Anyway, Cooper Landing is full of fun stuff to do when the weather is nice. In the past two years, they have started grooming two of the camp grounds for cross country skiing, which I have taken up this winter and am pretty excited about. There is also a surplus of hiking trails (most of which I will not attempt by myself in the winter... ya know, no phone reception, avalanche danger, exposure danger, wild animal danger, etc....), a few of which are tame enough that I will attempt on my own. And it is fucking gorgeous. I am pretty much in a valley surrounded by mountains and the Kenai River which is BLUE. And I love blue. Lots of amazing photo opportunities. Anyway, enough about Cooper Landing, it's awesome, you should visit. This post is about me so let's get onto that....
I decided to have my first skiing adventure at the Russian River Campground. I've been here in the summer a few times. Never to actually camp, mind you. I must say, I like what they have done with the place. I spent a while looking for the trail map online before I went. It's not online anywhere as far as I know. But, it's posted at the entrance to the campground and is pretty simple; one road in, follow it back out. Also, I have posted it below if you are really curious. (for google if anyone is looking Russian River Ski Trail... I think that google picks these up) Also, grooming reports can be found here if you are using this as a guide for your own ski adventure.... It is done by volunteers and seems to take about 24 to 48 hours after a snowfall to get groomed.
So the first day I decide to go ski, it has just snowed a few inches and the trail is ungroomed. I am skating (I kind of hate classic skiing... but I will get to that in a bit) along happily. The snow isn't deep enough to really be an issue. There are maybe two other peoples' tracks on the trail... so it is quite serene... I look down and find these:
Ohhh shitttt. Those are some big ass paw prints. My hands really aren't that small. Pretty normal size actually. Anyway, so I see these and am like.... what?!?! wolves?!?! There are danger signs about avalanches and bears (all of which are hibernating at the moment) all over and nothing about wolves. I really haven't even heard of them being a big issue on the Kenai Peninsula in general, hence my lack of preparation and shock. Needless to say, I turn around and get the hell out of there in a hurry. It didn't stop snowing until late the night before... so those tracks are probably from within the last 12 hours. I go back to the cabin I am staying in and do some research on the local wildlife. Yup, wolves. Though they are rarely seen apparently. Needless to say, I didn't really want to run into one. Especially not unarmed at dusk. I concluded probably fighting off a wolf with a ski pole would place me amongst the most badass people alive. However, the alternative of failure in that endeavour was not particularly appealing.
The next time I went out, I decided I should go snowshoeing while it was still snowing. This turned out to be a rather unpleasant experience. Relatively speaking of course. Being outside is almost always awesome. But I have placed snowshoeing at the top of my "least favorite things to do outside" list. I have concluded I like it less than classic skiing and bicycling, both of which I have an unreasonable dislike of. No particular reason why I don't like them, I just don't like the motion they require me to do. And I don't like it any better the more I practice. I have concluded that snowshoeing is unreasonably slow and annoying and I would rather classic ski if I have a choice. I feel so strongly that I asked for my classic skis back from my friend that I let borrow them a year ago.
Anyway, I snowshoe out on the Russian lakes trail. The trail head is off the Russian river campground road. It's about 3 miles to Russian Lake falls, which was my goal. Well, about an hour and a half in, I still see no falls. I don't think I hike that slow and it is going to be dark in about another hour and a half. And with the wolves around and my mild fear of the dark and the whole being alone in the Alaskan wilderness in the cold anddd the chance of someone else coming along this trail tonight being little to none, I decide I really don't want to be out that late and the falls must not be THAT cool. So I turn around and hike back to the truck. It wasn't a bad hike but I really did not enjoy the snowshoeing. And there was very little elevation change. I really like hikes that require some sort of rock scrambling. Not that that would be a good idea in the winter... but just so you know where I am coming from. There were a bunch of trees and no view. There probably would have been a cool one if I had found the falls, but clearly I did not. Anyway, I now have my classic skies and and going to attempt this one again on those.
I have been to the ski trails a few more times and they are nice. If you do all the loops and such it is about 6 miles. According to the map at least. The views are great and it is kind of fun making first tracks on the freshly groomed trails. Though it is concerning when there are no signs of skiiers and there are animal tracks all over. Oh well, at least most of them are little :)
So my final notable skiing adventure happened up bean creek trail. FYI, this trail is not groomed. Or appropriate for skate skiing really. But that's all I had so that's what I used. I show up in the parking lot and there is a group getting ready to do ressurection pass. (bean creek is a safer winter trail to use for the first part of t resurrection) I ask them what the trail is like and if it is wide enough for skating. It is. For a ways. Well, I plan to take the trail to where it intersection Resurrection Trail so I have a great idea: strap the snowshoes to my backpack and ski as far as I can and then switch. Brilliant! So I load up my backpack with my gun, extra clothes, some water, some food, and of course my medical kit (I like to be prepared or somthing). I also shove my shoes in there. I don't think that snowshoes and ski boots will be that great. Then I attempt to figure out how to strap my snowshoes on to the backpack. I have two straps used to compress the bag that I manage to loop around the straps on the snowshoes. Well, they are gonna flop around but they won't go anywhere!
So I head out. The trail is ok for skating... It has been packed pretty well by snowmachines. However, I quickly realize why people who are skiing with gear always pull it in a sled. The backpack is on pretty tight but is still flopping around. With the snowshoes, it is making me incredibly unbalanced. (on the up side, I now ski much better without the extra weight...) I almost fall multiple times. Anyway, I stop to take off some layers and the guys I saw in the parking lot catch up. This is signifigant because a short while later, the trail narrows. A lot. I really don't want to use my snowshoes if I don't have to. (as mentioned before they are so painfully slow that I can't deal with them. I know it is about the journey and all but I like to journey quickly and stop to enjoy things as I please. Not go slow and look at everything. Ya know, it isnt fun until I am soaked in sweat... Just my style ya know)
Anyway, so I skate down the narrow trail maybe about 100 yards before running my ski tip into the snow on the side of the trail. For anyone that has done that, you know what happened next.... I immediate face plant. Litterally, face plant. Face to snow. And then my snowshoes flip over my back pack and whack me on the head. Ow. Ok snowshoes. You win. I will use you. Oh, and I had an audience for this. Possibly the only other people to use this trail all day.....
So I take off my skies and switch over to the snowshoes. I stash my skis, poles, and boots under a tree. Chances are that people are not coming up here looking for ski gear to steal... and I won't be completely heartbroken if it does dissappers. Maybe just slightly dissapointed in humanity. Anyway, I continue down the trail on my snowshoes. My pack feels amazingly light now that I am wearing the shoes and snowshoes that were in/on it. I make it to resurection pass trail and turn around. Nothing too specacular but there are some nice mountain views.
The end! Oh, and no one stole my skis. I got back and put them back on and skiied back to the truck :D
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