Chena Hot Springs

We, J and J, decided that instead of spending money on over-the-top presents, we will burn it on a trip. I was more than happy with this decision as our house is littered with crap which we do not use.
Also i really enjoy to plan the trips. Well, i usually do not plan well the details as logistics and accommodations but i love researching the opportunities what we can do and see on the way and at the location.

We decided to go to Chena Hot Springs which is a resort on the end of the road 60 miles north east of Fairbanks AK. This place is well known between the locals as the place to go when deep winter is throwing -40 F at you on daily bases.

The resort is literally in the middle of nowhere and it is built around hot springs pools. This location is also known as a fantastic place to watch norther lights. There is an outside hot spring pool, which is not actually a pool rather that is more of a tiny lake. I have no idea what is the water temperature but it is hot and you will not be cold even when it hits -40 (as it did). You will get your hair all frosted over and bag for a beanie. The best time to go is right at 7 am when its opening as you will enjoy entire place for yourself. If you like more of a party time than go after 8 pm as you will be in a company of buzzed people which the hot water eventually turn into being wasted.

The resort has a restaurant and cafe so you will not go hungry plus its about an hour drive from Fairbanks and Fox, where you can hit up Hoodoo or Silver Gulch breweries. Also do not miss out on Alaska Coffee Roasting Company in Fairbanks, which is great bakery and coffee shop.

The resort rooms are quiet expensive if you compare the price versus what you get. The rooms are outdated and walls are paper thin so bring some ear plugs as this place get crazy. There is bunch of activities which you can burn your cash on. You can visit ice museum and drink appletini at the ice bar, go mushing, go hiking/snowshoeing, fly to some remote village above arctic circle, take a trip in a snow cat to watch northern lights and other touristy delights.

I do like the hot springs itself. Well actually, i really like that its -40F and you are sweating balls in this place which would be freaking awesome if left undeveloped. However, it's not the case and the Chena Hot Springs Resort should do couple upgrades before they ask their clients to pay this kind of prices.

Two wheeling the Denali highway

This road which is named after the highest peak in North America will actually take you to the close proximity of the Denali. It was built, as you can guess, to get you to the Denali National Park where the Denali is located. 

It is a gravel road which was pretty much retired after Parks highway was built to speed up travels between Anchorage and Fairbanks. These days it serves as a gateway into the wild, well at least in my mind. It stretches about 130miles between villages Paxson and Cantwell. One thing which remained same is the remoteness of the road. There are only three main lodges and couple hunting camps along the way.

It was loooong overdue plan of mine to bikepack the Denali Highway and so it happens that Memorial Day weekend was just the perfect time to do so. I kept advertising my plan for several weeks, but nobody was as excited for this adventure as me so I ended up gravel grinding by myself. And I loved it!!!

After initial what ifs such as what if I get attack by bear, moose, trigger happy hunter or one of the RV’s, I embark on my way with probably about 50 pounds of gear to take care of any remaining “what ifs” which might happen out there. Lucky me, no “what if” occurred! It had perfect weather with only pleasant encounters with wild life or humans.

I was kind of on tight schedule so when I got on my bike I meant business. I did 160miles the first day, which took me all the way to Cantwell and 45 miles back up into the wild where I had a good sleep for 8 hours. Next day I finished up the remaining 70 miles back to my car. If the mileage did not add up to you that is because I started on mile 20 at Tangle Lakes. The first 20 miles on the Paxson side is paved and I did not want to ride that so I drove in. Anyhow, it still ended up being 230miles, 13,000 feet of elevation gain in one and half day with very sore butt as a result.

The nature out there is just amazing, you really feel like you are part of the true wild Alaska which comes with a lot of respect and humbleness. I took several breaks to just sit and watch all the nature around and you can just see how small you are compare to what is around you. It was Epic!

Definitely will come back again!

Stroopwafel, Amstel,Toronto FC, Pilsner Urquell, Hikes, Beer Spa andAuschwitz

Are you wondering how all those things fit together? Well I just could let you thing that it was a well-planned adventure in Europe and Canada, but rather I will introduce you to our illogical set of trips within the trip purely based on our self-proclaimed goals.

It all started with our little doggie and a reoccurring trip to Czech to visit my parents every two years. The doggie did not want to stay in Anchorage all alone for two weeks so we decided what if we could drop her by J’s parents in Toronto on the way to Czech via 12 hours layover in Amsterdam. We actually also decided that on the way home we will stay for two days in Toronto and that is where comes to play the Toronto FC game.  But let me back up here and list the self-proclaimed goals.

Little doggy’s goals: not stay in Anchorage, nothing good comes out of it especially any treats; go explore grandma’s house there are all the time some bits to eat on the ground in kitchen.

J’s goals: Auschwitz, Beer Spa, couple days in Toronto and good times

My Goals: Beer, Beer and more Beer, hiking, stroopwafel and go to see the soccer game in Toronto while at it.

The above wishes became the pivotal story makers of our trip. First stop was in Toronto for just about 4 hours to handle over little barker and get back onto the plane to Amsterdam. We had a 12 hours layover there and we needed to start checking our wishes out so after several pints of Amstel and Heineken the stroopwafel become good idea so couple boxes later we were not only buzzed and sweeter but also on the canal boat in the middle of the city, fun, fun, fun.

