Survival of the Fittest

SURVIVAL. Team Leslie made our first venture into the winter-esque backcountry this weekend on a two night ski trip into the Chugach National Forest. Pulling the Chariot and sleds, we joined some friends for a 5 mile trek into a quintessential wood cabin on a lake in the mountains. Due to some "our wives insist on going to the local holiday craft fair" shenanigans, we got a late start and left the trail head at 2 pm. Mind you, it is starting to get a bit dusky at 2 pm. Humph. So although we arrived at said cabin without firing up any headlamps along the way, it was cold. Alaska cold. I won't dive into the absolute zero thing again - you get the idea. And the way these cabins work is that you need to collect your own wood (so you ski across the lake to find downed, dried-out trees, chop them and drag them back on a sled), saw the wood down to a reasonable size (so you spend several hours pulling and pushing a somewhat dull saw over frozen logs in subzero temperatures) and finally try to successfully light these frozen sticks of hope into a life-sustaining glow. And if all that work makes you thirsty, you need to take an axe and try to hack through ten inches of solid ice on the lake to reach some water to boil. Did you bring your camp stove? Because of course the wood stove isn't anywhere near being able to boil anything yet. And your headlamp better be working, because it's dark as you're doing all of this. Keeping the kiddos entertained is on the list too.

So the sense upon arrival to the cabin was one of pure survival. There was no admiring the woodwork or the surroundings. We had real work to do and if it didn't go well, we were in trouble. Now the flip side is that if it does go well, you get the extreme satisfaction and true thankfulness for the basics of life: warmth, water, food, safety, family... an incredible reminder. We were thankful.

And we're off...

Umm... not into it, guys.

Doing better!

Our cabin - note the smoke and glow from the roaring fire!

Northern lights and the big dipper - yee ha!

TAMING OF THE VOLE. Once we were settled a bit, we noticed some hooks and rope hanging from the ceiling of the cabin and wondered if perhaps there was a rodent issue and we were supposed to hang our food (the more morbid among us considered that maybe sometimes the wood collecting didn't go so well and folks decided freezing wasn't a good way to go). Sure enough, upon waking our first morning we saw a small furry critter scurry along a rafter. Over time, she (Indigo said it was a female) got more and more daring and was even so bold as to run onto my thumb as I was "relaxing" on a bunk. Later in the evening, after the kiddos had gone to bed (i.e. the parents had busted out a few flasks and a rip-roaring game of dominoes), J decided he was an official vole hunter and all hell broke loose. Probably needless to say, the vole was not tamed. There was a brief moment of success as J caught it in his gloved hand, only to have the triumph dissolve into chaos as the kids woke up, several of us fell over in fits of laughter, and the wily vole literally slipped through his fingers. Survival of the fittest.

I'm on vole look-out duty!

BIRTHDAY FAVORS AND MOOSE SAUSAGE. An odd coupling of phrases, yes? No. This is Alaska, remember? Our friends brought a delicious moose sausage dinner for one of our nights out, and as it turns out, the sausage came from a one year-old's birthday party. The father of the birthday girl had been part of a highly successful moose hunt and they had more meat than could fit in their freezer - so of course they decided to give out packages of moose sausage as party favors at their daughter's party! Time to rethink those cellophane baggies filled with candy and trinkets, right? (I know some of you are seriously terrified that I'm serious, especially with Indigo's big day coming up... fear not, it was really tasty, but unfortunately, we have yet to take down a moose.)

More moooooooose.

SPARKLING AIR. J and I have spent a lot of time in the snow in a lot of different places, but the snow here so far has been incredibly dry and light. So much so that at times flakes are swept up into the air and when the sunlight hits them, the air itself appears to sparkle. At first I thought maybe I was dizzy or dehydrated but sure enough, everyone else saw it too. It's like someone glittered your life. Amazing. And in the moonlight it's even better.  Plus the snow doesn't melt off of the trees, leaving the forests as a perpetual winter wonderland. Worth the survival piece for sure. 

Perusing the lake.

Snack break.

We made it back!