Gold Mint Trail

 I hiked with the Valley Wanderers today. They followed my suggestion of the Gold Mint Trail because everywhere else the trails are solid ice. This trail is in the same area as the Archangel and Independence Trails that I have been skiing all week. Pam joined us with her dog, Dahla plus Terry had her dog, Chili Julia had her dogs, Trigger and Pumba also. So Bella had lots of doggie buddies to run with.  She loves to run along with the big dogs. She looks so tiny next to them. It was fabulous conditions for hiking today. The trail is very well boot packed and we didn't need snowshoes or ice grippers. We went out to the 3.2 mile spot where the view opens up and you can see the glaciated mountains up ahead. It's so pretty back there. One day I hope to go all the way back to the Mint Hut at mile 9. But that will have to be in summer because we barely made it out by sunset at 4 pm. We saw a couple of moose running along through the snow out on a flat area across the river. Pam's dog was packing a bunch of snowballs today but for some reason, Bella didn't have as much trouble with them. I was able to pick them off periodically and keep her pretty comfortable on the 6 mile hike. It started snowing a little once we got back to the parking lot. On my way down the mountain, I noticed the snow turned to rain. It was 40 degrees in Palmer when I got home. A huge winter storm is due tonight with 70-100 mph wind and mostly rain rather than snow. I'm wondering what that will do to the nice fresh snow from this week. Plus I plan to Ski Patrol up at Skeetawk, the local ski area tomorrow morning. That could be interesting! But today was a really nice hike.

Archangel Road Ski

 Today is Friday and I usually hike or ski with my friend Pam on Fridays. More snow fell overnight and I even had to use my snowblower to clear my driveway. We met up at Archangel Road and actually found parking places. The fresh grooming was now covered with about 4 inches of new snow. But it made for wonderful ski conditions. I'm still struggling with my skate skis but found I was finally able to make some progress. On slightly downhill areas I could really get the right skating rhythm. But it was still a lot of work on the uphill sections. It was snowing hard the entire time and we were both getting wet. Both of our dogs were collecting huge snowballs on their feet. Bella has long hair and by the time we were back I think she had the equivalent of her own weight in snowballs alone hanging from her poor little body. We skied to the bridge and back, close to 5 miles. I stopped now and then to remove snowballs from Bella. Back at the trailhead, she couldn't jump up to climb over the snow berm to get back to the car. I found she had a gigantic pile of snow on the whole underside of her body. I had to remove that to get her back down to the car. In the car I found that she had numerous snowballs the size of baseballs hanging from her legs. I cleaned them off at the lodge then we went in the lodge for a nice lunch. They allow dogs in the restaurant and even give the dogs a treat called a pupucino, which consists of a milk bone covered in whip cream. Both dogs thoroughly enjoyed that. Pam and I enjoyed salmon burgers. I realized that I needed to buy some actual skate ski poles instead of struggling with my heavy adjustable snowshoe poles. So I stopped into Backcountry Bike and Ski shop and picked up the best ones they had. I hope they will be helpful the next time I ski. The poles are important in skate skiing because they are used to push from behind. They need to be the right length and have the right wrist straps. I'm sure that will help. I was soaked from the snowstorm so spent tonight drying things out.

Independence Mine Ski

 I saw on the Mat-Su Ski Club site that Archangel Road was groomed this morning. So I packed up my skate skis and raced up there to get in some good practice on the nicely groomed trail. Unfortunately, everyone else in the area had the same idea. There was absolutely no place to park. Plus there were at least 4 large loose dogs running around the crowded parking lot. So I knew that even if I could squeeze in somewhere, I wouldn't dare try to get out of the car with Bella, who would be barking her head off. I gave up and went back up to the mine. It's such a steep slope, but at least it had some nice fresh snow and I could get some exercise and enjoy the nice views. I struggled to get all the way up to the mine buildings. I ended up needing to let Bella run off her leash. She had to stop and sniff every few feet and was dragging me all over the slope. The weather was also moving in so I didn't get as far as I had hoped. I turned off the main road into the parking area for the mine, but lost sight of the trail due to the low visibility. Bella ran all the way to the mine buildings but came running back when I called her. It was starting to snow a little now too. We turned back and I enjoyed a nice fast trip back down the steep road. Suddenly I saw the huge groomer vehicle heading up the road. I was glad Bella came running back when I frantically called her. I hooked her leash to her and we moved off the trail to let him by. I kept her on the leash after that and we had a really fast trip the rest of the way down. Except for one little mishap. The groomer had brought a few small twigs to the surface as he passed. One on my skis caught a tiny one and sent me flying to the ground. I landed on my right hip. I wasn't hurt but it took me a minute or two to drag myself back to standing. She had a very puzzled look on her face seeing me lying on the ground. Once standing up we once again were speeding straight down the road and back to the car. It was really fun on the freshly groomed trail. 

