My brother in Fairbanks swore the Chena River ice was safe on April 10, and I believed him
He has lived up there for 22 years and said the ice on the Chena near the boat launch stays solid until mid April, so I drove my truck out there with my two kids to do some early spring jigging. Two hours in, the rear tires started sinking and we had to crawl out the windows onto a snowmachine trail while a guy from North Pole pulled us out with a winch. Does anyone actually have a real rule of thumb for ice thickness this time of spring, or is it just a gamble every single time?