Nature Center's Cabin in Chugach Mountains

From January 2-4th, we stayed in this cabin which we rented from the Nature Center. From the moment we entered the parking lot and started unloading the van until the morning we hiked back to the car...it SNOWED! We are talking about 18" at our best guess. It was amazing. We loaded all our gear onto two long sleds, covered everything with tarps, tied the gear on tightly, and then fastened ropes to caribeaners on our backpacks, and started walking. The hike was about 1.25 miles and took close to an hour pulling all the supplies "over the river and through the woods". Both dogs came along on the trip, and Oreo took a few breaks to ride on the sled.

When we arrived at the cabin, we were pleasantly surprised that it was still warm from the fire left by the previous occupants in the woodburning stove. There was no running water or electricity so we put on our headlamps (we arrived at 4 p.m. just as darkness was setting in) and got busy unloading everything into the cabin. We restocked the fire in the stove and set up house. The first night was quiet as we cooked dinner, read books, played some cards, and hung out.

We slept in late since the sun didn't come up until after 10:30 a.m. so the cabin remained dark late into the morning. We cooked breakfast on the propane stove we brought and then bundled up for some fun in the snow. Everyone went outside (and remember it was still snowing) including the dogs, and we took tons of pictures to remember our trip. Because the cabin is set back in the woods and is basically undisturbed except by people staying in it, the snow around it was virgin snow from months of snowing. In places it was up to our adult waists in depth and some areas were almost over Dharma's head. If we stepped off the path between the cabin, lake, outhouse, sledding hill, or woodpile, we just might sink up to our backsides. Shaun had to pull me out once when my entire leg got stuck off the path in deep snow, and I couldn't pull myself out without losing my boot. Even when the dogs tried to venture off they were turned back by the depth of the snow. The kids jumped off boulders into the deep snow, made snow angels, threw snowballs, and generally had an incredible time wading through more white stuff than they had ever seen in their lifetimes. We all went down a sledding hill at least once.

When we were finally ready to warm up, we went back the cabin for food and more reading, card playing, and family time. Barb took a nap which was good for her since she rarely slows down. Oreo decided that he didn't want to leave the cabin again unless he "had" to for the rest of our stay. And even Buster was worn out. Before we knew it, the clock was turning to 1 a.m. and we went to sleep.

In the morning we had breakfast, packed up everything on the sleds again, and hiked back to our car. The trip back to the Nature Center and parking lot was really hard because the temperature had dropped to about 5-degrees, there was about 18" of new snow, and only about 3 cross country skiers had been out to help pack down the trail. The trail that had been relatively wide and easy to travel just two days before was covered in deep, fresh snow that dragged against the weighted sleds. Shaun and I worked up such a sweat that we were opening our coats and taking off layers of gloves, etc. Then we would stop to deal with the kids or the dogs and begin to freeze as the persperation turned icy cold. So we told the kids we just had to keep moving. I made the mistake of taking off my hat when we got to our car to cool off and when I went to put it back on I couldn't because it had frozen. At the same time, my hair had frozen as well. It was crazy. I will attach a few more pictures of the trip to a couple more entries. Before I close I want to remind you to take a close look at the amount of snow on the roof of the cabin and see if you can make out the path running along the right side of the second picture toward the cabin. It was over waist high snow for Shaun and me.