Hiking the Girl Scout Trail

Annie sent the following note to her backpacking buddies. I am going to make a few editorial comments as she goes along. Here is Annie’s report.

Annie: Last Friday Tim, Elmo and I set out on a 26 mile hike from Crow Pass to Eagle River to be completed by Sunday. The first day was just the most perfect hike I have ever taken and I could not stop thinking of you all and trying to figure out how I could get all of you here.

Editors Note: Crow Pass trail was originally the Iditarod Trail. It was developed by a couple of college football defensive line coaches in the late 1800’s to provide a quick way for the prospectors to get from Turnagain Arm to Kinik Arm. After a short period of time it was abandoned in favor of the less dangerous Trail From Hell over Bird Pass. Crow pass trail disappeared. Then in the 1970’s the Girl Scouts (I am not kidding) reestablished the Crow Pass trail. How difficult could a trail be that the Girl Scouts built? Hey wait a minute…(ab)We can handle that.

Annie:

In AK one reaches timber line at about 2200 ft. We started at 2000 ft. so quickly we were hiking above the trees in this glorious area of huge mountains. We went up 2000 ft in 3.5 miles but since the altitude is so low it does not suck the wind from your lungs. At 4000 ft. we looked across at Raven Glacier with its icy blue tones surrounded by a vast landscape of tundra and flowers. After crossing one snow field with Elmo on a leash I quickly decided that the leash law was for someone else. Elmo loved the snow and the remainder of the trail sans leash. There were so many wonderful places to "smirf" ski that I felt like I should have at least tried, but sadly, I did not.

Editor’s Note: Today the trail runs from Girdwood, Anchorage’s downhill ski area, to the Eagle River Nature Center. Every July the Alaskans have a race over the Crow Pass Trail. The winner finishes in around three hours. We were going to take Three days. How difficult could that be? Annie didn’t mention that the snow fields we crossed would have been a little easier to cross with crampons and ice ax.

Annie:

We continued on to a camp site at about mile 6 and stopped for the night a little tired and not knowing just how tired one could be.

Editor’s Note: We had to ford Clear Creek, which dumped into Raven Creek and which is nothing like the Clear Creek at the end of Hartlee Field Road. This was Elmo’s first chance to cross a roaring glacial stream. He didn’t want to go, but as soon as Annie was on the other bank, there was no holding him back. High on the mountain across Raven Creek, Surprise Creek tumbled in a quadruple fall down a cliff. We found our campsite just on the other side of the footbridge that crosses Raven Gorge. We sipped Scotch and had a dinner of smoked salmon and couscous and watched the light move slowly up the mountain. Four sheep climbed to a ledge near the top of the mountain across Raven Creek and bedded down for the night. The creek roaring down the gorge lulled us to sleep. Life is good.

Annie:

The next day at about mile 9 (17 miles left to walk), while looking at flowers, I turned my ankle and fell flat. All I could do was cry, but Elmo kissed my tears away. Since I didn't really have a big choice, I took a bunch of ibuprofen, unloaded some weight to Tim, and moved on very slowly.

Editor’s Note: She crushed her ankle. Look at the pictures. If it had been me I would still be lying up there on the mountain crying. Annie is a tough lady. But why worry? The Girl Scouts built this trail, and a few days earlier a couple hundred idiots ran the whole trail in hours. We can make it. The flowers Annie was looking at when her ankle went out were spectacular. The trail was a twelve inch rocky dirt groove between two five foot walls of grass, cow parsnip, goat’s beard, yellow fleabane, and larkspur. Sometimes the trail passed over a rocky place (like where Annie fell) covered in the shorter flowers; dwarf fireweed, yellow paintbrush, death camas, moss champion, wild geranium, pink asters, spring beauty, marsh marigolds, and many more. It is easy to understand Annie’s distraction.

