The last three years we have made a family trip to Tolovana Hotsprings. The first year the twins were carried and sledded out there, but the following years they hiked the 10+ miles each way under their own power. It has become a sign of the change of seasons, a marking of the end of fall and the coming of winter. Sometimes there is a bit of colder weather and even a little snow, reminding us of the winter that is coming. We have been joined by the twins friend Anna, her dad Ned and her mom Kristen, as well as Tom, and Ms Marsh.
The twins and Anna really enjoy Tolovana, with its places to explore..
Things to do..
And the wonderful hot tubs to enjoy.
I have fond memories of visiting Takhini Hotsprings and hiking out to cabins as a kid, so it is wonderful to have a chance to share these experiences with my daughters.
The twins and Anna have really grown up in the three years we have been hiking out to Tolovana, and they now hike along like little champions, playing lots of games, enjoying snacks, and generally having a great time.
This year’s hike was a bit earlier than usual, making for some muddy hiking. The sun was nice though, and we enjoyed the warmer temperatures.
There were some mud related moments of sadness as little people slipped and fell, lost boots in the sticky mud, or had muddy splash downs, but these were (thankfully) short.
Besides a bit of mud the hike in was great. The weather was so nice the little hikers didn’t even want to stop at the “marshmallow” , an old water tank converted into a shelter, and kept right on trucking.
Blueberry season was long gone, but the cranberries were out in force.
We made it to the hotsprings with enough time for the little hikers to enjoy a short soak before dinner. The bigger hikers all enjoyed longer soaks after dinner. The next day was wonderfully sunny, and the crew spent it mellowing out enjoying life.
After two days of sun, our final day arrived a bit cooler, with ice on the puddles. Everyone had a good hike out, although the little hikers impressed some disbelieving folks on our hike out. “You guys have a fourwheeler cached somewhere up here, right” .
Everyone made it out, some powered by gummies..
And some with their inner rockstar.
A huge thanks to everyone who joined us for this trip, your company makes these trips the wonderful experiences they are. I hope that this family tradition continues, here’s to fall hikes in the sun, the wind, and the snow!
On a fine Wednesday I found myself with a day off work and no family commitments, and decided to go check out the trails in the Whites. The plan was to see if I could get some late season snow biking in, but I also took skis just in case things were too soft. The trails were in great shape, probably the best all year.
The biking was great, but a bit slow as it was a little hot for Remus the dog.
I ended up doing a 35 mile loop, out to Moose Creek cabin, then across to the Trail Shelter, than back out. It was a beautiful day..
The Wickersham Creek crossing on the Moose Creek trail was all broken up by some snow machines who past me heading out. I attempted to get across without getting wet, but alas no such luck. I ended up just walking across carrying the snowbike, it was knee deep, quite a bit deeper than I expected. The sun was out, and it was very warm (hot even!) so not a big deal. Remus swam across, and was very excited to play in the water.
We stopped at the Trail Shelter to loll around a bit in the sun and have lunch. Lunch was greek yogurt and a bagel.
Remus had a bit, and agreed it was pretty good.
The trail softened up a bit in the late afternoon, but it was still wonderful biking.
It looked like the biking should be good for a couple more days, and the skiing should be good for at least a week or so. Get your last bit of spring fun in now, before its gone!
The day after Christmas the family and I left cold and dark Fairbanks to spend some time in the greater Moab area with my brother Dwight’s family.
Several days were spent with lots of Cables having fun in the warm for us +50f sun..
Silliness abounded..
And rock spires were eaten.
Everyone had a wonderful time exploring a new world of sand, rock, and in the twins’ case, the novelty of a sun beaming down actual warmth.
.. and dino prints!
Arches National Park was explored and enjoyed.
We spent some time in Canyonlands, though without the assistance of Dwight’s clan as they had to head back home for school. They were missed..
I was able to get out for one seven hour ride on Moab’s “Brand” trails, which were in a word – amazing. I had the place to myself, on a sunny windless day. The trails were dry and snow free.
Moab also has the nicest bike path I have ever seen, complete with warning signs for hills, and posted speed limits.
I got several hours of playing on slickrock, which was interesting and fairly rewarding.
The “XC” five inch travel full suspension bikes we rented (almost) cured me of any interest buying a similar bike – way too much bounce. At times it was like riding a pogo stick. I say almost as I might have been able to fix the bounce with adjustments to the pressure and damping, but not having access to a shock pump made this impossible. I was pretty impressed by how much the suspension could soak up though.. only for all the riding I did on it, it was much too much bike. We had tagalongs (thanks Kristin!) and tried to get some biking in each day. Generally the day would start with driving to the general area, then biking to various trailheads with the twins in tow, and then hiking.
