0° F?

This morning we woke up to an outside temperature of about 12 degrees F. That's ice on the port light in the v-berth where we sleep. Oddly enough we both woke up last night feeling much too warm. I think the down sleeping bags on top of the comforter were overkill.

Deciding that 12 degrees just wasn't cold enough we headed out to do our first ski tour of the season. The temps in the alpine were about 0 with a bit of wind chill to keep us on our toes. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we were both very happy to be out trundling about on our skis. We spotted some snowshoe hare tracks, and the trees were covered with rime.

From Douglas Island, looking across towards Juneau.

A view down on Stephens Passage, to the south west of Douglas Island.

Rime covered trees, looking like weird snow creatures milling around.

The Big Snow

Early this morning we woke up to snow again, this time quite a bit more, roughly 10 inches. We knew it was out there, since at around 3am the sound of snow slabs sliding off our tarp and into the water woke us up. The day went on as normal though. The swimming pool was open, and the main roads were plowed. More snowfall is forecast, so we'll see what happens!

Teddy Bear's Picnic?

If you go into the woods today
You'd better not go alone.
It's lovely out in the woods today
But safer to stay at home...

These are all signs one encounters in the woods just minutes away from downtown Juneau.

This one says: Hazardous conditions exist. Walkway slippery when wet, snowy or frozen. Rockslides may occur year round. Avalanches may occur winter & spring. Repair, renovation and/or maintenance may be in progress.

If the bears don't get you, something else might...

Henry Hall's Teddy Bear's Picnic

Snow!

We had been watching the snow level lower on the surrounding hills all week and were extremely excited to wake up to this view out our companionway Friday morning. I had to go to work, but watched the snow flakes fall all day out my window. While I was at work Matt spent the day outside in the blowing snow while he erected the frame for Wecantu's winter tarp.

Saturday we did a hike with the Juneau Parks & Recreation group, which has become part of our weekly routine. They are a great group to hang out with, and it's been fun to socialize with them. They do adventuresome hikes, go out no matter what the weather, and share lots of local knowledge. This Saturday's hike was a mix of trail walking, bush whacking, shore walking, and beaver dam traversing in the Mendenhall river area. With the fresh snow it was quite a beautiful hike. Back in Seattle we would have had to drive hours to enjoy a place like this, but here it was a 15 minute drive to the trail head, which hardly gives us time to even drink half our morning coffees!