Skew-T

Angel Creek to Chena Hot Springs

View from Angel Rocks towards the highest point on the trail

On Sunday, I joined a couple of friends on a hike in the Chena River State Recreational Area east of town. Starting at mile 49 Chena Hot Springs Road, we took the Angel Rocks to Chena Hot Springs Trail. The trail is around eight miles long, but very quickly climbs around 2,000 ft in elevation. The landscape is littered with granite tors, molten rock that cooled before reaching the surface millions of years ago, that have been exposed by weathering of surrounding dirt. The area also shows signs of the massive 2004 wildfire that swept through.

The top of a granite tor

At the trailhead, not much higher in elevation than the university, there were patches of snow up to an inch or two deep. Climbing upward the amount increased a fair bit, with drifts up to about a foot. This made finding the already seldom marked trail more difficult, and walking across the scattered rocks more of a minefield. Treeless tundra at the top of the ridge made the trail-marking cairns more visible, as well as affording views in all directions of the surrounding wilderness.

Topographic map showing our approximate path (click to enlarge)

• posted October 6, 2009