Nordic @ Mile 14

Just last weekend we were walking the beach and living around hundreds of people. But this weekend we're back in the flow, alone with the river at Mile 14. The shed in my first pic is my headquarters in the summer. Chick and I store our rods and dry out our rain gear there but in the winter its also my sauna. I always wanted an outdoor wood fired sauna so when we bought Stewarts Landing the mid 90's I moved the shed down to the river and converted 1/2 of it to the sauna. I had some left over spruce T+G from a buddies cabin project and with the purchase of the wood stove kit I had about 100 bucks into the project. For many years I had electricity run to it but the squirrels eventually chewed up the romex and now I have a transistor radio and some nice kerosene lamps that make every sauna feel a little like Little House on the Prairie. ( did I ever tell you that MP is related to Laura Ingalls Wilder?)

We usually ride the 4-wheeler down to sauna but the road is impassable now from all the snow and no use. So Jet-dog and me walk down and start the fire. She is so excited to be doing something and she gets one of her favorite things...waiting on the picnic table. This is where she sits all summer waiting for black guide boat #003 to return. I get the fire going and make a trip up the hill to the house to get MP and a bucket of water. I like the sauna best with alot of water and right around 190 degrees. We listen to ' Handle on the Law' on talk radio as we do three or four 10 to 12 minute sauna sessions. Get hot, cool off, repeat. I also like to use eucolyptus oil on the rocks, its great for your lungs and just feels healthy. I suppose thats why alot of Northerners say they get less colds etc when they sauna. I like the hot better than MP so I sit on an elevated bench and she likes it more at regular seating level. Her spot has a back rest area that after 14 years is still leeching out tree sap when it gets warm. she learned the hard way to keep her hair away from that. So after 35 minutes in the sauna and sharing a bottle of Jack-o's own Brut Champagne straight from France this is how I look....Kinda old, Kinda rough, Kinda hot....but I got great teeth.....

The next thing is to get the Ski's out. Jets ecstatic, two adventures in two days. Its snowing some and we cut a track down to Fall-in-Hole and back. MP and I are still nursing sore knees and she tells me the sking is just what I need. She says it makes me keep my feet straight as she's convinced some of my knee trouble is because of my tendency to ' duck walk'... Well, no duck walking today, I just slide along behind her. The pic of MP was takin in the slough and the pic of me is right at the top of Fall-in Hole. If you ever wondered what the river looks like in the winter well thats it, not a soul in sight. On the way home we stop for a rest on a pile of dead fall that piled up with the high water last year at the tip of the island. I took this pic of Kenai RiverBend Campground through the sticks. Its hard to believe that in a few short months this place will be hoping, I think Kenai RiverBend is the 3rd largest city in Alaska when the reds are running. But for right now its sleepy quiet and this spot is just ours. I like it both ways really, and remember, we're not in a hurry and I'll trade the skis for the boat when the time comes