The Midday Sun
Nestling in the cabin after another day in the cold is a most inviting experience. We have this theme going on in the temperate regions, but it’s more pronounced this far north. The outside is colder, the inside is warmer, and the people are more extreme as well.
We woke up late because it was still dark and also, because we were up late watching the lights. We did our morning walk around the neighborhood. I want to say it is the suburbs of Fairbanks, but that may not be totally accurate. Homes are on lots that about one or two acres and so perhaps it is somewhere between rural and suburban living. The homes are a mixture of sizes and styles and my guess is that they were developed individually.
Before we came to Alaska, we booked a tour with Paws for Adventure for a one hour dog sled ride. It was about a 20 minute drive from home and we followed the signs to the right place. A yurt sat in the parking lot and inside the yurt, the patrons warm themselves near the wood stove, as well as potentially borrow extra gear for the rides. Since we put a lot of energy into obtaining the right gear before we left, we used what we brought.
Below the driveway in the field were about 50 Alaskan huskies tied to boxes. They were barking and jumping around. They completely live for running, so I think when they are tied up, all they want to do is work.
Alaskan Huskies Are Different than Siberian Huskies
We were directed to our sled runner, Jessica, and she instructed us on how to sit on the sled. She made a command and the ten dogs were off like lightning. We were taken into a landscape that alternated between marsh and forest. The marshes freeze in the winter and make for excellent open spaces for running sleds, although if one went back to the same spot in the summer, they would be sinking into the moist earth. The forested areas were primarily black and white spruce. The trees were maybe twelve to fifteen feet tall and presumably it had taken many years for them to get even that tall with such harsh growing conditions – similar to the higher elevations, at lower latitudes.
The snow was packed tightly on the trails, as a result of there being multiple runs a day on the same route, and also since the last snow was over a month ago, Jessica said maybe even as far back as late November. In general, Anchorage gets more snow, even though it’s warmer than Fairbanks. So in addition to Fairbanks’ being drier, winters these past few years have been very mild. Although my toes started to get cold, so it was hard for me to call zero degrees mild, but all things are relative.
Our balaclavas were protecting our faces and we were wearing sunglasses. The only part of our body exposed to the air were our noses and we really did enjoy inhaling the crisp air and taking in the scenery. Even at midday, the sun was low in the sky and cast a half light on the white blanketed marshes. The dogs were whipping through forests at breakneck speed and we learned to trust that going around the corners quickly would not knock us over. It was sort of like a tame roller coaster. When Jessica instructed them to stop and the dogs turned around, we saw the fur on their faces was frozen and it looked like they were sporting a white beard. It was very adorable!
Dog Sledding Is Some Serious Fun!
At some points, the lead dog didn’t mind orders and took a turn uninstructed. She would discipline him, as the rest of the pack was depending on him for directions. Jessica has been running dogs for 22 years, and she obviously started as a child, since she looked younger than me. She has run the Iditarod six times and finished four times. One of the dogs leading us did the Iditarod. Getting swept along the dramatic Alaskan landscape by Jessica and her team of dogs was a bit like living a piece of history.
Our run was done on a large tract of military land that ran close to the river. It was probably ten degrees colder there than where we parked. I liked how we wove between open spaces and spaces filled in by vegetation. The dense stands of birch trees filtered the sunlight that streamed toward our faces. Although the air was very cold, there was no wind, and when we would pause, the air would feel very still. The only noises to be heard were the excitement from the dogs, wanting to get back to work. I felt a little bit like Laura Ingalls, from Little House on the Prairie, or at least a romanticized version of her (I did grow up in the burbs romanticizing Laura Ingalls).
One of my favorite parts was when Jessica stopped to let us take turns standing on the runners. Although of course she was still in control of the ride, it felt like I was and it was awesome!
Our hour passed quickly enough and my toes were so cold, I had a hard time walking up to the yurt. I thanked her quickly and hobbled upwards. I sipped on tea and we got to talking to Leslie, who is the owner of Paws for Adventure. Leslie is originally from Virginia and moved to Alaska almost 30 years ago to be a school teacher in Athabascan villages, which are remote areas in the bush. She worked in a village called Minto, which is a few hour drive outside of Fairbanks. Working there, she ended up getting involved with running dog sleds and it eventually evolved to be her livelihood. I will tell you, the Alaskan women we met today were extremely tough and strong and devoted women. One has to have thick skin to engage themselves in this sort of lifestyle.
The Yurt is the Gathering Place Before and After Sledding
On our way back home, we stopped by the oil pipeline which was built from 1974 to 1977 and runs 800 miles from Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope down to Cordova in Prince William Sound. Some of it runs underground and other parts run above ground. The erection of the pipeline was quite the engineering feat. When I travel, I strive to visit and understand the local resources and how the community interacts with the earth and oil certainly has a big impact on Alaska. In Alaska, a lot of the economy revolves around oil. Eighty-five percent of the state’s revenue comes from oil. It’s big business here.
Even For Pipelines, The Alyeska Line Is Mammoth
When we got home, we went out snowshoeing for a couple hours. We wove in and out of the woods and for the most part, followed the trails that were already established. Sometimes we’d follow a clearing by the power lines for ease and this often gave a better view of the mountains. Walking even a modest distance was quite a bit of effort from the combination of having so many layers of clothing and needing to climb in and out of the snow. My guess is that we were moving at about a third of the speed that we would have gone, if there was no snow and we were just wearing one layer of clothing. Dan has a longer stride than me and was often in front of me, which made me feel sort of like a granny trying to keep up. My favorite part was getting off the trails into the woods and breaking new ground, which is what the snowshoes are made to do effectively. We returned in time to watch the sunset from our front porch.
My First Ever Foray into Snowshoeing
I took advantage of the well-stocked pantry and made a red wine, rosemary caramelized onion, maple glaze for the salmon. And also braised some chard (the best way to eat greens), and baked some sweet potatoes. Again, we ate in style and celebrated the abundance of salmon that this region produces.
We read from our new Alaska book, the murder mystery, and set our alarm to 10pm so we could catch the northern lights. Unfortunately, there was cloud cover and while traces of the lights could be seen through breaks in the clouds, it was not as dramatic as we hoped. Yet, being in the setting we were in and having these new experiences, there was really nothing to complain about and a lot to be grateful for.
This Picture Was Taken a Few Weeks Ago by Another Airbnb Guest