I saw the horse and sled as we came into the resort. And I accidentally pulled my car right in front of it as I was swinging around to get a better photo of it. I snapped this and moved just in time and apologized as well.
Yesterday I spent a wonderful day outside after 10 days of having a nasty cold and being mostly housebound. My friend Caroline and I went to Chena Hot Springs and snowshoed the Monument Trail, rumored to be “under three miles†if one is to believe the kindly young man who advised us to try that one when we asked for a relatively flat and short trail since I was still recovering from my cold and Caroline had not been snowshoeing in over a decade.
I had found a pair of snowshoes for her at a good deal, plus I had got a pair of free hiking poles for her that we just needed to add snow baskets in order to effectively use them. Changing out the snow baskets was just one of our hurdles in this adventure. We could not get the original baskets off, so I ended up cutting them off and in the process I sliced my finder open pretty badly. (The next day it was still bleeding on and off with just minor use). Once we got my finger bandaged and the snow baskets on her poles, we had to figure out how her snowshoes laced since they were slightly different than mine and had super long straps that were slightly confusing us. We finally get all the gear on and set out on our way, at this point it must have been about 3:30 in the afternoon. We set out not entirely sure if we were going to do the whole loop or just go a bit and then turn around, since I still have an unsettling but intermittent cough. As dusk approached and we were still on the trail, we thought we must be at least half-way, so we decided to continue on the full loop. It’s starting to getting dark in Alaska by 4:30 and I was happy I had my headlamp in my backpack. Apparently it’s been too long since my last snowshoe adventure, because I must have way underestimated how far we were and I think we were actually on the trail for an hour in the dark. We finally made it back to the resort and decided we wanted to have dinner before heading to the hot springs, which would mean only one time in the hot spring, normally we soak-eat-soak, but we made up for that by staying in the hot springs for nearly two hours!
All the while Fairbanks and the surrounding area was under a “Winter Weather Advisory†we enjoyed some time outside, got dinner, drinks and then spent a couple hours outdoors in the outdoor rock pool. A relaxing day for sure and I think I’ve found a new snowshoe buddy since we are already planning another hike next weekend.
Monument Trail, rumored to be under three miles, but I swear it was more like seven!
Caroline was dressed for the occasion.
She liked going off the trail and into the deeper snow.
Such pretty views, even without sunshine.
We could hear this like river/creek most of the time we were on the trail. I guess that due to the hot springs it does not freeze over completely.
It was really pretty. I just wish it had been a little brighter so I could take more pictures since we ran out of daylight shortly after this one.