Cooper Landing offers picturesque and tranquil scenery

By Mona Painter
Turnagain Times Cooper Landing Correspondent

Cooper Landing Looks Like a Christmas Card

Winter started with a bang this year! Snowmachiners and skiers are out in the middle of town and in the woods. A good base is needed and in some areas snowmachines have started the packing down process. Cold weather fishermen are still casting their lines by the mid-community bridge near Mile 48.

Food is Available

Sunrise Inn, Wildman, and Espresso To Go, Cooper Landing Grocery and Hardware, and the Shrew's Nest, are open for beverages, meals, or snacks.

Library Offers Free Internet Access

Library remains open all winter offering Internet access to residents and visitors as well as books, videos, audios, and books on CDs. Open every day but Sunday, the hours are posted on the library door.

Winter Trails for Skiing and Snowshoeing

When a good snow base is laid, residents and visitors will be out trails from the Summit Lakes area to Carter Lake, to Juneau flats, to the Lost Lake bowl, and other areas on snowmachines, skis, snowshoes, and snowboards. Chugach National Forests (CNF) trails will be opened when the snow base is adequate. The local trails group will be grooming trails and some campgrounds for skate and track skiing this year. Sandra Holsten at 907-595-2007 is the contact for the trails group, which operates under the Cooper Landing Community Club sponsorship.

Snowmachining Hot Spots

The Lost Lake bowl is the hot spot for adrenalin seeking snowmachiners. A new parking area is available on Cooper Lake Road beyond the traditional winter parking spot. Parking spots on Cooper Lake road are limited and vehicles with trailers are found parked along Snug Harbor Road. The way into the bowl area is unmarked except by usage. Views from the high country of Kenai and Cooper Lakes and Resurrection Bay are awesome. Another suggested route for snowmachiners and skiers is the old Sterling Highway from the Crescent Creek trailhead to Tern Lake off Quartz Creek Road.

Ice Fishing Comes Later

Ice fishing after the first of the year depending on ice thickness on Kenai Lake, and other local lakes is popular. You may see fishermen in insulated chest high waders in the frigid water while in small huts on the ice beyond them people are fishing through a hole in the ice and warmed by portable heaters.

Many Indoor Recreation Opportunities

For indoor winter recreation open to all interested, the Pinochle Club and other games players meet Friday nights at 7 p.m. at the common room in Eagles View senior housing off Snug Harbor Road and visitors are welcome. Volleyball is played Thursday evenings, beginning at 5:30 p.m., at Cooper Landing School. Heidi's Booty Camp, a strenuous exercising bunch, meet at the school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 4:30 p.m. Indoor walkers use the school gym on weekday mornings from 8 a.m. until school starts.

Cooper Landing Community School Busy Winter Schedule

Cooper Landing Community School offers many opportunities for residents and visitors throughout the winter beginning with the Winter Piano Recital Dec. 4 to 7 p.m. at the school. Jeanne Acton's next quilt retreat is scheduled at the school Dec. 11-13. Cooper Landing School's Christmas program is scheduled for Dec. 17 beginning with a potluck dinner starting at 5:30 p.m. Hams are donated by local seniors. Contact Virginia Morgan for Community School information at tommyginny@arctic.net. Community Crier email notices provide a wealth of information about upcoming events, emergency news, lost pets, items for sale, and more, thanks to Kate Green. To be added to that email list, contact Kate at qenqay@arctic.net.

Museum Open House

Cooper Landing Historical Society and Museum hosts their annual Christmas open house Dec. 4 and 5, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the museum buildings at Mile 48.7. Refreshments, door prizes, homemade items, and old-fashioned ambience will be available around the wood burning stoves in both buildings. The museum's 2010 calendar will be available for $15. This year's theme is Roads and Road Houses featuring local businesses before 1960 and brief information about the ways Cooper Landing became connected by road to the rest of the world.