Chena Dome is one of the classic hikes of the interior. It is 30 miles long, with lots of ups and downs, but these are rewarded by great views and wonderful alpine hiking with very little brush or mud. Nancy and I decided this spring it would be a grand adventure to hike it with the Twins and see how well they handle it. As they are only four years old, they were not going to hike the whole thing and we expected to carry them at least two thirds of the time. The hike started off on a fine Saturday morning, though rain was in the forecast. As we started hiking up the trail, we were passed by someone hiking the other way. I talked to him a bit, and quickly learned that he had gone three miles and turned back because he “didn’t want to get wet” and turned back at the sight of black clouds moving in. This was somewhat ominous, but we pressed onwards. We were soon passed by two other parties, including a family with a six year old who was going to hike the whole trail without any help. This made quite an impression on our four year olds – hiking whole trail all by him self! The six year olds apparent lack of any whining made a more of an impression on Nancy and I – only six and already hard core! The twins walked the first three miles or so before being loaded up into the backpacks for nap time.
Alas, at about nap time the grade increased making for some fun uphills.
The first day of hiking was quite beautiful – while some very ominous black clouds blew though with a bit of thunder, the weather was quite nice.
After reaching mile seven or so the twins were pried out of their comfortable backpacks and started hiking again.
At a little after mile eight there is an airplane wreck, which provided a bit of excitement for the twins.
The airplane crash site is always a bit depressing, at least to me. Near the engine in the photo is the steering wheel – all smashed and bent.. it seems unlikely that anyone survived the crash. We camped in the next saddle.
Everyone enjoyed a fine dinner of rice, dried veggies, and cashew nuts. Yum, yum!
After dinner the twins and I wandered around, looking at the flowers…
And building some rock cairns.
During the cairn building processes Lizzy was very excited to find a rock shaped like the number one. The joys of being four..
The next morning things were a bit different – we awoke to a gentle rain on the tent.
When we finally made it outside, we found the ridge completely socked in, with about 100ft of visibility. The rest of the day the visibility ranged from 50ft to 1/4 mile until things cleared up in the evening. This made route finding a bit of a chore. In nice weather its it often feels like there are rock cairns every 10ft – in bad weather it feels like they are 10 miles apart. We never lost the trail, but it was quite hard to stay on the trail at several points.
The girls were quite the little troopers, and didn’t whine all that much, even though they spent most of the day wandering around in a white out in the rain.
They spent a bit more time in the backpack (must be nice to be able to retreat to the comfort of a rain proof covered self motorized transport that also provides food and drink on command) but otherwise seemed to enjoy themselves. Several times while Nancy and I were looking for the next cairn Lizzy would inject helpful advice like “You should look at the map” or “you didn’t loose the map did you”.
We also played the ever popular “Is that cairn taller than you?” game, in which the twins guessed if the next cairn would be shorter or taller then them. That game was a major hit.
Nancy also recited a version of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, the Hungry Caterpillar, and James and the Giant Peach from memory as hiking as rainy fog distractions.
Eventually we made it to the train shelter, were we made dinner and enjoyed some dryness.
The family with the six year old caught up with us at that point and we hung out for a while out of the rain. Eventually we took off and heading back out into the rain which was by this point slacking off and slowly turning into a partially cloudy evening.
The dogs enjoyed this section of the hike immensely – we were now out of the barren alpine rock fields and into mixed dwarf birch which they seem to enjoy a lot more. We took all three dogs, which included two 13 year olds and a 6 year old. The 13 year old dogs, Togiak and Polar, were quite the troopers, even though Togiak has a bit of arthritis.
By the end of the day the weather was quite nice, and the twins got some quality hiking time in.
We made camp just above a small saddle and eventually made it to bed when all the sugar the twins consumed wore off. The next morning arrived with a bit of rain but that quickly cleared off. Rain always sounds worse while in the tent.
Our final day turned out to be quite nice – the sun came out and it actually got reasonably hot and sunny.
The twins had a great time hiking in the fine weather.
With the nice weather, our little flying friends game out, alas.
Fortunately the hiking on the final day was a fairly fast 12 miles, and we made it out by 6, well in time to make it to Mia’s Cafe. The twins enjoyed vegetable yakisoba.
Mia’s food is always good. That little cafe is quite amazing – the burgers are great and at least the vegetable yakisoba is very good (better than any place in town actually). I am now hard pressed to decide weather to order a burger or noodles these days.. Life is hard!
Everyone had a great time on this trip, even though the weather is less than optimal. This bodes well for our Chilkoot plans later this summer, as the Chilkoot is a less strenuous hike (it has about half as much climbing).
Hope everyone is enjoying the summer!
Tags: chena dome, chena_rec_area, hiking, the_twins
Jay and Nancy and girls = amazing!
Greetings, I lost two very good friends at Melozi; Sue Edmonson and Ken Earliwine who both died on February 1, 1983 on a return plane trip from the springs after being there for several weeks. They found the bodies year(s) later underwater in a lake. It seems the plane crashed and then slid down a hill side and into a box canyon/lake which then froze over. Sad story; anyone have any recollection of them
Time frame re: Sue Edmondson and Ken Erliwine were caretakers during the winter of 1983 at Melozi. They left the hot springs on February 1, 1983. The plane was finally found in September 1984 in near Tanana. The pilot, Sue and Ken were found in the wreckage. Any stories or information about Sue and Ken and their time at Melozi would be greatly appreciated. Sue was my very dear and cherished friend.
Sue Edmondson was my aunt (my mom’s sister). We miss her dearly. I was actually searching for information regarding the plane crash which took her life. If you have any information please let me know.
Thank you,
Sean