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Published: March 2nd 2018
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All of Anchorage is busy this week with the preparations for Iditarod, but they are also hosting their 83rd Annual Fur Rondy (Rendezvous) Festival - a week-long celebration of all things Winter and Alaska. Starting with a parade, they have a carnival, films, and sporting events (like curling, hockey, foot races, sled dog races, and ice bowling), as well as arts and cultural events. The entire town gets involved, and (surprise) the bars, stores, and restaurants have events and promotions, too! The thing I'm sorry to miss is the Running with the Reindeer, which looks like a hoot, but I'll probably be otherwise involved with Iditarod Ceremonial Start events. It sounds like it's just like the Running of the Bulls, except people are chased through town by Reindeer!
One event that is part of the Fur Rondy is the Alaska National Snow Sculpture contest; there are about 35 sculptures on display near the train station. I posted a picture of my favorite (at right), called "Guardian;" the detail is pretty amazing.
After viewing the snow sculpture display, I took a fairly short walk on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail. It's a multi-use path that terminates at Kincaid Park, a
city park of over 1,500 acres. The trail follows along the western edge of Anchorage, which fronts on Cook Inlet. You can see Mt. Susitna across the water, at the northern end of the Aleutian Mountain Range. They don't plow or shovel the trail, but it is well maintained by snow packing machines. It seems like it's probably several feet deep, because it nearly covered the seats of some benches along the trail! While I was walking, two trail maintenance machines passed me twice, towing devices that compacted and textured the snow, to make it easier for walking, fat-biking, and XC skiing.
Interestingly, Tony Knowles was a former Governor of Alaska, who went on to become a Senator, and then a member of the advisory board to the National Parks. He and most of the advisory board just quit the advisory board in January over issues involving the current administration!
Train tracks pass alongside the trail; I happened to see two workers shoveling snow and using what looked like a leaf blower, trying to clear snow from a portion of a siding off the tracks. It looked like long and slow work! On the other side of the
path are apartments or condos that have a great view of Cook Inlet and the mountains beyond, but the down-side would have to be the trains rolling right past their windows!
Back at the Lakefront Hotel, I decided to follow part of the trail that (I thought) went around Lake Hood, which boasts that it is "the largest and busiest sea plane base in the world." Since I arrived, I've heard a few planes coming and going, but it doesn't seem like this is a very busy time of year for them. In one of the pictures, you can see very clearly where the snow is packed down where they land.
Though I found that the trail doesn't extend much beyond the Lakefront's property, I did come across a couple dog transport trailers, which made me wonder where the dogs are...certainly not in those trailers but I haven't seen them around the hotel, either. As for the lots around Lake Hood, it appears that at least some of them have their own plane parked on the lawn between the house and the lake. I wonder how many people will be flying from there to follow the mushers across
Alaska for the race?
Speaking of flying, the "Iditarod Air Force" supports the race by flying supplies (for both dog and human) out to the checkpoints before the race, as well as moving volunteers, race officials, and other human passengers among the trail checkpoints as needed. These volunteers are commercial and private pilots who donate their time and the use of their planes to the event. They also pick up "dropped dogs" that have been identified either by their musher or a volunteer veterinarian as no longer able to continue the race. These dogs are flown back to Anchorage, accompanied by a volunteer dog handler, to rest, recuperate, and await the return of their owner and the rest of the team.
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