As I mentioned in a previous blog post, while there are a lot of activities available at the Chena Hot Springs Resort, most of the activities are at your own pace, with the occasional scheduled tour. The first activity we did was a tour of the Aurora Ice Museum (a later blog post), but we also did some hiking of the grounds, and a dogsled ride. There were also some local reindeer kept on site, and a small ice skating pond, though it didn’t seem frozen enough to actually skate on.

Nature trails abound on the resort, and they are kept fairly walkable during the winter, which I honestly didn’t expect, but was grateful for. While walking around, it was amazing to me how pristine the snow was, and how frozen it was. I often marveled that it was like being in the Winter Wonderland of Narnia (before those meddling Pevensie children arrived and brought spring with them). I live in a more temperate area, so even when it does snow, the temperature would not drop long enough for the snow to freeze, nor to remain on the branches, plus what snow does remain would often get slushy and dirty. But somehow, the snow at Chena Hot Springs Resort remained dazzling white. The white snow, combined with the bluish light, or salmon when the sun rose high enough, was a beautiful artistic palette.

I had also hadn’t often seen snow that was so white and clean, even when people tramped all over it. It was refreshing to experience such amazing cold, but it wasn’t as obvious. The cold is a very dry cold, even with the wind, and it was easy for me to pile on multiple layers of clothes to stay warm and active outdoors.

Mom and I also had the chance to enjoy a dogsled ride around a set track. The ride was about 1.5 miles, so about 10 minutes. The resort keeps dozens of sled dogs for the guests, trained dogs, but not as highly trained or skilled to be elite racing dogs. All the dogs were very energetic, and just seemed to love to run.

But one of the most relaxing pursuits at the resort is to enjoy the natural hot spring pool. The resort keeps a chlorinated indoor pool open to families, but they also have an outdoor rock pool for adults only. The pool is natural and untreated and very pleasantly warm, with a regular infusion of geothermally heated water. It reminded me of similar pools from New Zealand and Iceland. The pool is open from 7 am-midnight, so there are hours and hours to enjoy the pool if you so desired. The pool was great during the day, but it was a special treat at night, when it was dark, the moon was out and the sky was clear and cold. My body stayed wonderfully warm under the surface, and bracingly cold above the surface. Stay in the pool long enough, and your wet hair will literally start to freeze and turn white with the accumulation of ice crystals. I felt so relaxed, so languid after the pool, and it was a perfect complement to the extremely cold winter weather.

While there plenty of activities at the resort, you could also choose to stay indoors and relax if you so desired. Basically there is something for everybody who enjoys outdoor or relaxing indoor activities at Chena Hot Springs Resort.