Archangel Road Ski

I downhill skied up at Skeetawk all day yesterday. But Fridays are usually the days I spend hiking or skiing with my friend Pam. Today we skied the groomed trail along Archangel Road in the Hatcher Pass area. Of course we had our two dogs, Bella and Dahla. They get along with each other so well. I generally keep Bella on her leash, but especially on this route because signs remind us that there is trapping along this road. Dogs tend to run off the main trail, which could result in a tragedy for our dogs. Pam doesn't like keeping Dahla on leash, which is generally OK because Dahla tends to stay right by her side. Gahla is an 18 pound Lhasa Apso. Bella is much smaller and loves to run after people and other dogs. I never want her near loose dogs that are often seen along this road. The ski conditions were perfect and it was a gorgeous sunny warm day. We skied to the bridge, which is where we meet the area that allows snow machine traffic. It's our usual turning around point. I felt like I barely got a workout because Bella likes to run, and pulls so hard that I could almost have made the trip by simply standing still. But of course, I do push hard enough that she doesn't end up doing all the work. On our way back as we were flying down a steep section inside the groomed ski tracks, I noticed Dahla was on longer in sight. We stopped and Pam called and called out to her and we still didn't see her. We turned back with both of us calling. I suddenly thought I saw movement a few hundred feet to my left in the deep snow. It was Dahla. She was intent on investigating or chasing something way out there. It took awhile to finally get her attention and she eventually started moving, but not exactly towards us. There was a deep slope between her location and ours and we weren't sure how well we could negotiate that on our skinny skis. She eventually made her way back to us, but it was quite a scare. Pam put her on her leash as we continued on back to the trailhead. Dahla tends to walk beside Pam, but Bella acts more like an Iditarod lead dog headed to Nome, by pulling me at breakneck speed, especially on the steep downhills. I had a couple of interesting encounters as we passed other skiers with dogs heading up the trail. Bella forgets that her destination is straight ahead and suddenly veers in the direction of the other dogs. This causes me to do some serious yelling and grabbing onto her leash as I try to keep from getting pulled off my feet into a pile of broken bones. She is gradually starting to understand the command "On By"!
All in all, it was a beautiful 4 mile ski trip.

The Archangel Creek Bridge