Ice Skating Wasilla Creek

Earlier in the week I had seen a friend’s pictures of ice skating in the Palmer Hay flats that looked pretty spectacular! After getting the skinny from her I added it to the list of things to do on Woodsen & I’s time off together. I also found a website http://www.anchorageskates.org that provided great info on ice conditions around the Anchorage area. I love stumbling on gold mines of info like this!

We headed out of town despite the forecast for freezing rain and wind in the valley and hoped that the forecasters were wrong.

We parked at the end of the road where rabbit creek and Wasilla creek meet up and started our skate. At first the ice was pretty inconsistent with lots of frozen overflow, truck ruts, and bumpy ice but you generally could find a path on the good ice through the other hazards.

Look Ma no hands! 33 weeks pregnant and counting!

Happy for no freezing rain and minimal wind so far!

We hit a couple spots of slush along the way, but overall the ice conditions improved as we got further out. A thin layer of water on the ice made the skating fast!

Woodsen and I both prefer using skate poles, me mostly for balance, but Woodsen likes going fast and getting an arm workout too. Still have yet to see any ice skaters using poles, but that doesn’t stop us!

Not only did the ice get better but the view got better and better. We traded the murky brown ice and bare trees for amazing reflective ice and a beautiful sunset!

After skating on the slough for an hour or so we came to the duck hut. Hard to miss, the only building on the creek. We unclipped from our nordic skates (love these things) and walked up the embankment towards the duck hut. From the hut you can see the frozen ponds all around, we walked a bit then clipped back into our skates and enjoyed the perfectly smooth ice.

The view just kept getting better! I think the only thing more dangerous than a pregnant lady on ice skates is a pregnant lady on ice skates with a camera and a beautiful sunset to distract her from staying upright. Thankfully the ice was smooth and I avoided falling.

So hard to peel yourself away from a view like this, but we both knew skating back in the dark would be treacherous.

The last part of our skate was in the dark but we managed to finish in one piece.

Another amazing day in Alaska!