Archangel Road Ski

 It was a beautiful day today and nice and warm. Several inches of snow fell overnight so I had to quickly get up to Hatcher Pass and try to take advantage of it. This winter has been so dry with either ice cold and no snow, or well above freezing with only rain if we have any precipitation at all.  It is completely icy on all of the trails. But it was perfect for skiing up at Archangel Road today. Once again I brought only my skate skis and skied to the bridge and back, about 5 miles. The snow was a bit heavy, which made skating a little harder. But so far, it's kind of all hard for me. It was a lot easier than struggling up to the mine the other day though. At least this road is just a gentle incline, which is a perfect place to practice skate skiing. I can see that I need a whole lot more practice. But what a beautiful day and a great workout.

Independence Mine Ski

 I need to practice with my cross country skate skis. I feel like I will never master them. I drove up to Independence Mine in Hatcher Pass, partly to do that and mostly to get away from the obnoxious cold and wind down here in the valley. It was calm and 26 degrees up there instead of 17 with a 40 knot wind blowing at my house. The trail to the mine is pretty steep, so it was probably not the best place to try to learn to skate ski. But Archangel, which is flatter, was so busy that I doubt I could have found a parking place. The trail to the mine was great with even a few inches of fresh powder. But I had a hard time trying to skate up it. Bella was helpful sometimes, by pulling me, except for when she found lots of interesting smells off the trail. I got a good workout getting to the high spot where we turned around. Bella was running at her top speed on the way down, so I didn't dare try to actually skate. I just tried to break my speed a little so I didn't crash on the way down. But it was all OK. It was beautiful and so much fun speeding straight down the steep trail. I was just happy I didn't have to put her in my backpack. I think she liked the warmer temperature and that I didn't put her booties on her. I think she just hates those things.

Skeetawk

 They finally opened Skeetawk Ski Area but there really isn't enough snow. They have been moving snow around and dragging it from other areas of the mountains to try to get sufficient coverage on a few of the runs. I really didn't want to damage my good downhill/backcountry skis but I felt I should try to help out since they are officially open to customers. I'm on the Ski Patrol there so I knew they would need some help. I spent the first couple of runs just picking my way down through rocks and tossing them off the trails. On the run called Altitude, it was almost a hopeless project because there are so many. But I did manage to toss a lot of the biggest ones into the trees. I spent a lot more time than usual up in the upper Ski Patrol shed learning the ropes of dispatching and observing while they trained some of the new youth patrollers on the trauma and airway equipment. I rarely have need to use those things so it was good review for me too. Plus a good excuse to stay out of those rocks. Other than having to dodge rocks, the skiing was pretty good. It was nice visiting with everyone and getting in a few good runs. We all want some more snow. It is ridiculously dry and bare out there this winter. But at least it was a beautiful bluebird day.

Happy New Year 2025

 I hope this lovely day is a sign of things to come for the new year, 2025. After a rough night of Bella freaking out over the neighborhood fireworks, we woke up and took a nice but chilly walk. It was only 15 degrees but at least the wind had finally stopped blowing. Just as we got back to our street, I looked up and saw that the Northern Lights were brightening the dark sky. I didn't expect it to work but tried a quick couple of photos from my cell phone. I am still amazed that using only my phone, I could capture the scene so beautifully.

After our walk we hopped in the car and I drove to the Government Peak Recreation Area to meet the Valley Wanderers at 9am. Our plan was to hike the Government Peak Race Trail to the second picnic table, in time to see the first sunrise of the year. Bella managed to escape from one of her suspender booties just as I got out of the car at the parking lot. I really felt she would need them because it was so cold. But I didn't want to hold up the others more than necessary while I put them back on. She never seems to like them and the snow was hard pack. She mostly did fine without them. Plus likely preferred it that way. Our original plan was to snowshoe, but conditions were better for just micro spikes. I had fortunately recently purchased a nice sharp new pair. I was very glad because my old ones would have done lots of slipping on the very icy sections. We got to the upper table before the sun rose above the mountains. We took a break there and took time taking pictures of the brilliant orange sky as the sun worked its way up. We started down before it actually crossed above Pioneer Peak but by the time we were down we were hiking in bright sunshine. It was perfect conditions for hiking and snowshoes were definitely not needed. By the time we were back down to the lower picnic table, I noticed Bella was lifting up her paws and stopping now and then. I could tell she was finally getting a little cold. So I put her in my dog carry backpack and she got to ride the rest of the way down. I think she enjoyed the ride.