November 13, 2011

On Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago, we drove out to Peter's Creek and met up with our friend, Julie, and her two Siberian huskies. Julie drove us up into the mountains to the Peter's Creek trailhead for an afternoon hike. There was already quite a bit of snow here and as of that day, October 29th, we had no snow in Anchorage. We all got our gear on, including bear spray , and headed up the trail. The trail seemed to follow an old road bed. There were a couple of stream crossings and a steady incline for the first leg of the trail. It was a somewhat overcast afternoon and the mountains with their coverings of snow were a gentle reminder of the winter soon to come for us. This afternoon we just enjoyed the solitude and peace of the quiet forest. Julie's huskies seemed right at home in the cold and snow. We quite enjoyed the hike and hope to go again. Upon waking the next morning, the winter landscape from the previous afternoon seemed to have followed us home. Our city bore the first measurable snow of the season on October 30th. Since then, our downtown apartment has seen about 20 more inches fall. With the forecast of some below zero temps for the coming week, it is safe to say our winter has unofficially begun.