After a week of sitting at inservice training, I was ready to get back into the mountains. Sadly my district doesn’t provide spring break to teachers. So I did what every rational person sould do, take three personnel days and disappear. Ever since hiking the Castner Glacier last Fall I have been continually interested in exploring the eastern side of the Alaska Range. So we rented the Fielding Lake state park public use cabin for two nights. The cabin and lake are about two miles from the Richardson highway, around mile 200. If you’re heading North from Glenallen the pull off is right after Paxson and Summit Lake.
The southern side of the lake is dotted with private cabins. In the Summer it might feel crowded, but in the Winter we had it all to ourselves. It was obvious heavy winds rip through the valley. The lake was crusted over with some of the hardest wind slab I have ever seen. The western side of the lake was blown down to exposed ice.
I had a funny experience prior to leaving town on Friday. While waiting in line at Fred Myers Grocery in Fairbanks I felt a slight tapping on my back. I turned around and saw one of my 7th grade students. Several of my students came into town with the native dance team for a competition. We briefly chatted until he noticed I had three bundles of firewood in my shopping cart. Suddenly his eyes grew big and a confused look came over his face. “Why are you buying wood from the grocery store” he asked? I had to explain I was going camping, and wanted to be prepared, but he wasn’t buying it. I asked if he thought I could just walk around Fairbanks with a chainsaw cutting down trees. He still couldn’t comprehend why anybody would buy wood here.
The southern side of the lake is dotted with private cabins. In the Summer it might feel crowded, but in the Winter we had it all to ourselves. It was obvious heavy winds rip through the valley. The lake was crusted over with some of the hardest wind slab I have ever seen. The western side of the lake was blown down to exposed ice.
I had a funny experience prior to leaving town on Friday. While waiting in line at Fred Myers Grocery in Fairbanks I felt a slight tapping on my back. I turned around and saw one of my 7th grade students. Several of my students came into town with the native dance team for a competition. We briefly chatted until he noticed I had three bundles of firewood in my shopping cart. Suddenly his eyes grew big and a confused look came over his face. “Why are you buying wood from the grocery store” he asked? I had to explain I was going camping, and wanted to be prepared, but he wasn’t buying it. I asked if he thought I could just walk around Fairbanks with a chainsaw cutting down trees. He still couldn’t comprehend why anybody would buy wood here.
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