Aki’s other human and I planned a cross country ski adventure for today. But heavy rain was hammering our windows when we woke up. I thought there might be enough snow on a Mendenhall Lake trail for us to sneak in a trip before the rain melted it away. But that trail is reserved for cross country ski racers. 

            Unless we want to pay a high fee to use the commercial ski trail, we will have to drive north to Eagle Beach. After breakfast, we dropped Aki into the car and then loaded in the skis. Even the little dog was wet from the rain that hammered us while loading the car. In a half-an-hour, we humans parked next to the Eagle River and slapped on skis. 

Rather than being washed away by last night’s rain, a layer of still thick snow covered the trail. Our skis slide easily down the trail over snow we would have punched through if just traveling in boots. We enjoyed traveling through the still snowy woods, not bothered by the layer of low clouds that hid most of the mountain peaks and all the blue sky.