Our group skis across Eklutna Lake on Sunday afternoon after a wonderful midwinter camping excursion. In the distance is Bold Peak.

Gina and I love camping.

In the summer, give me a tent and any secluded spot. That combination makes life better.

In the winter, give me a cabin. And last weekend, that’s just what our friends Noah and Katy did.

Well, they didn’t actually give us a cabin, but they organized a midwinter excursion to the Yuditna Creek cabin in Chugach State Park.

While the rest of the gang headed out Friday night, Gina and I couldn’t make it until Saturday. (Gina had an art show opening on First Friday at Snow City Café.)

While it was hard to give up a night in the cabin, our trip in on Saturday couldn’t have been better. We arrived at the trailhead about 1 in the afternoon. We pulled on the backpacks, strapped on the skis and headed down the trail.

Beezil and I on our Saturday ski into the Yuditna Creek cabin at Eklutna Lake.

We had about three miles of skiing ahead of us, and the trail wasn’t groomed for cross-country skiers, but after a couple hundred yards we left the trail behind and headed onto the Eklutna Lake ice. A couple skiers had ventured onto the lake before us, so we simply had to follow their tracks most of the way to the cabin.

After settling in, we took an evening walk, had some dinner, then went back out for a moonlight ski. A full moon made it a perfect night. We spent about an hour enjoying the trails with the moonlight casting powerful shadows.

We woke Sunday to sunlight streaming into the cabin and the outdoor thermometer reading minus 18. The sun warmed up the air quickly, and by a little after noon we were all headed back across the lake to the parking lot.

We stopped in Eagle River for a meal on the way home, and started talking about our next winter outing.

-- Steve

Beezil is all dressed for the chilly temperatures -- and it was 18 below zero on Sunday morning.