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The problem with making an outdoors-oriented list of summer things-to-do in Alaska, especially Fairbanks, is that summer is too short.

Even if you start counting now — and I wouldn’t necessarily call this summer yet — we only have 17 weekends to work with, 18 if you stretch it into September and count Labor Day weekend.

That means you have a maximum of 36 non-working days to get everything on your list accomplished, and that doesn’t count things like cutting and splitting firewood, mowing the lawn, tending the garden and fixing up stuff around the house.

In reality, we’re lucky if we have 20 non-working days to go out and scratch things off our lists.

That’s not much time when you’ve got a list as long as mine. I encourage you to jot down a list of things to do this summer, too, and tape it to the fridge. If nothing else, it will make you feel guilty every time you open the fridge.

That said, let’s not waste any time and get started.

As you will notice, some items on my list are repeats from past years, some of which I have done and others that I still need to do.

• Learn how to oar a raft. We bought an old 14 1/2-foot Campways raft last fall and still need to build a rowing frame for it (that was on my winter list of things to do), but we’re hoping to get it on the water this summer.

• Canoe Badger Slough. Yet another item leftover from last year’s list. Paddling through culverts may not float everybody’s boat but I think it would be cool to spend a day plying the slough.

• Hike Rainbow Ridge near Summit Lake. A new addition to my list. I’ve never done it but I know people who have. It’s challenging hiking (i.e. steep) but the views on top have to be spectacular.

• Go dip netting at Chitina. It’s supposed to be wife’s turn to go to Chitina but I’m going to see if I can talk her into taking the whole family this year, especially after managing to get by without paying $100 for a charter last year and coming home with 30 fish.

• Mountain bike the Compeau Trail in the Chena River State Recreation Area. It was on my list last year but I never got around to it.

• Hike from Angel Rocks to Chena Hot Springs Resort. We do it every year and it never gets boring, especially when the blueberries are out.

• Mountain bike the Sonot Kkaazoot route. Another item from last year’s list that I never got to but hope to this year. My doctor, Corrine Leistikow, wants to do with me so I should probably take her up on it. That way, if I have a heart attack maybe she can save me.

• Hike the Pinnell Mountain Trail near Eagle Summit. Another one of those things I’ve been thinking about for a lot of years but never committed to. At 27 miles, it would probably take 3 days, water is sparse and the weather can be intimidating, but the views would be stunning.

• Commute at least 500 miles to work on my road bike. I only made it 200 miles last year but the high cost of gas should be enough incentive to do more pedaling this year.

• Catch a northern pike in Minto Flats. If I had a dollar for every time this has been on my list I could retire — and I still haven’t done it.

• Take a canoe/raft trip on the Chatanika River. I still can’t believe I’ve never done this. This is the summer.

• Float the Gulkana River. We’ll have to learn how to use that raft before we can do this but at least it should provide some incentive to do so.

• Go clamming on the Kenai Peninsula. Every year I say I’m going to do this and every year I never work up the motivation to load up the rig and drive 500 miles to Clam Gulch. Maybe this will be the year.

• Take an overnight trip on the upper Chena River. Another one of those things we do at least once every year just because it’s so close to home.

• Learn how to use my new GPS. I got one for Christmas and still haven’t looked at it. I’m not a technological guru but I know people who are and they use these things all the time. I may have to join the 21st century.

• Mountain bike to the end of Coal Mine Road and back. We were going to do this on Memorial Day weekend last year but got chased out of the Alaska Range by a nasty storm. Even if there hadn’t been a storm, there was too much snow on the road. Maybe we’ll shoot for June or July this year.

• Take a canoe trip in the Nancy Lake Recreation Area in Willow. I don’t know if I’ll get around to it this summer, but this would be a great family trip early in the year when the pike are biting. You can rent state public-use cabins and bounce from lake to lake with minimal portaging.

• Catch a king salmon. I’m ashamed to say that it’s been so long since I’ve caught a king that I forgot what it feels like.

• Go blueberry picking at Mount Prindle. The blueberries match the country — awesome.

• Go grayling fishing on the Chena River at least once a month. We live 20 miles from the upper Chena. Enough said.

• Spend at least 10 nights sleeping on the ground. It can be inside or outside a tent, assuming the mosquitoes aren’t bad this year (yeah, right).

• Drive to McCarthy. My wife and some friends have been bugging me to do this for the last couple years but I’ve hesitated because I’m worried about our vehicle breaking down on the drive in. Neither the 1990 Volvo (176,000 miles) or the 1995 F-150 (198,000 miles) or the 1983 Toyota Tercel (230,000 miles) are getting any younger, so I better do it sooner than later.

• Climb Donnelly Dome. Actually, climbing this 3,910-foot hump south of Delta is only part of it. If you time it right, you can stop and dig up potatoes at a dig-your-own farm in Delta on the way home. We did it last year and it was one of the coolest trips of the summer. There was snow and ice on the mountain, the views were incredible and we’ve still got potatoes that are usable.

• Run at least 400 miles. It sounds like a lot but it’s really only 20 miles a week from May through September. If that’s the case, I better pick up the pace.

Contact outdoors editor Tim Mowry at tmowry@newsminer.com or 459-7587.