We (Shovelman, PedalPushin,
and geodogs Mesa and Buddy) originally planned to place this
cache near the summit of Bear Paw Butte in the vicinity of
the Chena Coin Cache (see our March 18, 2005,
log), but +5° ambient temperatures
combined with a steady 10-15 knot wind drove the windchill below
-15° which didn't give much incentive to stick around long to
average coordinates. On our way to the summit of the
butte, we passed by this neat promontory and bemoaned the fact
that we didn't have a second cache with us to leave here.
As it worked out, this location got a cache after
all!
Bear Paw Butte is located within the
Chena River State Recreation Area. The butte may
be accessed via a 2.5 mile trek from Chena Hot Springs Resort or a
6.7 mile trek from the Angle Rocks trailhead. Some people
like to set up a car shuttle and hike from Angel Rocks, past
Angel Rocks Cache to the resort (the route
is described here and maps are usually available at the
Angel Rocks trailhead), soak in the natural hot springs, and
then drive back to town.
We took backcountry skis the day we
placed the cache, but were able to hike up the Ridge Trail to the
cache location on snow packed by snowmachines. The descent
from the cache location is a lot of fun on skis...just be sure to
start walking before the trail gets too steep to ski with
control!!! A short out and back detour on the Hillside Cutoff
Trail gives you easy access to one of Alaska's oldest caches,
Chena Cache, placed way back in
2001.
The cache contents
include some outdoor things and some kids things along with a
Ladybug Kids
geocoin and an unactivated Caught Red-Handed geocoin for first- and
second-to-find prizes.
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