IT’S BEEN A LOUSY WINTER up here. It rained right through October and November, flooding the Kenai Peninsula and washing out the Sterling Highway in two places. It didn’t snow until December 10, and then not much, and it had mostly melted off by January, when they were playing golf in Palmer. In February the World Championship Sled Dog Races were cancelled due to lack of snow…

I haven’t been cross-country skiing or ice skating once this winter. This week I finally said the hell with it and took my bicycle down from the garage ceiling. If it’s not going to act like winter, I might as well pretend like it’s spring. As Garrison Keillor says, “There comes a time when you must stand up to reality and deny it.” Where am I going on my bike? That’s easy. The Coastal Trail. Wanna go for a ride?

Let’s begin at Fish Creek, down the hill from downtown Anchorage. The banks of this glacial creek are made of gray glacial mud, but that is no deterrent to the guys in chest waders standing shoulder to shoulder, beating the water for the elusive king salmon. We go up the creek to the pedestrian walkway and look down. Those are the salmon that got away.

Alaska Traveler Chatter Anchorage Coastal Trail