inside your MH? What kind of furnace do you run? Have you done any additional insulating? Do you have to have any kind of block heater to get the coach started? Your pics are good and it looks like a beautiful place - it's just that my brain locks up somewhere around +20 degrees.

[Superslif]

Drove thru Chena Rec Rv park back in Aug of 08'. My sister-n-law lives one exit west of there in Santa Claus Estates. We visit them about every 3rd year. I notice a good deal of people have RV's in that section of Alaska. Do people in that area do a lot of weekend camping? When we retire, plan to spend a good deal of a summer up there. Been to Valdez, Chena Hot Springs, Denali, Kenai and as far north as Circle.

[akcampr]

We keep the thermostat set to 65 inside. We made insulated window quilts for all the windows using "warm window" thermal material. They have a nice website. We have the factory 35K propane furnace and 4 12v batteries. We run the genny about 3 hours in the morning and 3 hours before bed mainly for charging the batteries. Whenever the genny is running, we have an electric heater or two running. At night we use a buddy heater to supplement the heat and save further on battery use. Also plug in an electric blanket to warm the bed while the genny is running in the evening. I don't have a block heater on the engine of the MH, any colder and I don't take it out. Our cars have block heater, oil pan heater, transmission pan heater and trickle charger installed to help with starting in temps below -20.
There are lots of RV's around here, of every type and price range. Many used for weekend camping, hunting and fishing. Most are stored until around May. Next weekend there will be a few thousand RV's in the mountains between Fairbanks and Valdez for a skiing/snowmobile race called Arctic Man, all boondocking.

[two slides]

Well, you sure know how to get us lower 48 snowmobile riders upset.
most state trails here in the midwest officially closed April 1st. last time I was out was February. oh well, it's time to put them to bed for another season.

scenery looks super ---- take an extra ride for me.

[JoHenry]

We are in Montana and we would love to take our snow mobiles out in the winter, but are in a quandry about things freezing up and getting all the gear dry for the next day's riding. However, if its below zero there isn't much freezing going on! Glad your MH is a true 4 season rig!