Moose Passings

By Willow Hetrick
Turnagain Times
Moose Pass Correspondent

New Fire Prevention Firewise Mural at the Moose Pass Post Office

The Forest Service has a new fire prevention Firewise mural at the Moose pass Post Office. The inspiration came from a poster contest Victoria “Tori” Kohn had for the Moose Pass elementary School. She had the students in the Moose Pass School do a poster contest last spring about Fire Prevention/campfire safety/Firewise.

Along with the help of Katy Toth-Stauble, Tori then asked Gretchen Lindquist of Moose Pass to make the posters into a large mural that could be displayed at the post office. Gretchen gladly accepted the challenge.

After some brainstorming Tori and Gretchen came up with a hand painted mural on four different canvases to be hung in the Post office behind the desk. The project was sponsored by the US Forest service and a grant from Firewise. Tori wanted the Firewise message into the “smaller” mountain towns like Moose Pass.

 

Moose Pass United Methodist Church Mission to Cape Town Fundraiser

Save The Date – Wednesday, May 9 at 7 p.m. The Moose Pass United Methodist Church is hosting a fundraising dinner on Wednesday, May 9 at the Inn at Tern Lake. The dinner will benefit a Methodist mission in Cape Town, South Africa.

A team of 26 young people (accompanied by 10 adults), from St. John Methodist Church in Anchorage, will travel to Cape Town on May 27. They will work under the direction of Kyle Woodrow, a Methodist missionary, on refurbishing a preschool, creating a food bank for preschool families, and helping the children at the school. They then will travel to Simon’s Town to establish an after school program at Simon’s Town Church and work on homes in the community that are in disrepair. The Moose Pass Church will send all proceeds from the dinner as a gift for the mission with the youth group.

Enjoy an evening of fine food and fun fellowship. The event begins at 7 p.m. and includes appetizer, salad, dinner, and a dessert buffet. The dinner is $40 per person. Reservations can be made by calling the Inn at 288-3667.

Seward Ranger District Winter Trail Updates

By Irene Lindquist

Conditions on Seward Ranger District packed trails are very good. When night time temps are at freezing or below the packed trails are cement hard until around noon, then they begin to soften but are still great for travel.

Stepping off trail is a different story; off trail travel will require a bit more surface area under you, snowshoes, skies, snow machine. Overflow and melting ice is hampering travel in many locations beginning in early afternoon if temps were below freezing at night. Travel early, stay away from avalanche prone slopes, and don’t take your breaks at the bottom of an avalanche chute, this holds true into early summer as snow, mud, and rock slides continue to slough.

Travel to Lower Russian Lake should now be via the summer route, trail has been packed. Even though travel on the winter trail is still good, there is too much water on the lake in the early afternoon. Seward Ranger District winter trails currently open to motorized close April 30, unless we send out a public service announcement extending this date.

We will monitor conditions in all our areas closely as the closure approaches, if we can extend the motorized season in certain locations we will.

Here is a reminder for those who may not know the closed areas for motorized in the Summit Lake area: from Tern Lake as you are heading towards Anchorage, all Federal lands on the left side of the Seward Highway are closed to motorized use to just before the Road Junction to Hope, and on the right side of the Highway beginning at Tenderfoot Campground to just before the Hope Junction.

Moose Pass Messenger

By Bobbie Jo Kolodziejski

Cinco de Mayo at Trail Lake Lodge

The Trail Lake Lodge in Moose Pass is hosting a Cinco de Mayo party on May 5. There will be great food, $5 margaritas and Cajun music by Bayou Glace`e. There is no cover and the Lodge is also offering a $50 room special to keep their patrons safe.

Volunteers Needed

The Moose Pass Public Library is looking for volunteers for the summer months (May-September). If interested please call the library on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at 288-3111 or send an e-mail to bookmoose@gmail.com 

Summer Solstice Festival Meeting

Wednesday, May 2, is a Summer Solstice Planning meeting. Everyone is welcome to attend. The meeting will be held at the Moose Pass Community Hall from 6-7 p.m.

