The Alaska Adventure: Thin Ice

THIN ICE. So we've all used the phrase before, right? "Watch it buddy... you're skating on thin ice!" (Could be to your two year old or your office partner...) But how often have you actually had to do it? Well Team Leslie was faced with a thin ice situation over Thanksgiving weekend...

Crystals on thin ice

We had reserved a back country cabin months before for our annual post-turkey-day-off-the-grid-trip. You may remember our first year in Alaska trip to the Barber Cabin with the northern lights dancing behind our idyllic abode, or last year's 30 below venture to the Kelly Lake Cabin with howling wolfs echoing across the icy expanse. Well this year's cabin was only accessible by lake, not trail. This seemed like a reasonable thing at the time of our reservation - late November in Alaska should equal copious amounts of ice and snow - we would simply stash loads of food and fire wood and toys into fatty sleds and skate or ski it all across the lake!

Well a recon mission on Thanksgiving morning confirmed what an autumn's worth of warm weather had foretold; the ice was less than 2 inches thick.

J checks the depth

For those of your who aren't ice-depth aficionados, the Army Corps of Engineers recommends 2 inches for single person ice travel, 3 inches for single file ice travel, and 4 inches or more for groups with gear. We were in trouble.

PLAN B. Luckily, our adventuring friends had not only scoped a map, but had also consulted the lake depth charts for the surrounding area. There appeared to be an alternative route (think much longer and harder) beginning at a shallower, and therefor more likely to have thicker ice, lake. This lake traverse would be followed by some serious bush-whackery and continued shallow lake hopping until eventually, we would reach the far end of our lake, and our cabin. Fatty sleds would need to become fatty backpacking gear, and luxuries like firewood and toys would need to be exchanged for saws and a deck of cards.

The new route

The thing was, we weren't just a bunch of aggro determined grown-ups; we had a 5 year-old, a three year-old and a one year-old to drag through this choose-your-own-adventure route too... hmm...

Stage One - skate (that's a cabbage patch kid, not a baby... Indigo is a good skater, but not that good)

Stage Two - bush whack

Stage Three - meadow trek

Stage Four - now keep whacking...

Stage Five - PULL!

SUCCESS! As the pictures show, we skated and scrambled, trekked and tripped, whacked and whooped our way through a few miles of wilderness to eventually find our sweet little reserved cabin. Luckily the ice at that end of the lake was 6 inches plus - perfect for skating at all times of day and night. And our first evening it began to snow light, sparkly powder creating a much-missed winter wonderland. Our reaction? Grateful.