Our Alaskan Spring Break Excursion

For the last decade, our typical spring break tradition has been heading out on the Iditarod trail to follow the race by plane. This year, we decided to switch it up and head to McCarthy to hang out at Wes’s dad’s cabin, visit friends, and enjoy the deep snow that had accumlated there this year.

We knew that with the amount of snow in the area, it was very likely going to be a bit tricky on the ground with the plane. We landed without a problem thanks to our trusty AirGlas 4,000 skis, but taxing became a full commit situation when we hit the deep snow just off the runway and had to taxi with full power to make any progress. We were almost able to make it to the plowed area, but ended up stuck deep in the snow just a few feet away. Woodsen planned to unload the plane, then attempt to taxi again; if that didn’t work, we would fire up the snowmachines to pack a path to the plowed area.

The kids and I unloaded, and as we did, David Rowland, who had helped us complete the dirtwork for the cabin, showed up on his snowmachine. He offered to pack down the snow in front of the airplane, and with his assistance, Woodsen was able to taxi out of the deep snow and into the plowed parking area.

With the plane situated on even ground, we unloaded and settled in. We were hardly unpacked before Woodsen had our two old, trusty Tundra snowmachines fired up, and excited kids were driving them around. Melozi was especially excited since this was her first attempt at driving the snowmachines.

We had debated about whether we should bring ski gear for all of us, after all, it’s a bit of a fiasco trying to fit it all in the bellypod, but we were soon grateful that we had. Once the kids had had enough of driving the snowmachine, they hopped on their skis and enjoyed being towed behind it. If there was a favorite activity of the trip, I would say this was it. Many, many hours were spent with kids skiing behind the trusty, and also stinky, two-stroke machines. In time, even Yukla got the courage to try it out and gained a lot of confidence on his skis.

While the kids were taking a break from skiing, a few friendly Grey Jays came to say hello. Woodsen was familiar with this bird and knew they could easily be coaxed to land and eat out of your hand.

Woodsen would whistle and the birds would come to him, so the girls decided to attempt calling the birds as well. The only problem was that whistling isn’t a skill all of our kids have mastered yet. Atlee whistled while Melozi blew loudly out of her mouth with little success. Ultimately, they enlisted the help of our leftover pancakes from breakfast, which was much more successful at attracting the birds.

Our plan for our time in McCarthy was to use it as a base camp and hopefully embark on a couple of trips from there. We enjoyed a couple of nights in McCarthy, then, with an open invitation from our friends, the Fosters in Valdez, we decided to head that way. The weather cleared as we headed out of McCarthy, and we were greeted with blue skies in Valdez.

After dropping our stuff at our friend’s house, we regrouped with all our ski gear and headed to the local Salmonberrie ski hill for a fun day of skiing in the sunshine. Woodsen and I have just started focusing on getting our kids on skis, so the mellow hill was perfect for them to gain confidence. Atlee took off, and after a few pointers, Melozi was also making her way up and down the hill independently. More friends gathered at the ski hill, and while the kids skiied the moms visited.

After the Ski hill closed, Kate and I decided to sneak away for a mini ski tour. Skiing has been something I’ve picked up in adulthood thanks to Woodsen, so I’m still learning, but it was wonderful to get outside, enjoy time with Kate, and remind myself to keep making efforts to improve my skills.

Now that the kids and ladies had had their opportunity to ski, it was the guys’ turn. They headed out on snowmachines the next day for a longer ski tour while the kids played and Kate and I hung out around the house.

One of my favorite things about the trips we go on is spending the night with friends. I love the built-in memories of mellow moments, after-bedtime adult time, sharing meals, and doing all the things of daily life together.

After two full days in Valdez, it was time to head back to McCarthy. When we had arrived in Valdez, there were no tie-downs to be found under the thick layer of ice on the tarmac. Since it was supposed to be windy that night, the airport manager offered to bring over a couple of loader buckets for us to tie down to. It felt like a very “only in Alaska ” moment as the heavy equipment arrived to pull away our tiedowns.

