Eklutna Lake Ski

Such a beautiful day. I met my friend Alice at the bottom of the road and we drove up together. I loaned her my cross country skis and used my backcountry skis. The conditions were perfect for skiing. Baby didn't want to walk at first so I did have to carry her. But once we turned back, she was suddenly fine with the idea of running. I always love being out on the frozen lake because it shows the surrounding mountains from a whole different perspective. Many are not even visible from the Lakeside trail. I love being out there on warm days like today. But it won't be too long before I'll be out there in my kayak instead of my skis. Alice discovered that she really likes skiing and will likely get some skis of her own for next winter. 

 

Archangel Road Ski

 I woke up fully intending to try doing a little skiing on the trail people have been using to bike out to the Knik Glacier. I discovered where it was yesterday. However, when I looked at the sky in that direction it looked like the world was about to come to an end over there. It was blowing and foggy and likely snowing and I could hardly see the mountains. So with both sets of skis in the back of my car I turned toward the sun and drove up to Hatcher Pass where it was gorgeous with blue skies and sunshine. My next goal was to use my backcountry skis and ski up the closed road to Summit Lake at the top of the pass. When I got to the parking area I found the snow removal folks had plowed gigantic 10 foot high snow piles in front of every reasonable access to that road. I tried both possible parking lots but never found a place where I felt I could climb over all that mess and get to the road. I just gave up and drove back down to Archangel Road. It was quite icy and hard packed but at least it was a beautiful day. I used my backcountry skis even though my classic Nordic skis would have also been fine. I just love those backcountry skis and seem to use every excuse to use them. It was great conditions, although very fast and icy. Baby was in her obstinate mood and didn't want to walk, so I had to put her in my backpack. That makes me work a little harder, but she's only about 9 pounds. It's a good workout, and she can relax. I don't want her to ever be unhappy on our little excursions. I want her to look forward to going places with me and not be horrified that I'm going to put her through torture! About halfway to the bridge, she started to get really restless, so I let her back out. Then she was happy to run along and seemed to be enjoying herself. It was nice and warm, right around freezing and not windy. 
It was a perfect day up there on Archangel Road, we didn't even see any noisy snowmachines and the trail was still OK even all the way to the bridge. It's usually all torn up after the ski grooming ends.

We had a nice fast ride all the way back to the car with Baby running at full speed.

5 Mile Run On Wolverine Road

 I've been doing lots of hiking, climbing and skiing, but have really been neglecting actual running. I have several marathons coming up in the next few months, so I need to get out and run. I found an extra burst of energy after climbing the Butte, so decided to turn my afternoon dog walk into a run to Wolverine Creek. That's my typical 5 mile training run. When I got down to the creek, I continued on up the other side of the canyon to the bottom of the giant carrot sign for Wolverine Farm. That makes the run a little over 5 miles. It was really windy running by the hay fields, and Baby was indicating that she wasn't sure how much she really wanted to continue. I did pick her up and run with her in my arms for a very short distance. But she got too restless and from then on, she was happy to run the rest of the way in spite of the wind. As usual, I had a really hard time running up from the canyon in both directions from the creek. Typically I find myself walking a bit of that steep hill. But it's always a great little hill workout to toss into a relatively level run. Sometimes I can run the whole hills, but today I mostly had to walk them. They're very steep. I wore my icebug running shoes, but there was so little snow and ice on the road that I really didn't need them for traction. I'm glad I got in a good run for a change. It certainly is a scenic route.

Wolverine Creek

Wolverine Creek

Bodenburg Butte Climb

I can feel a slight stiffness to my legs after yesterday's climb up Lazy Mountain, but I felt a restless urge to keep on climbing. I talked my friend Mark into hiking up the Butte today. It's a short little climb compared to Lazy Mountain, but it's still quite a workout. It's only about 3 miles out and back, but half of it is really steep. It's an interesting trail because the top half is a set of wooden stairs. Fortunately they have hand rails or nylon covered wire ropes to hang onto. There are solid piles of ice on all of the steps and even with spikes on my boots, it's pretty slippery. I was clinging to those ropes like my life depended on it. I had the disadvantage of holding onto the leash of my dog who thinks she must run up or down all trails. In a couple of places even she was slipping and I had to pick her up and move her over the slippery parts. It was windy down along the river, so we knew we would be greeted by that same wind when we got to the top. Yes, it was quite the wintry blast up there, but at least it was fairly warm. It was in the low 30's so not terrible. The views were lovely as always. I really love that little climb.

