A Snowy Tundra Adventure

Last night during the progressive dinner I was telling Jeremy how I couldn't wait to try out my new snowshoes. We made a plan to go snowshoeing sometime this morning. When I told Karis what Jeremy and I were going to do, her eyebrows perked up. She immediately said yes when I asked if she wanted to come along since Jeremy has an extra pair of snowshoes. The plan was for me to come get her only if Jeremy arrived after 10AM since she wanted to sleep in a little. Then we decided if Jeremy arrives before 10 and she is up and wants to go, she would knock on her wall so that I would know she was ready (we share a wall). Since I have no phone, this was an alternative to going out in the negative degree weather.

So, when I woke up at 9:15 the sun was just starting to rise:



At 10:15 there was a knock on the door. It was Jeremy asking if I would be ready to go in 30 minutes. I accepted and invitation and ran over to Karis' to see if she was ready. She had still been in bed and didn't want to go, but I finally convinced her that she will be thanking me later for dragging her out of bed. So, 30 minutes later we loaded up the Wrangler and headed for the hills...


We drove to the end of the 14 mile road and decided the condtions were better for walking than showshoeing.

Along the way we helped Karis do a handstand,
saw lots of tracks in the snow,
and amazing views.

When we got to our destination, there were really old and tall cairns at the top. Jeremy said they were not only trail markers but were supposed to resemble a person. Not sure that's what they looked like, but they were certainly impressive!

Since Jeremy brought along hot chocolate and Karis had fire starter equipment, we thought it would be fun to build a fire. We headed off toward a cluster of pine trees.

Step 1: Collect fire wood:


Step 2: Find a good spot:


Step 3: Put the brush in a pile:


Step 4: Make a fire:


Step 5: Sometimes assistance is needed:


Step 6: Once the fire is going drink hot chocolate and eat granola bars, apples with cheddar cheese (tastes better than it sounds!), and almonds.


After we warmed up and finished our snack we set back out into the snow. On the drive back we drove up to the top of the gravel pit to scope out the 360 views. From the top we could see two villages (St. Michael and Stebbins) on the other side of Norton Sound.



Then we took the beach route back into the village.