First day of the spring semester, and while I'm not terribly stoked to be back at school (I'm sure it gets more interesting later, but so far I'd rather have stayed working full time), I'm very happy to have my school commute back (16 miles round trip versus 5 miles RT for work).

11F/-12C this afternoon heading in, varying from 8F/-13C to 17F/-9C coming home (I spend most of the commute down in a creek drainage, which tends to trap cold air). Ice fog pulled back this morning to reveal a very frosty Anchorage:



Hoar frost feathers on a bench:



Which reminded me of a photo I took earlier this winter, during the last cold snap. From the outhouse at the South Fork Eagle River Trailhead (temp was hovering around 3F/-16C, IIRC):



Just goes to show that Alaskans have some of the toughest tuckuses in the U.S. (also shows how happy I am to equipped for peeing while standing ).

Coolest part of the day: when the fog rolled back in for the evening commute. There aren't words to describe how cool it is to ride along unlit snowy trail, surrounded by ice-encrusted trees and frozen tidal flats, lit only by the suspended light from your headlamp glowing in the ice fog.