Once back in McCarthy, we enjoyed making the social rounds and visiting friends. With very few people living in the area during the winter, the friends we know in McCarthy are intentional about hospitality. Dinner invites and game nights are common occurrences, and our social calendar quickly filled up. We went sledding with friends, then skied to Don & Lynn’s house and enjoyed time with their dog Dusty, delicious turkey soup (the turkey was oddly enough raised in Cordova), card games, and visiting with Lynn.

After a few days around McCarthy, we decided to jump in the airplane and fly up to Tebay Lakes to visit our friends Jay & Kellie while they were at their ski Lodge hosting guests. We waited till midday to make the trip, thinking that guests would be out skiing by that time, but thanks to -42 degree temps that morning (we hit -35 in McCarthy), things were moving slowly. Shortly after we landed, airplanes began departing to take skiers into the mountains surrounding the lodge for the ultimate backcountry skiing experience.

While their guests enjoyed their time in the mountains, we enjoyed a meal with Jay and Kellie before heading back to the airplane.

Our next stop was to Dan Creek, known in the area as a base for gold mining. We brought Curry and shared it with our friend Bill, a friend Woodsen worked with at Ultima Thule lodge years ago. After lunch with Bill at his cabin, we stopped in to see a couple of other friends, then headed back to the plane.

The finale to our spring break was an invitation to head out to the Lake at the toe of the glacier and check out a giant ice cave that had recently been found. It was already 4 pm when Brittney and Caleb stopped by with the invitation, but we decided to rally and jump on the trusty Tundras and head for the cave. I felt pretty sporty with Eska on my lap, driving around in the trails surrounded by deep snow, climbing up and over snow-covered rocks and ice formations, but when we came to the final climb before the cave, Woodsen and I both decided it was too steep for our little Tundras. Kaleb gave us a ride, and we arrived to a spectacular site. A giant ice cave over thirty feet tall with beautiful textured ice.

We spent time wandering around in the cave, admiring the deep blues, natural textures, and the beauty of the ice, then eventually made our way out. The cave had attracted a bit of a crowd and we enjoyed meeting new friends, which happened to be part of the Rowland family. One of the guys towed the kids up the steep slopes for sledding, and Atlee was convinced the wild, bumpy ride up was just as exciting as sledding down.

When the sun started sinking on the horizon, we decided to pull ourselves away and head for home.

The next day was Sunday, and we planned to head to the Rowlands’ home church, then pack up and head home to make it back for school the next day. With the Rowlands’ extended family and ours in town, the church crowd was larger than normal for this time of year. We counted 19 kids, and I’m guessing kids outnumbered the adults.

In the afternoon, clouds sat low in the sky and it began to snow, so we lingered and visited at the church potluck, knowing we would be waiting on the weather. When we did head home, the girls, who had skied to church, enjoyed the thrill of skiing down the Rowlands’ steep driveway.

Conditions failed to improve on Sunday, so we decided to delay our departure till the next day. Monday dawned with blue skies, so we slowly packed up. When Woodsen headed out to check on the plane, he realized the chord connecting the heater had been accidentally knocked loose, leaving the plane cold soaked. He plugged it in, and we waited for it to warm up. Once the airplane was warm enough to start, we took off.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the end of our issues. Halfway home the alternator stopped working. To conserve battery, Woodsen turned off the headsets, GPS, and most of the avionics. This created a tricky dynamic among the kids and led to plenty of loud yelling. Thankfully, the weather was cooperating, and since Woodsen had flown this route many times, navigation wasn’t an issue. As we approached the valley, the wind began to pick up and proved substantially stronger than when we checked in the morning. Landing was a full-blown workout for Woodsen, with intense down drafts and swirly wind. Woodsen decided to land on Anderson Lake instead of the strip to avoid a nasty burble of wind he knew existed right before the runway threshold. We slowly taxied across the lake, getting pushed around by the wind and grateful for the snowdrifts that helped us stop and realign. We finally got to the hangar, only to find the hangar door frozen shut. While Woodsen found a shovel and began chipping at the ice I braced myself against the plane to counter the gusts of wind. Finally, the door was free of ice and swung open. We quickly pushed the plane inside and let out a deep sigh of relief to be safely on the ground and out of the wind.  

What a way to end our spring break adventure!