The roads outside of Moab, Arches, and Canyonlands are great for biking. We didn’t see very many bikers but it seemed like it would be wonderful off season road biking, with minimal traffic, fantastically smooth asphalt, and wonderful views.
On the way back to Alaska we spent two days in Seattle taking in the sights with Steve and Manish.
(Click the Vimeo button for the full awesome effect)
Now its back to the snow bike, getting in the miles/hours in preparation to the upcoming madness in 6 weeks.
A big thanks to the Cable family of Utah, and Steve and Manish for inviting us to visit, chaos and all.
With Nancy and the twins away visiting her parents, I decided to have a nice mellow Thanksgiving safely away from the masses. To that end, Tom, Ms Marsh, and I headed off to Upper Angel Creek cabin in the Chena River State Recreation Area . I took my fat bike while Tom and Marsh decided to ski. The trail into the cabin was in amazing shape, making for effortless biking.
I stopped briefly at the lower cabin which is getting replaced after burning down last winter. The new cabin is huge and looks like it is going to be a great option for short trips. I think this would make a great destination for the twin’s first self powered ski trip.
Remus had a blast on the trip in, though he would have enjoyed a bit more sedate pace with more stopping time to explore and sniff around. On bike we travel fast enough he has to keep his short legs pumping to keep up.
Remus was entranced by all the wolf sign on one section of trail. A small wolf pack appears to use the trail as a corridor and there were lots of tracks and wolf scat.
The trail was so flat and fast it almost felt like I was cheating, gliding along expending almost no effort.
I arrived at the cabin well before the skiers and enjoyed some peaceful quiet time as the cabin warmed up. The arrival of Tom and Marsh was announced by the crunching of their skis on the cold -20f snow.
We spent the evening lounging around and of course eating. In the morning, after pancakes and an immense amount of bacon, we headed back to the trail head and a soak in Chena Hotsprings. Over the night the temperature had risen to a balmy -4f which seemed amazingly warm. I decided to take an alternate route out, and took the new trail routed along the hillside. The views from the new trail are fantastic.
The trail was a bit soft though, and I felt a bit guilty whenever I broke though the thin crust and created a trench with my rear tire. The trail looked like it would be wonderful skiing. There is one creek crossing that was open, but it was possible to sneak across without getting wet.
At about half way I retreated to the lower trail and zoomed out to the parking lot, where I dropped off my overnighting stuff, and then explored the Chena Hotsprings winter trail while waiting for Tom and Marsh to catch up. The winter trail appeared to be in great shape, though there was some large sections of overflow.
Eventually Tom and Marsh caught up and we headed off to soak in the hot water at Chena Hotsprings and a burger at Mia’s – a fantastic way to end a wonderfully quiet Thanksgiving.
A big thanks to Tom and Ms Marsh for making this trip happen!
Last year our family and some friends made a wonderfully fun trip to Tolovana Hotsprings. We had so much fun we decided to do it again, and this time the twins were old enough to (hopefully) walk the whole way under their own power – hurrah!
On a fine October morning our family headed out of town, after hitting the coffee shack for some morning wake up magic. We were followed by Anna and Ned. After a longish drive we arrived at the trailhead and eventually started ambling down the trail.
The pace was fast for little legs, requiring frequent snacking..
After a while the twins ended up with suspiciously snack covered faces.
The trail in to Tolovana is about 10 miles or so. It was in great shape for the most part, but there were a couple of sections requiring some puddle dodging.
The ice covered puddles gave the little people loads of entertainment.. Molly even found a dinosaur..
The ice dino was carried for a quarter of a mile before being left in a comfortable (and I was told, tasty!) field of grass.
The hike in was filled with games of various sorts including I Spy and variations on the Dora the Explorer troll game, where a grumpy troll asks three questions of the various hikers.
I introduced the twins to this game and they have found it so exciting I no longer get to play the troll and ask questions of them, but instead they ask questions of me. Easy questions like how much is 50 plus 50, and harder ones like how many trees are there in Alaska, and how many roots does that tree have.
It was a wonderfully warm (for early October) day on our hike in, with beautiful fall colors. Our slowish (for long legs) pace gave me time to enjoy the scenery.
We had all three dogs with us. The younger dog, Remus, was very excited to be out hiking, and spent the entire hike bouncing around joyfully.
The other two dogs, being older and more dignified, followed along in a more stately manner and enjoyed the slower pace of the short legged hikers. Sometimes they kept the girls company and provided a ready (though quiet) audience.
