A Fat Tire Bike Weekend in Hope, Alaska

Okay, once you have a fat tire bike, you have to use it!  But if you're nearly 65, it seems like a better time to learn to mountain bike would have been, say, 50 years ago?  There's a learning curve, it seems to me, about bumping over roots and rocks and hurtling down a trail that threatens to hurl you off on either side!  I'm out to inspect all of my bruises tonight!

Friday night was the warm up cruise again, on the new bike which we had just picked up the night before - a great deal and a decision to go with one chain ring, which presents less of a challenge to my brain when it's preoccupied with all of those decisions at once --- downshift? pick a path? try not to fall off when I hit that rock? get off and walk instead? Our Friday night ride, which I've done a few times now, is deceptive, as it's easy and fun! Unlike Saturday and Sunday turned out to be!

This is my new bike taking a rest on the trail.
I felt sorry for it, so I let it stop for a while. (I was dead!)

Saturday we headed down the Seward Highway in our Chinook to camp overnight in Hope, but we stopped first at the Johnson's Pass Trail - we checked that out hiking in the late spring, early summer, and even though we passed through two huge piles of snow from avalanches, it looked like a fun trail. It is striking, but what was most striking to me was how hard it was!  Lots of roots, very narrow trail, and scary for a beginner, which I would consider myself - Brian loved it!  I was way too occupied with surviving to take pictures here!

Then we headed over to Hope to the Resurrection Pass Trail, where we were on Memorial Day Weekend earlier this year.




We've loved camping in our 1977 Chinook - decorated very 80s style, lots of avacado green - but SO comfortable for two people - as long as you like each other!  We threw food together in the morning - one of the things that I like about camping is having great food with us.

We camped under a half moon with a great view out our window -- as long as you don't mind that it's fall, the leaves are down, and towards the end of evening, it has a cold look to it.  And it WAS cold overnight!

And we checked out the sunrise from our other window before we got out of the only warm spot in the camper - in bed!  




All in all, a beautiful day, even if taxing for me.  I'm off to inspect my bruises and turn in early!  Another week of work before we're off to play again . . . though Brian rides several times a week early evening, I'm usually tied up til too late.

Eklutna Lake on Fat Tire Bikes!

The weekends go fast, and they are going even faster through October . . . but we wanted to take some time for me to try out a fat tire bike and see if we could ride together on the many trails available in and around Anchorage.  We rented one Saturday night and tried it out first on the Campbell Creek trails and then on Sunday for a longer (2 1/2 hour) ride along Eklutna Lake.

I've never been a mountain biker, so it's taking some getting used to, but this was a very mild dirt trail with not as many ruts, and some very beautiful scenery to keep us company!  We've camped here before with out 19' Chinook, but we just came up for the day this time.

One of the things we like to do is when we finish, make tea or coffee right in the camper and relax before we drive home!






Brian bought his fat tire bike last year and enjoyed it especially through the winter when there wasn't enough snow to ski on.  He says it's actually easier to bike in the winter on the trails, as the snow is a softer ride than the roots and rocks!

We rented mine for the day and it looks like the decision is YES!  We ended up buying one that we found on Craigs List that was a small enough frame for me.

We wanted to get as far as Serenity Falls, but we ran out of time, and the trail becomes less interesting after you reach the end of Eklutna Lake. It's definitely fall, but still beautiful!