Tolovana Hot Springs

"I'll see you next month when I'm in Fairbanks," Amy told me. "We're going to Tolovana!"
"Ooh! I'll come!" I offered, graciously.

Fortunately, Amy is good people.

The blog has been in a state of neglect. It becomes a spiral. At first I say "well, before I write a post about trip X I need to do the one about trip Y. And Y is gonna be a doozy - I haven't even finished sorting the photos." And so, feeling daunted, it waits.

So then I think that I can just do a "catch-up" post - show some highlight photos and mention where I took them. But I've been posting more to Facebook and Instagram lately, so I get my dopamine that way. The photos are getting out there, either way.

(Using social media for personal gratification is not super healthy, I know. But it's cheaper than cocaine.)

Finally, I just decided to write a blog post about the latest trip, and I won't mind the dozen-or-so trips that fell by the wayside in the meantime. It's a new year, and I'm starting again with the blog. It was that or just mothball the damn thing and put it in the boneyard with all the other abandoned blogs.

Amy is from Anchorage, and I didn't know any of her friends. Sometimes I like it that way - I enjoy being the new guy that nobody knows and that people give the benefit of the doubt to. None of my other friends give me the benefit of the doubt anymore.

Everyone crashed at my house Thursday night - a very crowded situation - and we launched on Friday morning.

I'm trying to get better about taking photos that tell the story of the trip, more than just action shots and scenery. This is the story of two bikes on a bike rack at the trailhead. I put the subject out of focus for art.

And they're off!

I was using Faustine's 5D, which is theoretically a superior camera to my Sony. But I don't really know how to work it particularly well, and I was having issues with the focusing. But in addition to issues with focusing, this photo is not-sharp for other reasons, too, I think. But I don't know them. It's a shame, because otherwise I really like this photo. It's of Jaime.

Amy, Declan, and John.

Elan bikes through the whiteout on top of the dome.

Good girl.

Elan.

We all made it to the cabin. It was another crowded situation.

That first night was very dark - much too dark for photos. This is the next morning, and these two lovebirds are Tressa and Seth.
(TWO SETHS ON THE TRIP! I KNOW! I hadn't met him before, but once I did it seemed like we'd always known each other.)

The upper tub. The previous night we went to the bottom tub first. "I know that we're all friends and that this isn't a competition," I told everyone as I ripped off my clothes. "But I just wanted to point out that I'm getting into the tub first," and I piled into the hot tub.
...which was stupidly fucking hot. I began to shriek. I immediately scrambled out. I stood in the snow, naked, shivering and scalded. Utterances of concern mixed with laughter from my new "friends."
We tried to cool the tub, but there was some confusion over whether the input hose was hot or cold. We turned it on to cool the tub, but then realized we were flooding the tub with hot water. There wasn't a lot of snow around, so cooling it that way was off the table. We gave up, and were later told that that tub is never really the right temperature. We moved to the upper tub.

Tressa takes a soak.

Seth. Ain't he handsome??

Tressa.

Tobias.

We went for a bike ride to the airstrip. Elan rides though the old burn.

Echo checks out the airstrip. Good girl.

The group rendezvoused at this old dozer.

Sarah comes with comically huge dogs.

Amy got a good one in John.

Had I taken this photo before everyone climbed on the dozer and messed up the snow it might have been better. Also, it looks like I forgot to correct the white balance on this photo. Oh well.

Elan and I biked own to Heart Lake. Echo approves. Good girl.

It cleared up that night.

I need to get my shit together with night photos. I decided that 6400 iso was fine, but it's clearly too grainy. I also took this with my Sony because a brief side-by-side comparison with the 5D had the 5D's photos way too dark. But I didn't realize that it was set to iso 1000. I gotta get my shit together. I think if I had set the iso on both cameras at 3200 I would have gotten decent photos, with the better ones coming from the 5D. But oh well.

It's still pretty.

After we got out of the tub the northern lights came out. It didn't really look like this, but it was pretty, so whatever.

We played a game that Elan taught us. At first he was ruthlessly taunted for how he described it, which sounded a lot like child abuse. But it turned out to be really fun - one person leaves the room while the group schemes up some task for them, like "put the pot on your head and hit it with the spoon." Then they come in, it's essentially "hotter or colder" indicated by clapping. If they're on the right track, you clap. It sounds stupid, but it's hysterical. Here Danny harnesses Trina up for Trinajoring while everyone applauds frantically.

There was laugher.

The next morning it was time to pack it in. Some of the group had to go from Tolovana to Anchorage in one day, so an early start was important (but got missed, anyway). Here Tobias tows Jaime up the hill from the hot springs. He gave her his helmet because he's a mensch.

The cabins.

Elan, Echo and I got out the old fashioned way.

Good girl.

Tressa and Jaime.

Jaime.

Biking on top of the dome in better weather than the way in.

Tressa, Jaime, and a glorious day.

Minnie does something unusual, and runs. Good girl.

Biking through the fresh snow.

Good girl.

More of the group.

Sarah and her phalanx of thugs.

The misconceptions among Anchorage people about the interior are astounding. "Wow, this is beautiful," they'd say. "Who knew?"
"Everyone in Fairbanks," I'd respond. "But don't tell anyone. We like having you guys in the dark."