No snow! No snow! No snow! If you love ice skating and ice climbing then fall 2012 was great. One of our favorite places for early season nordic ice skating is the Nancy Lake Canoe Trail near Wasilla.

The lake was glass earlier in the week. When we arrived, two inches of snow coated the glass. We didn't know if the nordic skating would work.

Nordic skates worked great. The added resistance from the snow gave us a bonus workout.

Luc Mehl, Andy Newton, Jeff Conaway and Joe. An incredible group of buddies, despite being a bit of a sausage fest without our ladies.

Jeff several inches into the crux of the trip. Andy and Luc jumped right in, boots, ski pants, up to their belly buttons at the thalweg.

Special cocoa to thaw out the huevos.

At the edge of Red Shirt Lake.

Many of the lakes have fancy cabins, accessed by ice roads in winter and float planes in summer. Perhaps this was a fancy cabin back in the 1920's.

Power rings (donuts) back at the car. Our trip was about 25 miles, mostly on the standard Nancy Lake Canoe Trail. Being with three Alaskan adventurers, we added some extra lake loops and forest blundering.