The main part of the trip was played out in Czech Republic where we hiked in Krkonose Mountains, Rip Mountain and in rock formations area called “Adrspasske Skaly”. In the midst of all of that we drank lot of Pilsner Urguell and hang out in the beer spa and yes you are in actual hot tub filled with beer.

Auschwitz was a biggie on J’s list so we did a road trip to Poland to see what that is all about. I have to tell you if you ever have an opportunity to visit you need to do that. It is a sobering experience.

And of we went back to Toronto for couple days to see the aforementioned soccer game and back home to Anchorage later on.

Couple more photos from the trip:

Arctic Circle

One of the things on our bucket list was to “stand” on the imaginary Arctic Circle. Well it happened this past weekend. My original thought was that I would really like to bike to the circle but let’s be honest biking in Alaska while the break up is going on is pretty wet , muddy and cold ordeal especially on the road which is littered by crazy truck drivers. After all, I also did not have the time to do it by bike so I chose to go by car.

I believe, the only drive able route to Arctic Circle in Alaska is via the Haul road or officially Dalton Highway. It’s about 550 miles from Anchorage and about 200 miles north of Fairbanks. Our plan was to leave Friday right after work and just drive as far as we could that day and see what happens.

Well the first hole in our plan was that we did not leave Anchorage until 8pm on Friday, which caused that by Denali National Park I was ready for bed (my usual sleeping time is 10 pm-I know, I know very boring). I was so tired that we just stopped and slept in the car until 6 am on Saturday. J (the second J out of JJ) woke me up screaming that there is an animal digging a hole next to our car. I just brushed that announcement of by something between the lines as “let the animal dig” while trying to catch couple more minutes of sleep and thinking it’s probably a small tree moving in the wind or something of that nature. Well J was very determined to wake me up and take her seriously so I peeked out of my sleeping back and there it was about five feet from the car, fox digging a hole!

Off we go to Fairbanks, surprising a herd of caribous crossing the highway. Here is the hole number 2 in our plan, there is no gas service or any kind of service past town named Fox, which is about 10 miles out of Fairbanks. So we had to go buy two 5 gallons canisters for extra gas to make it back from the circle. Once we reached the Dalton highway (about 85 miles out of Fairbanks) that is where the adventures start. 

Haul road is heavily used by truckers to haul crap to Prudhoe Bay oil fields and these guys just don’t give a single shit about your little Subaru. They haul ass on the mostly dirt road up and down the hills like nobody business and it’s up to you to not get mowed over.

The drive itself is very entertaining as you are crossing several mountain ridges and going from the forest to tundra, while following the pipeline. The Arctic Circle crosses Haul road 115 miles in. There is a sign and little deck to take the views in, Ohh and also two outhouses! Who does not want to take a dump above Arctic Circle!

We traveled with 2 dogs so we took quite a bit of stops to throw some ball with them, which I really liked. It made the trip very chill and less exhausting than if we would be driving without any breaks. The temperature differences were noticeable as we went from 50 degrees in Anchorage to 20 degrees on the ridge tops on Dalton highway. The actual temperature at the circle was 32 degrees and sunny. It was helluva weekend in my books.

Where the Funk is that Hut!

Its Thursday afternoon and I'm planning my weekend out with some looong fatbiking on local trails to get ready for next race called Little Su 50. While I'm going through all the possible routes I got a note from my girlfriend that we are going on the overnight trek to Talkeetna Mountains with our friends.

Damn it! biking is ruined. Hurray!! Adventure weekend! We packed our overnight camping gear along with snowshoes and we embarked on the overnight fun early Saturday morning.

To be exactly specific the plan was to hike 8 miles on the Gold Mint trail in Talkeetna Mountain to the Mint Hut up in the mountains, settle in the hut have some nicely cooked dinner, some happy beverages, watch the full moon and hopefully northern lights. Well that is not really how it went down.

In the backpacking world less weight in a gear is a king, well when you hike/snowshoe in Alaska winter in the middle of nowhere into a hut without a wood burner you better bring some extra gear to be on the safe side, especially when you have never been there and you do not know where exactly the hut is.

So we started with backpacks along with the sled being pulled behind. I would say overall we had probably 200 pounds of gear :-), which promised a good, warm and cozy night up in the mountains. The valley which we went through is just piece of true Alaska nature very rugged and just spectacular views. The weather was on our side as well, partially blue sky, some snow showers here and there and temperature around 15 Fahrenheit. The trail was not too steep but the gear got fucking heavy and the snow got deep. We ditched the sled and put all the gear on our backs and kept chugging along.

We had probably 0.5 miles left to the hut and environment dramatically changed from this gradually uphill hike through the valley to pretty much full blown climbing terrain in this almost canyon like valley with a high risk of avalanche and shit ton of snow. The bottom line is we could not make it up there to the hut. We were already pretty exhausted so couple options pop up. The obvious one, to go back 7.5 miles out of the valley, dig ourselves nice snow shelter and stay overnight in the current spot (not too smart due to possibility of avalanche) or walk back 2-4 miles and camp out in the wide open valley.

We arrived back at the parking lot around 8pm after 10 hours (we left at 10 am) and 15 miles of exhausting hike in the snow totally beaten up, but full of good memories. We did not know how good decision we made to hike out of the mountains until 1:30 am on Sunday when 7.1 earthquake struck Anchorage. If we stayed in the mountains we could possibly end up under the avalanche in the middle of the sleep.

It was a day which we might remember for long time and the full moon was just ready to be howl on!