Moose Pass Advisory Planning Commission

Regular Meeting, Wednesday, May 2 from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. There is a vacancy open on the Board. Please attend the meeting if you are interested in serving.

Sweet Mo’s in Hope, Alaska

Sweet Mo’s Simple Pleasures will reopen in May on Memorial Weekend. This year they will have even more of your favorite nostalgic candies, specialty Alaskan made candy, music, outdoor games and gifts. It’s time for Alaska Supreme Ice Cream and check in for fresh baked goods, sweet deals and new surprises. Keep up to date and “Like” Sweet Mo’s Simple Pleasures on Facebook. Now proud to carry Starvin’ Marvin’s “Take n’ Bake” Pizzas, Athena will be serving large whole pizzas and pizza by the slice made to order! Please contact Bowman’s Bear Creek Lodge for any questions or special requests at 907-782-3141.

Cooper Landing 6K Trail Run

The Cooper Landing Walkable Community Project is hosting a 6 kilometer trail run on Sunday May 20. The race will start at the Cooper Landing Community Club (mile 0.6 Bean Creek Road) and ends at “Our Point of View” at mile 45.2 Sterling Highway. Race registration is from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and the official start of the race is at 11:30 a.m.

Registration fee is $25, which includes a t-shirt, shuttle ride back to the start of the race and snacks. An award ceremony will be held at 12:30 p.m. and the race is limited to the first 75 participants, so don’t wait to sign up. If you have any further questions you can call Karl Romig at 907-595-1232 or email him cooperlandingtrailrun@gmail.com.

Cooper Landing Gun Club Shoot Off

The Spring Shoot Off will be held Saturday, June 2nd at the Cooper Landing Gun Range. The event is “BYOAmo” and each game is $5. Schedule of Events: 10 a.m. Trap Shoot, 11:30 a.m. Annie Oakley, noon Pistol Competition, 1:30 p.m. Rifle Competition, 2:30 p.m. Youth Rifle Competition

For more information call 907-599-0004 or 907-599-0037.

Seward Little League News

By Dave Paperman

Greetings Little League Players, Parents, and Supporters! It certainly has been a long winter, and even though it is hard to believe, at some point in the next few months the snow will actually be gone and the crack of the bat and the roar of the crowd will surely be returning to the Waterfront Park and we will have a 2012 Seward Little League Season.

Due to the snowpack on the field, we won’t be able to start our League until early May. Even though the snow will likely be gone from the field, in order to prevent damage, we’ll have to keep off it to allow it to dry, meaning that we’ll probably have to start our season on Boulder Field (the field without grass next to our main field) or in the AVTEC Gym.  Our tentative kickoff date for registration and the ‘first pitch’ will be Sunday, May 6. This is not official, and we don’t know the location yet, but I wanted to give everyone an idea of our plans.

This activity needs to happen on a Sunday since there is activities every Saturday in May that SPRD Sponsors. At the kickoff we’ll accept player registration, have a traditional first day of the season hot dog, and start our annual See’s Candy Bar fundraiser. The season will last until sometime after July 4, so that our Little League doesn’t conflict with the SPRD Youth Soccer program. This year we are planning to have 2 T-Ball teams (ages 5-6), 2 or 3 Minors Teams (6 - 11) and 1 Majors Team (9-12). For some of the divisions there may need to be tryouts, and there may be an opportunity for kids that are very close but not yet the minimum ages to participate, although this will depend on each player’s abilities.

We still need a few coaches at a few of the age levels, as well as parents to help with uniforms, serve as ‘team parents’, run the snack shack, help with field preparation, and help the league out with our administration, fund raising, and safety programs.

If you have some time and are willing to help, please let me know and we will find the perfect job to meet your skills and time!

If you know of a local family that has a child between the ages of 5 and 12, please let them know about the League.

Senator Murkowski to Visit Moose Pass School

To fulfill her goal of visiting every school in the state, U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski will be visiting Moose Pass School this Friday at 10 a.m. She will be talking to the students, presenting the school a flag that has been flown over the capital, and taking a tour of the school. In order to facilitate this visit, at 10 a.m. we will be having an all school assembly in the gym – parents and community members are invited.