The Cold Sucks? Try Winter Hiking In Alaska. Yeah, with Children.
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- by Mark Stephens on Tue Jan 11, 2011 - (6) Comments
Ahhhh-laska. Alaska. In the words of James Taylor - in a song about an entirely different place but sets the mood: "I've never been but I'd sure like to go." Now I have a whole new reason to get up there. The Last Frontier, as Alaska is nicknamed, is home to The Taiga Trekkers, a group of parents who meet on a weekly basis to hike. Adventure parents at the root, no matter the season.
"We certainly aren't sprinting up the trails, we take our time and wait for each other to tend to our children's needs . . .We may not all travel the same average speed, but make sure that no one is ever alone, that there are always two adults together. This way we do not need to worry about keeping the entire pack together."
So evocative of the old African axiom, "it takes a village to raise a child," isn't it? Of course, I have this tender spot for Alaska in my mind. I've never been and I've romanticized the place for nigh 35 years now. So I could very well be over-doing it here.
In case you didn't know, adventureparents.com is produced, headquartered, and otherwise held-together-by-duct-tape-sweat-and-love in Arizona. The Sonoran Desert. The desert is not all I know, but the desert is where I put down roots; my yard is gravel and cactus, no grass, and I surely only see snow in pictures. So forgive me if I'm flipping my lid at something that might be nothing new to you. But I think it's way cool to take your jogger-stroller and strap skis to the wheels, fashioning it into a sled that you tow behind you so you can take your little one on a hike. That's what the Taiga Trekkers do when that white stuff covers the ground. I think it's awesome; they think it's just normal everyday stuff.
Hiking in the snow, in the dire cold of Alaska, means taking on some foreign-to-us-desert-rats measures. Namely bundling the children to the point of near non-recognition. I'm out of words here, so I'll say it like this: it's just cool to see a group like this.
I love this tip from January 5th: "Due to the recent warm weather and the subsequent refreezing, the trails are extremely slick. Tomorrow's trail will require ice grippers for your shoes." Ice grippers? Yeah did you have to look that one up, too?
Raise your glass to the Taiga Trekkers, good reader. They've got it dialed in. Being with friends, getting outside, doing what they love. If you move to Alaska, you have like-minded folk already in place.
On the web: http://taigatots.blogspot.com/
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