GLOBAL FAT BIKE DAY 2023, WILLOW PUBLIC USE CABIN, EXIT GLACIER, KENAI FJORDS NATIONAL PARK, ALASKA, DECEMBER 2-4, 2023
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| The Kenai Fjords National Park sign near the Exit Glacier Cabin. |
For the second year in a row we celebrated Global Fat Bike Day by pedaling our fat bikes to the Willow Public Use Cabin at Exit Glacier. This year we stayed for two nights. The posse included myself, Jim Bennett, and Doug Armstrong.
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| Jim and Doug ready to ride fat bikes to the cabin. |
Doug and I met Jim at the gate crossing Exit Glacier Road. After loading the bikes and sleds with gear we began pedaling toward the cabin. The ground was barren of snow, but the road had a glaze of ice on it so our sleds could glide along. Once we got closer to the cabin there was more snow on the ground. Although it wasn't very deep, it was frozen solid as concrete and we were able to easily pedal over the surface without sinking.
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| Jim riding his fat bike and pulling a sled toward the cabin. |
It took us about an hour-and-a-half to pedal the seven miles to the cabin. That included several rest stops along the way where we took many photos and enjoyed the views of the mountains.
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| Willow Public Use Cabin at Exit Glacier with fat bikes on the porch. |
Upon our arrival we took our gear inside and parked our bikes on the porch. The cabin has a propane heating system that keeps everything toasty. The lights are powered by a solar panel (look closely just
below the peak of the roof and you can see it) which kept things nice and bright.
Jim had a small stereo speaker and a playlist of really good music that we listened to for most of the afternoon and evening. We also held an Andy Griffith Trivia challenge and chose topics of conversation which kept us awake until 10:00 PM. Which is way past old man bedtime.
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| Early morning in the cabin meant puzzle time on the cell phones. |
In the morning we got up and made breakfast while working daily puzzles which had been downloaded on our phones. There isn't any cell service at the cabin so Doug was bummed that his
Wordle streak was broken.
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| Filling water containers. |
Even though the cabin has heat and lights, there isn't any running water. Instead, we took several containers to a nearby stream where we filled them with ice cold water and took them back to the cabin.
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| Pulling a sled of full water containers back to the cabin. |
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| A good supply of water. |
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| The stove/oven in the cabin. |
After procuring water we decided to spend the remainder of the day hiking to the Exit Glacier Overlook and the then back down the road to the bridge over the Resurrection River. The weather was gorgeous and although the sun never hit the lower parts of the valley it lit up the peaks and ridges almost making them glow. It was really beautiful.
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Sunlit mountain.
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| Another sunlit mountain. |
We woke up early on Monday morning and ate breakfast. Then we packed our gear for the ride back to the vehicles. The conditions were the same as when we rode in so it was a fast trip due to the downhill gradient of the road. We arrived at the vehicles, loaded our bikes and gear, then drove back home. It was a great adventure and we're already making plans to return for Global Fat Bike Day 2024!
