So this last Saturday my weekend began by @stryeyz and I running the Deer Park Winterfest Frosbite 5K. It was nearly 40F by the time we started running. I was pleasantly surprised to see that I was able to pull an 8:11 mile pace for the 3 miles. This is the first race of the year and is always a good benchmark to test the overall endurance level that I have.

After our run we returned home and I packed up my gear and drove north to my buddy Art’s house. After we loaded up and drove out to the Kettle Crest it was after 5:30pm. Upon arriving at the normal turn around I found there to be military vehicles parked all over the place. We parked in among them and wondered aloud about who it was and what they were doing there. My first instinct would prove to be correct.

The personnel had all been using snow mobiles and big snow cats to head up the road which made the hike up a bit easier. I decided to wear my snowshoes for the hike and attempted to hold my skis on my sled. Unfortunately it caused it to be too top heavy so I resorted to carrying my skis on my backpack. We left the vehicles around 6:00pm and when we made it to the campground it was about 8:00pm. 3 mile hike in 2 hours is not bad towing a sled.

As we hiked into camp there was a snow cat plowing a trail around the campground and a tracked quad with him. I talked with the man on the quad and found that I was correct in thinking that they were with the SERE school, the survival training for the Air Force. Crazy but just starting their 2 WEEKS out in the bush. They are training potential instructors which means they are being MEAN to those poor people, in the middle of winter, training survival...

The worst part of the adventure was night time. It was damned cold and my toes never seemed to warm up all night long in the sleeping bag. We had mad it to the camp by 8pm but I was so destroyed that all I could do was put up my tent and then crash. At least I tried to crash. I slept so incredibly bad all night long and it felt like I had woken up every 15 minutes.

Finally I decided to give up on sleeping and got myself moving a bit around 7:30am. Got my coffee and morning drinks in me and then by 9 we were raring to get hiking. The camp ground sat with 3 feet of snow as can be seen on top of the trail board.

I with my skis and skins, Art and Daniel both with snow shoes and the 3 puppies all started up the trail which happened to have a trail cut from a few days before. The trail cut had been snowed on since but still gave us the direction to go and an easier surface for the puppies to run on.

The trail winds up through the forest for a couple of miles before it pops out of the trees at about 6000 foot elevation. The forest was nice and quiet save for the crunch of our feet in the snow.

We mad it up out of the trees and a few switchbacks up the slope. Art was showing signs of tiring and I was hitting a wall of tired and sore. I sat down for a bit at about 6300 foot elevation and got this pano looking to the north east.

The slope above looked gorgeous and inviting but my body did not have the gumption to get up it. I would so very much loved to have been able to run those wide open areas above me.

So we skied back down the trail from our high point on the mountain and met up with Daniel in camp. We then gathered our gear and hiked back up the road to the crest of the hill where we could then ski all the way back to the trucks.

Near the top of the hill we came upon this amazing, gorgeous, piece of machinery. We drooled over this thing for a good 10 minutes. Keys in it, doors unlocked and open, and us looking at a 3 mile ride back down. It was honestly all we could do not to go for a little ride. Just park it down by their vehicles, not go anywhere with it....

This was just the 8 person capacity plow, they also have a larger 12 capacity cat that hauled people around....

The ski down the road was essentially a 2.5 mile long ski run. I was towing my sled which helped to give me a touch of drag to keep my speed down. We made it down to the trucks by 3:30pm.

An outstanding, difficult, cold, fun, and well worth while adventure that I hope to do again soon.

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