Independence Mine

 Bella and I hiked up the closed road to Independence Mine today. Most of the trails right now are a muddy slushy mess. I gave her a bath last night so didn't want to have to give her another one tonight. At least it was good clean snow all the way to the mine and back. She seemed to have a wonderful time racing up and down in the snow and visiting with the couple of other people we saw up there. I should have brought my skis, but I hadn't actually planned to go up there, so didn't have them with me. Maybe if this good weather holds, we will come back again tomorrow with skis. Although the forecast for tomorrow is snow. Maybe next week!

Bodenburg Butte Hike

 It's so slushy and muddy right now due to breakup. Pam and I had trouble deciding where to go for a little hike today. Hoping the sun may have dried out some of the trail, I suggested hiking the Butte. Well, it wasn't quite dry out there, but the snow that covered most of the trail was solid enough that our micro spikes were enough to keep us from falling down in the slush. The stairs were mostly dry but some of the higher sections still had big clumps of ice on them. We had to be careful. We left our dogs off leash while on the stairs, so they didn't drag us to our deaths racing us to the top. It was nice and warm with only a light wind at the top. There was a group of young people on the top. One of the girls in that group was carrying a beautiful white cat in a backpack. She even took him out of her pack, and he walked around on the summit on a leash. He didn't seem too bothered by our curious dogs. But I kept Bella on a leash, so she didn't cause any trouble. I'm not sure how she reacts with cats. On our way down, Bella disappeared and didn't come back when both Pam and I were frantically calling her name. I was getting worried and went to my Find My app on my phone and searched for her Apple Air Tag. It wasn't working very well in pointing to her direction. But when I pushed the sound button, I could hear the tag ringing in the distance. I couldn't tell which direction it was coming from, so I climbed up a bit. Up higher, I couldn't hear the little sound anymore. So, I knew she must be ahead of us. Finally, as we descended, the sound got louder and she appeared below us. I kept her in my sights after that. She had apparently found something interesting off the trail that was more important to her than the sound of my voice. She was not being a good girl at that moment! But I was very happy we were reunited. It was a good workout for all of us. 

A lady and her cat!

Archangel Road Ski

 Today is pretty overcast with a forecast of rain or snow. I met Pam and her dog Dahla up at Archangel Road at 12:30 and we skied out to the bridge. The snow was very wet and slippery on the uphill. My skis seemed to want to slide backwards more then they wanted to push uphill. But I finally made it to the bridge. It snowed pretty heavily on us most of the way. The light was kind of flat, but the fresh snow was smoothing out the surface. I hardly worked at all getting back to the car. I got a much better workout with my arms because I mostly just used my poles to motivate me downhill. On the way to the bridge, Pam was often quite far ahead of me. Bella kept running up to her, then back to me, thus running at least twice as far as either of us did. Her dog seemed to stay mostly close to her. There were a few other skiers with loose dogs, which made our dogs feel it was essential that they race after them and bark furiously until we called them back. We skied a total of 4.7 miles. I'm sure Bella ran at least 6 miles. We were all soaking wet when we got back to our cars. Bella looked like the court jester with her hair soaking wet and sticking straight up. But I know she had fun. So did I. 

Eklutna Lakeside Trail

 Pam and I wanted to ski on Eklutna Lake itself today. But it's been getting quite warm lately, so we had some reservations about venturing out onto the lake. It's likely still safe, but it's not a good idea to take any chances. First, we tried to walk down to the lake to check conditions. We found the ramp leading down to the lake was a thick ice sheet. It would require ice spikes to even get down to the lake to ski. We quickly abandoned that idea and decided to hike the Lakeside Trail instead. I wore my snow boots with my micro spikes. The trail was also very icy but easy walking with the spikes. It was very rough and would have been horrible for skiing. It started out very cloudy, but by the time we reached the Yuditnu Bridge, the sun was shining brightly. The wind was increasing by then also. But it was not uncomfortably cold. We took a break in the cabin while our dogs begged for treats. Then we hiked back, completing a nice 7-mile walk. All in all, it was a delightful little hike for us and our doggies.

Nancy Lake Parkway Loop Trails

 I drove up to Nancy Lake just to get a change of scene and get away from the house. There is a nice trail system right across from the Winter Trails parking lot that I wanted to check out again. I haven't hiked or skied there for a couple of years. The conditions were good enough for skiing, and I even had my skis. But I wasn't sure of the conditions so decided to simply go for a short hike and check out the trails. Bella and I walked 4 miles and explored the trails in several directions. We were all alone until shortly before reaching the end of the branch that leads to the park entrance station. Suddenly a huge dog appeared, followed by its owner, who was frustratingly shouting its name. The dog was totally ignoring him. Bella was doing her typical barking routine, so I scooped her up into my arms and carried her until we were safely past both dog and man. Otherwise, we had the entire trail to ourselves. It's always very peaceful out there. It's far enough away from major population areas, that it probably doesn't attract many visitors. It's a series of hard packed snow-covered trails meandering through peaceful forests. I always feel like a stranger wandering through an enchanted forest when I go there. Bella loved running ahead and trying to decide which trail to take.

Krrbrrr Race

 Today I ran the KrrBrrr, short for the Knik River Ramble Breakup Run. The last couple of years this trail system has been a muddy flooded mess. But this time, it has been much colder, and it really isn't quite breakup yet. It was all on snow. We had some respite in places where we got to run on nicely packed trails, but the majority of the 5-mile loop was very loose deep post holing snow, that got softer as the day wore on. I typically have only done one loop and been glad to check out and go home. They do allow the race to go on for 8 hours if anyone is willing to take such punishment doing multiple loops. Since it was such a beautiful sunny day, I decided to force myself into doing a second loop. I really never felt my feet at any time during the whole race. It was only 25 degrees and a bit windy at the start. But my feet stayed cold even when I otherwise felt warm, because even with gaiters, my feet, socks and shoes were soaking wet. Most of the time, the snow was deeper than my running shoes, gaiters and all. I ran parts of the race with some friendly other runners and for the most part really enjoyed it. I had planned to run with my friend, Alice, but somehow, I never saw her. She was either way ahead of me or started a little late. The race director did say she picked up her bib at the last minute. She is considerably faster than I am, so I was surprised she didn't go whizzing by me at some point. My total mileage was a little under 10 miles. It was definitely a very good workout!

Here are the photos of me taken by the race photographer

Jim Creek Trails

 I was pretty tired after that long ski trip yesterday. But I really wanted to check out the trails at Jim Creek because Alice and I plan to run the KrrBrrr trail race on Saturday. It is typically a nasty muddy, slushy and flooded mess, so I wanted to see what we might be in for. It's the Knik River Breakup Ramble Race. Last year at least half of the course was under water, and we had to bushwhack through trees and brush to get around the mess. But I found that it is much nicer this year. It has been much colder, and things have not melted out yet. I just walked the main trail from the parking lot down to the Knik River. It was nicely hard packed and easy walking or running. The side trails do have a lot of loose unpacked snow on them. Most of the race will likely be on those side trails, so it might be tough running. But I doubt we will have any flooding. I relayed the conditions to Alice so now we have a good idea of what to expect. It was a lovely 2.5-mile hike out to the river. I didn't venture onto any of the side trails, but I did get a good idea of what they will be like. I suspect it will be a bit of a post holing trudge in many places. But the weather should be nice, so it will be fun even if challenging. It will be a 5-mile loop that we can repeat as many times as we want for up to 8 hours. The last 2 years I was good for only 1 loop. I'm hoping to be a little more ambitious this year. But we shall see!