Granite Tors -trail with winter gear

Again one weekend behind us, and again a great one!

On Friday we helped Two Rivers Dog Mushers Association with its 50/100/200 miles race called the Chatanika Challenge. We helped to park the dog teams at Two Rivers Lodge checkpoint and helped to eat some cakes at Pleasant Valley store checkpoint, where Sandra and Torben worked as checkpoint managers. We couldn’t stay long since we had plans for Saturday and Sunday. Snowshoeing plans.

On Saturday we let the sun woke us up and then headed to the Granite Tors trail head. This is a trail that we did in summer; you can take a look at that story in here. This time the landscape was covered with snow and temperature was a bit lower. Though at the middle of the day the sun started to heat us up and we could have snowshoed with a t-shirt.

The beginning of the trail was relatively easy and we were happy to see someone had been there before us so we didn’t have to break the trail in.




 
 

 

After the trail started to climb and it was time to put the snowshoes on and take some layers of clothes off.

 
The climb was long and steep occasionally, but higher you go, the better the view is.




 
When we reached the top we stopped for lunch, toast with chocolate spread and tea, and enjoyed the sunshine on our face. Then the trail went on along the ridge and by the tors.







 

We stopped for some pictures and headed towards the trail shelter which we reached some time in afternoon.

 

The shelter isn’t insulated and as we later learned, doesn’t have a snow proof roof, but it still provides cover from most mountain winds.









And since it had a stove, the first thing we did was finding a dead tree and cutting some fire wood. Later we had a good fire going and our socks and shoes were drying fast. The only thing to do for the day was to relax and eat some soup dinner and chocolate.

Later at night, when we were already sleeping on the floor, we woke up with strong noises and something weird on our face. The noise was stormy winds howling outside and shaking the shelter. And on us we had a half cm of snow! We had to move away from the middle floor, and go deeper into our sleeping bags, and the night went on.

On Sunday morning we had a quick breakfast and then it was time to head home. We had still about 10 km to go, but this time it was mostly downhill. After the night storm the sky cleared up and we had sunshine on our back. We were tired and hungry but very happy when we reached the car. Again one weekend well spent!

Great housesitting in Murphy Dome

Starting from last weekend we were housesitting at a coworker’s place near Murphy Dome. Area is surrounded by hills and you can see the Alaska Range, and if it’s a clear day, Mount McKinley, from their living room window. 

 The House

  Landscape from the yard and property

And if you walk to the other side of the Old Murphy Dome Road, you can see the White Mountains and even a glance of the Brooks Range. What a place!

We were lucky with the weather, it was sunny every day. On the other hand it means cold weather, -20 °C at the coldest, usually with high winds that makes the air feel so much colder. 

But we still enjoyed our time outside, taking pictures of course, and going for walks, and Piia went for running and skiing a couple of times. You can say we enjoyed the “housesitting holiday” fully!

It seemed some moose had een running in property as well...

The location was also perfect for sunset and northern light pictures with lots of open area around. It seems we live a season of great solar eruptions and we were witnessing some of the greatest Aurora borealis ever! Or what do you think?

 

 

Housesitting chores included feeding six goats (Kong, Attie, Annie, Lupey, Colleen and Colville) twice a day. Sometimes we also let them out since they have a thick coat and they can handle cold weather. Usually they headed straight to the hay pile. Endless appetite! 

We had also pleasure to live with two very beautiful and funny cats, Boo and Ram, who stole our hearts right away. They are very playful and like to chase a fish toy and play with a ball. They were also relaxing on our laps while we took advantage of having TV for a while and purred happily. Usually Raw also slept with us, sometimes as Julien’s pillow, sometimes curling up next to Piia.

  

We had also a great opportunity to enjoy some game meals since Todd and Aleya have lots of canned salmon and moose meat. Boy it was delicious! And it was a perfect week!