First Spring Has Been Declared

First Spring has arrived in Alaska!  It's the time of year when the days get longer, the icicles get longer as the melting increases, and on a blue sky sunny Saturday every Alaskan is bounding around outside with glee and joy that First Spring brings!  This flying white puffball is so excited its feet don't even touch the ground!  If there was ever a surer sign of first spring, I don't know what it would be.

Those of you who hail from balmier places might be wondering what is first spring, and how many springs are there in Alaska.  To be fair, it's a made up term, to address all the false warm days before nature hits us with another freeze and snow cycle.  It doesn't matter if that first inkling of spring is just a trick, or myth of the mountains.  We love it.  We rush out to enjoy it.  We dream that it will continue into the coming days until we are once again basking in the midnight sun.  But, of course, a myth it is (by Tuesday the forecast would be for 8 more inches of snow Thursday, and of course Friday had the one highway leading southbound into Anchorage closed for several hours due to 40+ cars ditched along the short trek into town).  But, on Saturday, hope was abounding as much as the dog above, and I was ready to believe!

So I put on my walking shoes (and by that I mean almost knee high Sorel snowboots and trekking poles), and decided to take a walk down to the river.

I was going to stop and sit on the little summer bench...but alas it was more than hip deep to blaze a path, and, being deluded that it was Spring, I was not in snowshoes.

While we don't get polar bears this far south or this far inland, it initially gave me pause to see this critter appear in the distance peeking up over the snow berm.

I ran into a couple of young boys, probably 8 or 10.  They were as excited as all of the other creatures out and about on the trail.  They told me "you can walk on the river down there".  I said "I am not sure I am that brave now that it's spring".  I did venture a few paces down the river after seeing skiers still going by, but then went with my first instinct whe I spotted this patch of open water where the water was running swiftly by.

Behold, the woodpecker!  I used to always hear the woodpeckers, but never see them.  I used to joke that my walks down to the river were in quest of the woodpecker's lair.   And so whenever I see them the first thought in my head is "behold!  the woodpecker!" as if some Shakespearean treasure quest. Over the last couple of winters, the woodpeckers have visited my feeder.  One of the more skittish of the birds to stop by, there are a least 2, a full grown woodpecker and a tiny spotted version of it that I assume is the baby woodpecker.  I was happy to see and hear them out picking at the trees as a sign of spring.

My usual lap is down to the river, up again, and down the wooded path that overlooks the river valley.  It wasn't quite spring enough for that.  It looks like even the moose doesn't go through unless she has to.

Mr. Muffins actually woke up, got off the couch, and ambled onto the deck under the deck.  When the world's laziest cat gets up to go outside (tiny porch tiger sighting) it truly is first spring.

They jays visit less frequently in winter, but I do still see them come round.  Their peanut intake has definitely increased.  I am not sure where they hang out on the cold dark days, but they take a break from coming to check for peanuts for a good chunk of the winter.

Heading South of Anchorage towards Girdwood, breakup is already down.  Usually early February as the ice begins to break up, you see big chunks of ice moving with the boretide....car size chunks or ice being tossed up at low tide, and picked back up at high tide.  It looks chilly, but this was a pretty nice day for February in Alaska.
 

Coming back home caught a bit of twilight framing the mountains.

When I pulled into the roadside turnout to grab that shot, I wasn't counting on a few feet of loose snow and slush....fortunately had just enough momentum to get through...getting back out onto the highway was a bit more of a problem, having to time it so I could take a run back through that and rocket onto the highway...having to stop at the 'intersection' am pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten out of the snow.

But, I did spy a mountain goat, or mountain sheep, or sheepy-goat, what ever you want to call it.  I think it was laughing at me almost getting stuck.  Or maybe it too just looks like it's smiling for spring.

Thanks for stopping in First Spring.  I think all Alaskans appreciated your visit!