Moose Passings

Willow Hetrick
Turnagain Times
Moose Pass Correspondent

Forest Service Seward Ranger District Ice Fishing Day

The Forest Service Seward Ranger District held their annual Ice Fishing Day on Wednesday Feb. 24 at Jerome Lake on the Seward Highway. Forest Service employees and volunteers Ruth D'Amico, Adam Cross, Andrew Nuckles (FS volunteer), Gail Canaday (FS volunteer), Phil Ingersol, and Katy Toth-Stauble are to thank for organizing the event. Children from Moose Pass, Cooper Landing, Hope Schools as well as Home School students attended the event. Gail grilled hot dogs and warmed buns on the grill all day, Adam, Phil and Ruth dug the holes, assisted students with baiting the hooks, provided fishing and jigging techniques and worked with uncooperative poles.

Andrew dug stairs in the hills to provide easier access to the lake and also assisted students by providing fishing gear and bait. Katy was with the students most of the time helping put bait on hooks, with fishing and jigging techniques, uncooperative poles, and also helped with the food preparation. TelAlaska, the Forest Service's partner for this event, provided hot dogs, rolls, condiments, chips, hot cocoa, and apple cider. Many thanks to Paula Johansen who is the wonderful and dedicated contact at TelAlaska that buys the food for the event. There were a total of four Rainbow trout caught between 50 Students and 30 Teachers, parents, siblings for a total of 82 (Forest Service staff not included). The young fishermen and women had a warm day and clear skies for most of the day and were even blessed with glimpses of the sun (although not directly on lake). There were all together happy kids, parents, and teachers!

Summit Lake Basketball Star

Megan Arnoldy, of Summit Lake, was recently chosen not only as Northwest Oregon Conference first-team, but as Conference player of the year. Megan plays basketball for Wilsonville (Wildcats) High School in Oregon. Her team is currently 14-0 for the season. Congratulations Megan!

Seward Ranger District Trail Updates

As of March 6, Lost Lake is open for snow machines once again after being closed on Feb. 18. The trail (at the trailhead) received 10 inches of fresh snow. The Divide topped the snowfall at 16 inches, Primrose got 10 inches, Moose Pass town eight inches, Summit Lake area six inches, and Cooper Landing four inches. All of the specific trail updates were from before the snowfall, but there was a lot of mention of icy conditions before the snow, and icy spots may remain. The Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center's avalanche danger remains at ‘dangerous' due to active snow settlement and not enough time since the last major storm. There is uncertainty of in the current snowpack, so please be careful in the backcountry around the Moose Pass and Seward areas (or any areas of the Peninsula for that matter).

Moose Pass in the Iditarod

Ashley Guernsey of Moose Pass rode with the Seavey dog team for the false start of the Iditarod race in Anchorage, March 6.