Tomorrow I will be attempting to hike Crow Pass just outside of Anchorage, Alaska with a a MeetUp Group. Crow Pass is a one way trip through the Chugach Mountains from Girdwood to Eagle River. The route is 21 miles with the 2,100 ft. of elevation gain coming entirely in the first few miles. Perhaps most importantly, there is a significant river crossing of Eagle River about 13 miles into the hike. The river is a glacial river and will be extremely cold---estimated 33 degrees. Depth varies but it will most likely be up to our knees. Most hikers will carry an extra set of shoes for this portion of the trip. Since we are doing this as a one day hike, we will not have the advantage of crossing the river at the preferable early morning hours before the glacial melt swells the river later in the day. As you would expect, warm days will cause the river crossing to be deeper.
The hike will include traversing small snowy sections of glaciers and moose, caribou, dall sheep, and of course bears are prevalent. Bear spray is almost mandatory on this hike.
River Crossing Video
video: http://www.dnr.alaska.gov/parks/safety/trailcrossing.mp4
Crow Pass Trail Guide
Interest link with description of trail and comments regarding the annual trail race: Crow Pass Race
The Moon is Waxing Gibbous (60% of Full)
Re: Crow Pass
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June 30, 2012 07:24AM |
Have fun. I'd be bringing my Scuba Booties for that crossing.
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Re: Crow Pass July 01, 2012 10:23PM |
An unbelievable day. Weather is such an important factor on this type of hike and it simply could not have been better. Many of the pictures show partly cloudy skies but the forecast called for showers. Because thunderstorms are a non-factor, the hike was on no matter the weather. The elevation gain at the beginning of the hike wasn't as steep as many hikes here but the 20+ miles afterwards were interesting to say the least. Anyone remember the scene is Jurassic Park where the group is travelling across a big open meadow with very tall grass and the velociraptors start picking them off one by one? Our group of five recalled that scene as we intermittently cried out, "Hey Bear!"
The actual "Crow Pass" ends up as a higher elevation than Raven Glacier. Pretty cool site to right next to it with the great blue colors. A couple of the lakes at top (only 3,500 ft elevation!) are still frozen over. An additional river crossing than the main one had an adequate enough snow bridge where we were able to cross dry. Our group of five never did see a bear but others out with us saw two. We saw a nice bull moose out on an island. And in perhaps the strangest site, we also ran into two pack llamas.
One person in our group bought special "water proof" socks for the river crossing. The crossing ended up close to mid-thigh for me. The flow and stability of the water wasn't as bad as I had feared. But man it was cold! They say 33 degrees. It took a good bit for the pain to go away after the numbness had gone away. But as I mentioned the say was just unbelievably warm and by fortune the sun came out to soak in a few minutes just after our crossing..
Since the river is about the halfway point, there were a lot of miles to cover. And I found myself sweating even on the relatively flat land. As we came up on a beautiful and clear lake that was not cold glacier water but only cold snow melt water. So four of us decided we had to swim. Yes it was really cold but I never imagined I would have the opportunity to swim on a Crow Pass hike. I was prepared for 40s and rain. I had katoohlas in my bag. Snow hat and gloves. And I was swimming in an alpine Alaskan Lake!
It is hard for me to pick a few photos to post. Here is a link to the entire album:
Crow Pass Album
The actual "Crow Pass" ends up as a higher elevation than Raven Glacier. Pretty cool site to right next to it with the great blue colors. A couple of the lakes at top (only 3,500 ft elevation!) are still frozen over. An additional river crossing than the main one had an adequate enough snow bridge where we were able to cross dry. Our group of five never did see a bear but others out with us saw two. We saw a nice bull moose out on an island. And in perhaps the strangest site, we also ran into two pack llamas.
One person in our group bought special "water proof" socks for the river crossing. The crossing ended up close to mid-thigh for me. The flow and stability of the water wasn't as bad as I had feared. But man it was cold! They say 33 degrees. It took a good bit for the pain to go away after the numbness had gone away. But as I mentioned the say was just unbelievably warm and by fortune the sun came out to soak in a few minutes just after our crossing..
Since the river is about the halfway point, there were a lot of miles to cover. And I found myself sweating even on the relatively flat land. As we came up on a beautiful and clear lake that was not cold glacier water but only cold snow melt water. So four of us decided we had to swim. Yes it was really cold but I never imagined I would have the opportunity to swim on a Crow Pass hike. I was prepared for 40s and rain. I had katoohlas in my bag. Snow hat and gloves. And I was swimming in an alpine Alaskan Lake!
It is hard for me to pick a few photos to post. Here is a link to the entire album:
Crow Pass Album
July 06, 2012 08:18PM |
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