Here are just a few quick highlights from the past week. These are in the order which they occurred, not in any means are they in order of best to next best.
1. Beers, stories and amazing hospitality from the Stern family in Fairbanks. We meet them on the ferry on their return from biking the west coast; Canada to Mexico. Great people.
2. We spotted a bull moose and a sizable arctic grayling while hiking Granite Tors trail.
3. Bouldering rock formations and blueberry picking along the Angel Rocks trail
4. Beavers in action at 45 mile pond. Three beavers swimming around, eating off the bottom of the pond within 30 feet of us. One crawled up on the bank for a moment and it was gigantic.
5. Climbing on and playing in the remains of a place crash from the 1950's along the Chena Dome trail.
6. Views (although obscured by some clouds) of the Alaska Range from the ridge tops on the Chena Dome trail.
7. Two showers, two very long soaks in the hot springs and a geothermal and greenhouse sustainability tour at the Chena Hot Springs resort.
8. The perfect mirror reflection off the pond at Red Squirrel campground.
9. Five moose sightings withing 30 minutes drive along the highway back towards Fairbanks. This brought the trip total to 20 moose, the count is officially over.
10. Zip-lining at the Stern's.
I think it is also worth mentioning that we hiked 50 miles in five days with close to 10,000 feet of climbing along the way! My calves and buttocks are sore, even after long soaks in the hot springs.
