Families find outdoors fun at Government Peak Rec Area

HATCHER PASS — Plenty of hot chocolate, cookies and dozens of Southcentral families gave the new ski chalet at the Government Peak Recreation Area a proper breaking in Saturday.

Attending the Mat-Su Borough’s annual Winter Trails Day, those looking for a little outdoors fun on a crisp, clear winter day found just that, using the area’s 7.5 miles of Nordic ski trails, sledding hills and other amenities. For the Richardson family, it was also a chance to try something new — snowshoes.

“This is our first time ever on snowshoes,” said dad Brandon Richardson. “I think I’ve got them on right. ... Hmm, I don’t know. It’s like I lost a part to this or something.”

As he and the family shoed up — wife Rachael, 9-year-old son Kyler, 16-year-old daughter Rayna and her friend, Stephanie Curren, 16 — Kyler danced atop the snow after strapping into his shoes. Excited to be outdoors, he said his favorite winter outdoors activity is “a snowball fight!”

Asked if there were any snowball fights in the near future Saturday, mom and dad were simultaneous with their answers.

“No!” Rachael exclaimed.

“Yes!” Brandon said. “Dad says yes to snowball fights. Definitely.”

Hurling the cold white stuff would have to wait, however. The family finally got strapped in and stepped off for their snowshoe hike.

Winter Trails Day also highlighted another aspect of the new development of the Government Peak Recreation Area — attracting visitors from around Southcentral Alaska. Like Tobin Lilly’s family from Anchorage. Lilly, wife Amanda Loach and 2-year-old daughter Josephine were warming up in the newly opened chalet after a morning of skiing the trails.

“We were going to go skiing tonight on some of the lit trails (in Anchorage), but (Amada’s) coworkers told us about this going on here,” Tobin said. “This is great. I think these trails are better than the ones in Anchorage, because the Anchorage ones are multi-use and get pretty beat up.”

Amanda said she likes the variety of skill levels that can be accommodated at Government Peak.

“The trails are really, really nice and it’s a good time for all ages and skill level,” she said.

Josephine is a little too young to do too much skiing — “right now she just gets carried a lot,” mom said — but she enjoys warming up after being outside.

“She’s into hot chocolate and marshmallows,” she said. “As long as she’s happy, we’re good.”

Theresa Heckart is another Anchorage-area resident who wanted to come to the Valley and see what the Nordic trails had to offer. She was in the chalet Saturday morning, helping man an information booth for the Anchorage Skijor Club.

“It’s when you ski with your dog, basically,” she said about the sport. “It’s just getting out with your dog in a safe way for you and the animal.”

Wanting to try the Valley’s trails is “one of the reasons I wanted to come help, because I really wanted to get out of Anchorage and see what other trails are out there for me and my dog.”

Her impressions of the area?

“I think this is awesome,” Heckart said. “It’s a great space and it’s gorgeous.”

Contact Greg Johnson at 352-2269 or greg.johnson@frontiersman.com.