On a unnaturally warm Saturday, the family and I headed off to Stiles Creek cabin in the Chena River SRA. Molly and Lizzy got to ride in a sled hauled by the dogs and napped most of the way. It must be strange to go on ski trips by going to sleep as you leave the parking lot and wake up in at your destination.. We loaded up in the parking lot, strapped the girls (and Chicken, Lizzys latest stuffed animal friend) into the sled and took off.
The taking off part took longer than one would expect – getting the twins settled in, three dogs harnessed, and two adults onto skis takes a while, alas.
The Stiles Creek trail has been rerouted in the last year and has lots of switchbacks which slowed things down to a crawl occasionally as the sled tried to cut the switchbacks. Eventually we made it past the switchbacks and things sped up a lot. 
After a two hour nap, the twins woke up and demanded snacks. Soon they were snacking on granola bars and dried pears while zipping along.. Ahh the luxury! 
Soon we arrived at the cabin, and the twins were taken out of their warm sled compartment and they got to help find wood, get the stove started, and of course more snacking. 
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After snacking came playing outside, even more wood gathering, and finally dinner, followed by more snacking (also known as desert). We were joined in the cabin by Margaret and Trusten and their daughter Robin. Robin and Trusten came via snow machine, and Margret via skis.
I had made a trip to this cabin as a day trip several weeks earlier and after a half hour I had the inside of the cabin above 0f, thanks to the plentiful quality of fire retardant wood (green birch and alder burn oh so well) left by the previous visitors. We had left a plentifully supply of wood that one could actually burn, but to be prepared, I skied down the last hill dragging a nice dry spruce log.
Dinner was a tasty selection of mixed pasta and Parmesan cheese for the younger generation and Indian food and pasta with spicy peanut sause for the adults. Yum, yum! 
The younger crowd got endless fun out of the cabins loft. The stairs were a big hit, as were the glow sticks.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jMeWF3d80Q]
After a night of goofing off and mellowing out, morning came and we had to pack up and head out. The trail heads up a steep hill right out of the cabin, so we headed off on foot. Lizzy and Molly were quite the troopers, and made it to the top of the hill unassisted (if you don’t count several rations of grandma’s fruit leather and a granola bar each as assistance).
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Robin and Trusten zipped away on their snowmachine, while we walked up the hill. Robin dropped a kitkat on the way out, which was very nice of her, as I was quite hungry. 
Once up the hill the twins hopped into the sled and we zoomed off down the trail. 
It was a little too hot for the dogs and they were less than happy going up one of the hills, but otherwise it was a uneventful ride out.
Tags: chena_rec_area, family, mellow, skiing, stiles