After practically three weeks of temperatures nicely beneath -20F for the excessive(!!!) each day, we’ve had a correct warm-up right here in inside Alaska, and we’re completely savoring it. It’s humorous although as a result of, whereas most of these within the lower-48 are beginning to rejoice the primary indicators of spring, the identical guidelines completely don’t apply to Fairbanks. However, we’re having fun with over eight hours of daylight per day now, and our temps have been over 0F each day for the previous week, so we determined it was the right time to strive snowshoeing with children on the Chena River.

Should you’ve adopted my weblog for a while, you would possibly keep in mind that we’ve truly gone snowshoeing with the children as soon as earlier than whereas we lived in Washington. The boys have been a lot youthful then, and we spent a day snowshoeing Myrtle Falls in Mt. Rainier Nationwide Park.

Now, nonetheless, the boys are older, more adept, and more proficient, so it felt like excessive time to strive once more. Plus, inside Alaska is the right outside playground for snowshoeing, snowboarding, and extra, and we now have trails and open areas all over the place. Snowshoeing in Fairbanks, Alaska is very common in the course of winter when we now have extra daylight and the ice could be very thick.

Snowshoeing with Children on the Chena River

I’ve had snowshoeing on my Fort Wainwright bucket list for some time, however I’ll admit that this winter undoubtedly took the wind out of our sails a bit of bit. Spencer’s been actually scuffling with this cold-reactive bronchial asthma this winter, so we needed to await the temps to raise a bit to correctly benefit from the nice open air once more. Because it was 25F the opposite day, it was the right time to strive snowshoeing with children on the Chena River.

Should you reside on Fort Wainwright, there are a number of locations to get all the way down to the Chena River and, because the ice depth is not less than 12 inches, it’s protected for us to go on the river. We will truly get all the way down to the river about 100 ft from the home, which made it tremendous straightforward. And, since we simply noticed the Yukon Quest move by the opposite day, we have been fairly assured that it was protected to traverse the river, and it was. We have been fortunate in that we didn’t should carve our personal path, and our snowshoes have been only a good addition for steadiness whereas we adopted the musher’s tracks on the river.

The place to Get Snowshoes in Fairbanks, Alaska

We’re massive followers of secondhand gear over right here, and it’s no secret that every thing in Alaska is dear. Fortunately, as a result of Fairbanks has a gentle stream of tourists and short-term residents due to the navy, so there’s by no means scarcity of secondhand gear.

Listed here are a number of the greatest locations to get snowshoes in Fairbanks:

Mieke has her personal snowshoes, too, however since she wasn’t feeling it the day we determined to strive, I pulled her on the sled. With a canine leash and a bungee wire. And sure, you may completely do that extra, nicely, appropriately, however I had zero want to purchase my nearly-5-year-old a chariot since she’ll be strolling subsequent time. This labored for the day, and it was a lot enjoyable!