Togiak and Polar are 14, give or take a bit, and their adventuring days are numbered.
Eventually we reached the high point of the trail, near Tolovana Dome. There was much rejoicing..
The views were fantastic.
After the dome we started hiking down the final hill to the hotsprings. The little people started dragging a bit, and to motivate everyone, personalized bear bread (also called shelf or conk fungas) were made for each of the little hikers. Everyone was very proud of their fungi.
Eventually we arrived at the hotsprings, and after a short stop in our cabin we headed off to enjoy the hot water. Eventually we pried ourselves away from the water and had dinner. The twins and Anna appeared to eat about their body weight, and I started to worry they might explode.
Late in the evening our friends Tom and Ms Marsh arrived and joined us for a quiet after kid-bed-time soak.
The next day was spent goofing off and enjoying the hotsprings. I lolled around being slothful, while the twins and Anna alternated between having fun in the hot water and playing.
In the evening we ate more and entertained ourselves in various manners. At one point Molly covered Tom’s mouth with duct-tape, after arguing with him for at least half an hour about how it would not hurt to pull the tape off. Tom insisted that it would hurt, and only gave in once Molly demonstrated repeatedly that she could pull the tape of her face and not have it hurt. It did lead to a moment of silence as Tom was muffled.
Tom and Ms Marsh apparently didn’t get enough exercise on the way in, and used the three girls as leg curl machines. Molly and Lizzy were a bit put out that Tom couldn’t move them up and down quite as fast as Ms Marsh could move Anna. The twins were nonplused by Tom’s defense that there were two of them vs only one Anna.
I amused myself exploring the hotsprings area, catching up with Tom and Marsh, and taking pictures. Apparently I took a few too many pictures of the little people, as they started making faces whenever the camera came out…
After the twins hit the sack i got a nice long soak in the wonderful evening, enjoying the quiet and the stars. Alas, as I was walking back to the cabin I noticed that the wind had started blowing fairly hard. As i drifted off to sleep that evening I could hear the wind howling over the trees as a brisk wind developed.. Ah well, Tolovana wouldn’t be complete without a good wind!
The next day the twins, Anna, and Nancy started hiking out early, while Ned and I finished the final pack-up chores and gave the cabin a final cleaning before leaving to catch up. The morning sun on the hillside above the hotsprings was beautiful.
On the way out I stopped and chatted with Tom and Marsh. They planned to leave in the afternoon and would pass us on the trail, powered by their longer legs. The hike out was a bit windy and frosty, but not unpleasant by Tolovana standards.
To pass the time the girls and Nancy left motivational fungas signs on top of the mile markers, with a different name on each marker for the first handful of miles. Tom, Ms Marsh, and a fellow we encountered at the hotsprings, Patrick, all got their own fungus sign.
Patrick passed us on the way out, and the girls asked him if he had seen the sign. He was very amused – he apparently thought someone from the group he hiked in with was playing a joke on him. At the last mile marker he left three jerky pieces and a nice note thanking the girls for the fungus.
The little people were troopers and hiked along, powered by games, snacks, and songs.
We stopped at the water tank shelter and everyone jumped around inside enjoying a (noisy) break from the wind.
The hike out was scenic and windy but uneventful. There was a beautiful frost that was a wonderful reminder that my favorite season was almost here.
We eventually reached the parking lot, loaded up and headed home.
A big thanks to Ned, Tom, and Ms Marsh for coming along on this trip – thanks for coming along and adding to the fun!
I was very, very impressed by the little folks, Molly, Lizzy, and Anna. They were fantastic hikers! Anna in particular was quite a trooper as this hike was about twice as long as she had ever hiked under her own power – go Anna! You guys have now set the standard – if three 5 year olds can hike into Tolovana and enjoy it, anyone can!
Tom, Ms Marsh, and I did a repeat of Ed Plumb’s Clearwater packrafting trip. It was a fairly mellow three day trip, with lots of wonderful hiking. As usual, Ed’s writeup has everything you need to know so this is going to be a low word, high picture count post. The floating and hiking were great – this is a trip to do!
There was superb alpine hiking…
Some fast but boring ATV trails..
Over alpine streams..
And beautiful campsites.
Scenic alpine lakes..
Strange flora..
Dinners eaten and in some cases snuggled with..
There was a bit of brush..
But it was never bad, as we were always following game trails of one sort or another.
Evening campfires were had and socks were dried (or not).
There was even some biking thrown in..
All in all, a wonderful way to spend three days.
