gold mint trail

 this trail is always a favorite of mine no matter what season really.  you can hike back for miles.  i've never made it to the end, where ever that is.  today i think we went nearly 2 miles in and then turned around.

 as you can see rio stopped at the deck again.  she had an internal debate for some time while blossom waited in the car and i encouraged her to join us.  eventually she was persuaded.  i think she'd rather spend her life on the couch, but only if blossom and i are willing to stay there with her.  she joins us only because she hates to be left behind.  she is happily sleeping on one of the many dog beds that exist for her comfort.  none of those beat sleeping on the couch in her mind though.  the sacrifices we make for these pups...worth it of course.  rio doesn't whine or complain.

 a few views from the drive out.  it was chilly here in anchorage and cloudy i hear all day so i made the right call.  i could see blue skies out towards the valley so i took a chance.  longer days mean it's now practical to wander further away from home and not worry about running out of daylight.

 part of me thought i may head up to independence mine after gold mint.  that would have been a long day for rio though so i'm glad we skipped it.

 always good to take note that you are in an avalanche area.   i could see a few slides on the mountains around me, but i felt pretty safe.  we haven't had tons of snow, though there was a goodly amount out in hatchers.  loads of snow boarders out enjoying the day.  there is talk at times of making some sort of official downhill ski runs out here, but it hasn't happened yet.  there were also quite a few snowmachines out there as well.

 i passed one cross country skier as i started off and otherwise we saw nobody else on the trail.  all to ourselves, quiet and beautiful!!

 hard to read but it says, "dogs rule".  snow graffiti...gotta love it!

 the bridge is pretty much gone at this point.  the little river that runs through this place was barely visible from all the snow and ice.  i really should have come up here in november when the ice was probably totally awesome.

 short days though meant i would have had to get cracking pretty early...not always an easy thing for me.

 somewhere under there is the river, this is one of the few places you could actually see flow.

 this evening has been a bit of catch up with dishes and laundry.  i'm not an impressive housekeeper.  i will say i do a wee bit better than my mother did, but then i don't have a husband and 7 kids in addition to the pets so the truth is i suspect i wouldn't have fared much better.  i'm a lazy housekeeper and tend to just do the things that tend to pile up rather than those in depth cleaning projects that normal people do.  i'd rather be outside with the dogs.  i should budget in for a housekeeper to come get the dust bunnies and such cleaned up and get a few of those nooks and crannies cleaned that i'm good at.  i remember cleaning my house before i headed on a trip.  my friend and pet sitter for the week had cleaned my place upon my return...i mean really cleaned it.  i had no idea what clean was!!  i have no idea how she managed it either.

 i didn't see any wildlife out there today.  will have to return mid march with friends and just blossom perhaps for a longer day out there.  i'm sure i can find a few willing to join me out there.

 it's snowing out there again.  we are finally getting all the snow we usually spread out more.  well, i don't think we'll totally catch up to normal levels but you never know.  will be good for the dog sled races.

 few shots of rio on trail.  she is not very obliging of photographs.

 the sun felt great out there. i lost it a bit when as i walked further in, but it returned on the way back out.

 cold in anchorage, but actually fairly warm out there.

 i need to make some plans for nome this summer.  i haven't even looked into it really.  i know there are some roads to drive and i want to rent a car and get a hotel.  i haven't really recruited much for this trip.  think i need a no brainer trip this year.  i still have 3 cabin rentals for the summer and i'd like to take a few days in homer and also hit valdez this summer.  that is the thing about alaska...we are always trying to cram so much into a few months.

 the craziness of summer does make happy to enjoy the solitude and peace of winter.

 npr on the road today.  a family was kidnapped in camaroon.  it was a french family of expat's living there.  they figure they've been taken across the border already to nigeria i think it was.  mali is a mess and these kidnappings are retribution for the french involvement over in mali.  4 kids in this recent kidnapping, under age 10 i believe.  must be just terrifying for them all. they were returning from a family trip to a national park when they were taken.

 there are places in this world that i think would be interesting to see, but mostly i leave that to people more brave than i.  there are some frightening things that happen out there.  a few on the bucket list, go before you get too old.

 haven't heard anything from the doctors office about my ablation procedure, thinking they hit a snag trying to get insurance approval.  in the meantime i will be that much closer to meeting this years deductible.  joy, joy, joy.  figuring it may be a good year to get that colon screen i'm overdue for as well.  should get the 50,000 mile check in this year before i turn 50!!

 at least i see many people much younger than me in far worse shape.  that is a perk to working in a hospital. i may not have a six pack, but i've taken way better care of this body than many out there.  it's worth it i think.  i enjoy getting out in nature too much to be limited by health issues if i can help it.  denial works well for all of us too i'm sure.

 i should work a bit harder on these m&m's, they are from christmas and the easter candy is out.  of course that is contradictory to the trying to be healthy statement of above...it does go right with the denial though.  surely M&M's aren't that bad for you....moderation.

 hiked 4 miles in snow so i suppose that buys me a few calories for the day.  wasn't in the mood for cooking and i'm not sure i have all the ingredients for a full meal...time to go shopping.  i planned on stopping by the grocery on the way home, but that idea got abandoned. i did get the dogs to petsmart so they are taken care of.  i like to keep way ahead on dog food.  if there were some sort of emergency i don't want to run out.  that, cat litter and toilet paper.  there is always enough food in the house and i can always eat up the old mountain house meals from previous camp trips that didn't get eaten.  they are so tasty..not!!

 there are many food items that really only taste good when you are camping.  that list is growing.  i used to eat top ramen or mac and cheese with some regularity, now those are pretty much only camp food.  i used to always take a bag of those powerdery hostess donuts too...what will i do to replace that this summer...alas!!

 i left the wide angle lens on the big camera.  so these are with that lens.

 the same scene always looks so different with black and white.

 peek-a-boo of the river below. i think this was actually at the bridge so this is a tributory creek.

 the bilateral amputee that ran in the regular olympics gave a statement through his lawyer i guess.  he's saying the death of his girlfriend was a total accident.  he heard noise in the middle of the night in the bathroom and freaked out thinking there was an intruder and started firing through the closed door. then he noticed she wasn't in the bed...

 figure there is more to that story that we will never hear.  i'll just leave it in the strange and bizarre and of course sad group for now.

 would have been a nice day up there at the mines.  enjoyed getting some winter pictures last year so i would love to do that again this year.

 loved the sun blasting through on me out there today.

 was almost back to the trailhead by this shot.

 i totally missed this 1 mile marker on the way out there. it is pretty much buried.  i went out to around the beaver dam.  hard to say exactly. i did see a lump where the beaver hut would be in my memory of summer hikes out there.

 sometime this summer i'll have to take that back route over again. may be easier to go up than down, considering my height concerns.

 little animal tracks were seen all over the place. above you can see a little trail heading into that brush back there. below i can just barely make out a sun dog/circle formation around the sun.  it was just starting to form..not sure if it ever got brighter.

aww...to the end of another blog entry.  2 nights of work then i'm off til tuesday. fur rondy starts, then the iditarod so it should be busy few weekends.  fun busy though.  good night, i'm off to read and rest.