Ken and I and our friends, Kristin and
Ken, made plans to go snowshoeing at Granite Tors this weekend, after which we would treat ourselves to a soak in Chena Hot Springs.
We haven't had enough snow to justify strapping on snowshoes in Fairbanks this winter; but we threw them in the car and headed out late morning, to catch a couple hours of daylight. When a couple came off the Tors trail in just winter boots, we agreed that the snowshoes were overkill. So our snowshoeing trip turned into a Sunday afternoon walk, about four miles roundtrip. We had lots of fun, despite the cold temperature (I think it was only 10 below, but the wind was blowing. It felt colder.). I laughed that only Alaskans are crazy enough to find this enjoyable weather for a Sunday stroll!
I love our frozen eyelashes and the frost covering our clothing. The low, blue light in these pictures is about as bright as it gets in Fairbanks at this time of year. Those skinny, misshapen trees do qualify as a forest here in Fairbanks; and this one is probably a fairly old forest because those trees are decently sized.
We took the temperature from well below 0 Fahrenheit to over 108 Fahrenheit very quickly, with an hour-long soak in Chena Hot Springs. The stars were out as we soaked, when we could see them through the thick, swirling mist coming off the water in the rock pool. A great Sunday in Interior Alaska!
