A little over a week ago, huge mounds of snow remained on the Fort Wainwright alpine hill, but pasque flowers were blooming as we ski walked on the eastern snowgun trail around the island of trees to avoid the muddy sections of the chairlift trail.

By Friday, 29 May, we were able to ski walk the chairlift trail without getting our feet wet. Today we discovered that the Sunnyside, Cliffside, and Sonot Connector trails were all dry and lupines were in full bloom on the Sunnyside.

So training options are now fully open. On Tuesdays at 10 a.m., we’ll meet at the Ester Dome bike trails parking lot to ski walk up the dome with various turnaround points.

On Friday, we’ll meet at Birch Hill at 10 a.m. and head over to the FWW alpine hill and ski walk the chairlift trail in preparation for the Bill Husby challenge of 4 ascents before the 4th of July. If you don’t like doing the same trail more than once, you can take the Cliffside and Sunnyside trails back.

Be forewarned, it’s now officially summertime. You’ll need to wear bug dope as the mosquitoes are out. Right now they are still the big and slow ones, but the smaller, faster ones will soon join them. Thanks to recent rains, the birch pollen levels have decreased significantly at Birch Hill.