​TOLOVANA HOT SPRINGS TOUR

After breakfast at the hotel, we will pick you up and head back to the homestead, where we will load the sled dogs and start the two hour drive to the trailhead, where we will unload sleds and dogs, don our mushing gear, hook up our dog teams, and set off. The land surrounding the trailhead is pure wilderness. Rimmed by mountains, with an ocean of forest and tundra stretching hundreds of miles in either direction. The route travels along ridge lines and over local high points marked by windblown tundra and sastrugi. Directly out of the trailhead, we will follow a creek into the valley, losing approximately 1000 feet of elevation in two miles as we drop into the Brooks Creek drainage. Hold on tight! We then cross three miles of swamp, clouds swirling in the expansive of Interior sky. As we reach the edge of the swamp we see a trail rising straight up in front of us. This is the start of the ascent of Tolovana Dome. The climb is moderate. A third of the way up we enter an old burn, the landscape marked by blackened candlestick tree trunks. The new vegetation that has grown in the years since the wildfire makes this an area rich in wildlife: moose, grouse, ptarmigan, and wolf. Limbless trees afford us peeks of the Minto Flats in the distance. The trail plateaus at Windy Gap, an area where the wind howls through the thick stunted alpine birch and spruce, building giant waves of hardened snow (sastrugi) that sleds bump up and over. Sled driving can be very technical here. After a half-mile we break through the tree line and start ascending above the tree line. Spectacular views of the Ray Mountains in the distance rise behind us, a sawtoothed ridgeline marking the Northern horizon. After another half mile, we reach the windswept summit. If the weather agrees, this is a perfect spot for hot drinks and a snack while we soak in the views. If it is really clear, Denali will be visible to the southwest. We pass through a few miles of exposed alpine terrain before dropping down through old wildfire burn and into creek valley on the south side of Tolovana Dome that houses the natural hot springs and three beautiful cabins. The last mile down to the hot springs can be challenging. It is very steep, requiring us to brake hard to control our speed. We lose 1000 feet in elevation in one mile. There are switchbacks. We will take it slow and safe and unhook dogs as needed. Before you know it, our teams will sweep around a corner and over a steaming creek, marking our arrival at Tolovana Hot Springs. We will take care of the dogs first, unharnessing and staking them out in front of our cabin. Then it’s time to explore and relax at this rustic oasis in the heart the Interior. Meals: Breakfast at the homestead, lunch in the car, dinner at camp. Accommodations: Bunk in shared cabin. Milage: 10 miles.