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Week long Anchorage and then some trip... advice (Jackal...)

Week long Anchorage and then some trip... advice (Jackal...)

Old Jan 11, 2008, 12:25 am
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Week long Anchorage and then some trip... advice (Jackal...)

Looking for some advice from all, but I have read a few of Jackal's posts and know he's from the Anchorage area.
Anyways I am going to the Anchorage area at the beginning of March for roughly one week. I am highly adventuresome and always looking for new experiences. I do a lot of CC skiing and heard something about the train dropping you off and being able to ski in. Is there any kind of cabin system set up? I am open to going north or south of Anchorage and have a decent amount of money to spend. I'm not into ritzy hotels, I can get by with the bare minimum.
Also, I know the iditarod is going on the beginning of March, but we have the K300 here in Bethel, so I don't care all that much to see it.
Thanks so much everyone.
Also, I'll be traveling alone, so if anyone would care to tag along on an adventure...
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Old Jan 11, 2008, 6:03 am
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Wow! Well, I'm glad you consider me helpful enough to put my name in the thread title!

I'm currently in North Carolina but will be heading home today. I'm just checking FT really quickly (can't resist!) before leaving the hotel, so let me get home and I'll try to respond tonight/tomorrow morning.

The Alaska Railroad was working with Chugach National Forest in conjunction with a flag-stop train that stops at several places in the forest south of Anchorage to let hikers (summer) and, I believe, skiers (winter) on and off. I'll need to go back through some articles and saved PDFs I have and see exactly what's going on with that. North of Anchorage, the wintertime train schedule is very limited (northbound on Saturday only and southbound on Sunday only). Chugach NF does have some cabins, but I'm not sure where and if they are in the Spencer Glacier area (the area the flag stop train runs to). Let me do a little looking, or, of course, maybe there's someone here more into CC skiing than I am!

Oh, and don't let me forget to welcome you to FlyerTalk!
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Old Jan 11, 2008, 9:40 am
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Thanks, and like I said, I'm into more than skiing as well, so if you or anyone else has some other ideas, I would love to hear them.

Appreciate it!
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Old Jan 15, 2008, 10:42 pm
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After 7 summer trips to AK, I think it is time for my own winter trip there.

Anyway, I understand that March is generally clear, sunny and gorgeous in the ANC area. Another springtime event in ANC is the fur rendezvous. Outside of that, if you venture to Talkeetna, the Denal vies should be clear, from what I've hear. But the Kenai Peninsula is just awesome in clear weather. I'm thinking of a week on Kenai, completely ignoring the rest of AK this year.

I don't ski, but I've done the tram up ALEYSKA and it is quite dramatic - I think they have some CC trails too.
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Old Jan 15, 2008, 10:45 pm
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one more thing . . . priceline is rotten with anchorage deals this time of year - go to betterbidding.com for results. Outside of that, I have stayed at and enjoyed the Oscar Gill House in ANC
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Old Jan 16, 2008, 12:15 am
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thanks alot, I'll check some of that info out. I agree with priceline. I have never had much success with it. I used to do a lot with hotwire, but lately that hasn't been doing it for me.
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Old Jan 22, 2008, 9:21 pm
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One place that would be an easy/intermediate skiing (could spend a night or two there) is the Eagle River Nature Center (formerly the "Visitor Center") at the end of Eagle River Road. Nestled in the Chugach Forest, there is a mix of cabins and qansit huts that one can rent out there, and several x-country trails out there, and Eagle River is nearby, and sometimes ski-able. It's a pretty good place, back in the woods, and part of the trail is the historic Iditarod Trail. (Not part of the Iditarod though). As long as the weather cooperates, it'll be a great trip though!
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