...Stormy Lake loop ski

THE ROUTE:  Stormy Lake Overlook, down the hill to the lake, across the ice, through the woods, across a pond, down a pipeline corridor to the Kenai Spur Hwy back to the truck.
DISTANCE:  3.62 miles.
TIME:  1:28

Mrs. Huffy poses with her new backpack.

Mrs. Huffy rocks out to the music playing on her iPhone as she crosses Stormy Lake.

The new backpack in action.

The happy skiers on a pond south of Stormy Lake.

A coyote was cruising down the pipeline corridor.

Mrs. Huffy can attach her skis to her new pack.  Perfect for carrying them down the road and back to the truck.

Last year we took our last ski on April 9th.  And a sketchy ski it was.  There was barely enough snow to ski from patch to patch of snow without gliding across vegetation of some sort or another.  This year, however, it's different.  There is plenty of snow to go wherever you want and it doesn't seem like it will be gone any time soon.  That's good if you like snow and you just got a new backpack you want to test out, which was the case for Mrs. Huffy this afternoon

So, we took off for our favorite ski area this afternoon and skied a loop at the south end of Stormy Lake.  Getting down to the lake from the Stormy Lake Overlook was the most difficult part of the journey as the snow is still very deep and we punched through to our hips  I had to empty snow out of my boots and gaiters once we got on the lake.  Then we glided across the ice with ease and into the woods where we followed a trail to a small pond which we crossed and connected with a pipeline corridor.  We followed the pipeline back the the highway spotting a coyote along the way.  When we hit the pavement we attached our skis to our packs and walked just over half-a-mile back to the truck.  The backpack test was complete and it received rave reviews.    All in all, it was a great afternoon for a test and a...Stormy Lake loop ski.