Hairstyle by the East Wind

Knik Glacier View

Pioneer Peak

First Day of Spring, on Lazy Mountain

 Finally, a good day with good weather to climb Lazy Mountain. I figured the trail conditions would be great since there was a race up and down the trail on Saturday. There was hardly a cloud in the sky this morning, but it was only 18 degrees. I waited a short time, then just decided to head up, assuming it would warm up. The trail was great and hard packed from the racers. But there was an annoying trench down the middle in many places where other hikers had glissaded down yesterday when the snow was soft. It was kind of tricky at times, working my way around that. But it wasn't terribly icy so Baby and I made it to the bench without me tumbling down the mountain. Once there, conditions were much better. The top half of Lazy Mountain is not nearly as steep as the first half. We made our way up easily. We met a couple of speedy runners heading up and down, leaving us in the dust. But I was happy to just saunter up and enjoy the fantastic views. I think it's even more spectacular in winter conditions than in the summer. In some ways it's even easier because micro spikes make traveling easy and stable on the solid snow and ice. In summer, especially if it's muddy, it can be very treacherous needing to grab tree branches to keep from sliding back down on either mud or loose dirt. It was nice and warm for the first half. After that I needed to add my hat and zip up my coat. It got very windy up on the exposed ridges and especially on the top. But it was well worth it for the view. Along the summit ridge, the snow path was really narrow and I had a few reservations about walking along it. But it held and Baby and I did fine. Baby the chihuahua was amazing on this climb. Never once did she act like she needed to be carried. I always really appreciate that. The little dog carrying pack can be very uncomfortable after awhile. But she always likes to climb to the top of things so was great today. We didn't linger long on top due to the wind, just long enough to grab a few photos. The trip down was fast and at times a little scary since my dog thought we were supposed to run down the whole way. She liked to occasionally wrap her leash around trees making my path less than ideal. On the steepest parts I spent a lot of time begging her to slow down. Of course she has no idea what that means, so pleading with her was an exercise in futility. But we made it to the bottom in one piece. I'm so glad we did this. It's always one of my favorite hikes and today was perfect for it.

Eklutna Lake Skiing

Today was a really nice, spring-like day, good for a trip up to Eklutna Lake to ski on the lake before the ice melts. My friend, Alice went with me. She forgot her ski boots, so just walked, while I practiced with my backcountry skis. Baby didn't seem to see the point of it all so I ended up carrying her in my backpack for most of the way. She seems happy to climb up any mountain regardless of how cold and windy, but on the flat, like here at Eklutna, she often wants to turn back to the car. There was a nice new snowfall of several inches covering up all the rough spots I found there last week. We followed one nicely packed snowmachine trail. There was a parallel ski trail next to the snowmachine trail so we found our best travel method was Alice walking on the snowmachine trail while I skied the ski tracks. It was a beautiful mostly sunny day. There were high clouds and a little wind. I thought the cloud formations were just spectacular and in many ways more interesting than a completely clear bluebird day. It was a fairly short trip but still a nice little workout for both of us. I let Baby out of her pack for the last mile, and she happily ran back to the car, helping to pull me along.

Bodenburg Butte Climb

 A wonderful quick little climb up the Butte with Baby. It was a really nasty cloudy gray day at home, but just down the road it was beautiful at the Butte Trailhead. Baby and I had a nice hike to the top. It was very icy and micro spikes were essential. Even Baby was slipping on the ice in a few spots. It wasn't even very windy on top. I didn't have a lot of time today so wanted to do only a short hike. The Butte is always a great choice for a steep workout, a beautiful view, while not taking a long time.