How well do you know the trails at Birch Hill?
You probably have seen the old cement outhouse on the Outhouse Loop, but have you seen the old wooden one? Did you know there used to be a luge run that started at the stadium and went down into the Black Loops? You can still see part of it on the Black Hole trail. Have you seen the non-functioning streetlamps on the Black Hole trail? Or the pond off the Classical Bear Trail? How about the red-striped pole at the biathlon range? The shack on the Sonot Connector? The bear skull with golf ball eyes? The sign written in German? Or the sign that says White Beat instead of White Bear?
The ski trails at Birch Hill Recreation Area and Fort Wainwright are a great place to ski, but they are also lined with a bunch of interesting finds. Chris Broda of the LOLs (Ladies of Leisure) has put together a Birch Hill Scavenger Hunt that’s a great pandemic activity.
We’ve created two lists for you. One is a written list of the items. The other is the written list along with photos of most of the items. Download one or both and then head out on the trails to see how many of these things you can find. You can really challenge yourself by using the list without photos first. Then, if you just can’t find some, you can head out again with the photos. Or you can just head out with the photo list. It’s all up to you.
There’s no time limit. You don’t have to find the items in any order. You don’t even have to find all the items. Just go out and have fun.
Thanks to Chris for creating the list that inspired this! If you want to find out more about the Ladies of Leisure, contact Chris at broda (at) acsalaska.net.
Links to the lists
Here are some trail map links to help you find the items.
- Birch Hill trail map: nscfairbanks.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Birch-Hill-Trail-Map-2012-2013.pdf)
- Sunnyside Trail map: nscfairbanks.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Birch-Hill-Sunnyside-Trail-Map-2017.pdf
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