25-28 September 2014

 

Arrived at luxury resort type hotel wilderness lodge at 15.30 hours (3.30 pm) a balmy 38 degrees F. the hottest part of the day.

Booked in, paid money, saw Reindeer, had alcohol. Not necessarily in that order.

Tonight with the clear skies and with a bit of luck we may see the Northern Lights. We just need to stay awake long enough. If not, well, we have another 2 nights and there’s always the drinking.

10 pm just returned from long soak in springs totally exhausted from doing nothing. As Rob the Council Worker (sorry Rob, employee) would say, “I’m just to tired to move”.

No sign of Aurora yet but best viewing, if it’s on, is around two to three in he morning…. could be a long night.

The Aurora made a brief appearance about 23.30 and photos are attached.

 

 

Day 2

Mush You Huskies

 

Up at the crack of lunchtime for brunch.

Not much to do until the next threat of the Northern Lights so it was a quick trot to Bear Paw Butte. Bear Paw Butte is not shaped like a bear paw, there are just lots of bear paw prints in the snow. As a result of afore-mentioned prints it took considerably less time for the return journey.

Later in the day it was the “Sled Dog Experience”. Had James stayed any longer the handlers would have thrown a harness on him.

 

 

Is it cold in Alaska? We left swimming clothes on the veranda last night today we had cloth Frisbees.

 

More Aurora

 

Day 3

The Nature Trail, Charley Dome Trail and even more Aurora.

 

The Nature Trail, from what I see is so-called because this is where the owners of the resort have decided to tear nature to bits with a 30 tonne excavator, quarry for rock and build ski trails. This is mining for the new gold rush. Tourists.

 

The Charley Dome Trail Is a “moderate to strenuous” hike up a ski trail to a 360-degree view of the Alaskan wilderness. Here you can play in the snow, commune with nature, look in awe at the majesty of your surrounds, dine in one of the large demountable yurts (if you’re on an organised tour) and wizz into an eco-friendly plastic bucket. Bec very sensibly decided to stay at the resort and do her washing.

 

Day 4

Perhaps I have painted a less than glamorous picture of Chena Springs.

Well it is less than glamorous. It’s rough around the edges and a little unsympathetic to the wilderness in which it resides. But hey, this is Alaska, The Golden Heart, The Last Frontier and we all have to make a dollar. To their great credit the owners have embarked on a series of ecofriendly initiatives making use of the hot springs, recycling, use of alternate energy sources and even growing their own produce in green houses. My general feeling is that Chena is evolving and in a few years this could be a model resort.