Why didn’t we go back; only nine miles that way? Good question. We felt the trail was too difficult that direction and that it would be easier to walk down hill on an easy trail more miles than go back up a difficult trail. How little we knew.

Annie:

At about mile 14 we came to the glacier melt river that had to be crossed by wadding. This actually felt great to the ole foot since by the time I reached the other side my legs and feet were completely numb

.

Editor’s Note: Eagle River flows from a glacial lake formed by the massive Eagle Glacier. The Glacier and the lake were just above the ford. The temperature of the water is just a little warmer than the glacier ice, and the river at the ford is a little over 100 yards wide. It rushes over a rocky bed that you cannot see because of the milky color of the glacial river, and it is thigh deep most of the way. This was Elmo’s first glacial river crossing and I tried to help him. He should have been helping me. He is unbelievably powerful. I ended up using most of my energy trying to keep him from turning back to be with Annie.

Annie had some difficulty when she first started but quickly found a technique that adjusted for her ankle. While we were resting at the ford with about 13 miles left to walk, a group of day hikers/runners came through. They were out for a Saturday walk and many of them had their dogs with them. These folks were not youth; maybe not quite as old as me, but close. The trail now led along the bank of the Eagle River, gently down hill to the Nature Center. The day hikers were laughing and playing as they took off down the trail.

Annie:

OK so now we had completed the big challenge and were on to the remainder of the trip. Within about two miles we came to another creek crossing which was by log with a rope tied to trees above for holding. This was easy for humans but Elmo didn't exactly like the raging water below. Tim tried to pick him up but he really panicked then. We ended up with me on the other side at waters edge and Tim with Elmo at the beginning edge. With a little encouragement from me, Elmo swam across. OK should be a piece of cake from now on. We started climbing and climbing and came to an area that looked like a giant dirt slide with a rope to hang to while going down. Going down was the biggest challenge for the foot. After getting to the bottom we then got to a wooden ladder which we had to negotiate up a rock cliff. Elmo has not climbed many ladders in his day so Tim ends up picking him up and hoisting him up far enough that he can get to the rock. Now I am even wondering about writing about all this cause it is starting to not even sound real but I really could not make this up. Oh yes, and there was the rock ledge with a rope attached to the top that we had to use to pull ourselves up. Rapelling has not been in my list of adventures to complete. Any way we hiked on until 6 PM and decided that we really could not go on any further for the night. We quickly got out the Scotch and thought seriously about just going to bed but we actually cooked and ate. At this moment I decided that this might not be such a great trip for our group after all.

Editor’s Note: Our map showed the trail following the relatively flat area near the river. However the map had a contour interval of 100 feet. That means that ridge lines and cliffs 99 feet high would not show on the map. The terrain the trail covered from Thunder Gorge where Elmo swam the thundering creek to Twin Falls where we camped the second night was a series of ridges coming down the mountains to the river, one ridge after the other. We climbed one ridge, slipped and stumbled down the other side and then did the same on the next ridge and the next and then the next and then the next. They wouldn’t stop coming. It was like a boxer that jabs constantly and gets stronger round after round. The first two hundred jabs are blocked or don’t hurt. Then you miss one or two. Then they begin to hurt, and you wonder if they will ever stop.

The vegetation was alders, white spruce, cottonwoods, head high grass, cow parsnip, devil’s club and hundreds of other species. Each species fought for space to grow and space to reproduce, and the only space left was the trail. At times you felt that if you stopped the plants would grow right over you. The trail is maintained primarily by feet. Feet never get rid of rocks or roots. When the trail begins to slide toward the river, feet help the slide. The slide stops when the feet hit another rock or root. Hiking this part of the trail is much like a four mile long obstacle course; roots like jungle jims, rocks like climbing walls and super slides, dirt like pound cake left in the sun for several days or like chocolate pudding. Then throw in skinny logs over creeks and mud bogs, ladders up cliffs, repelling ropes down dirt banks and up slick rocks. And when the trail is flat and straight, cover it with roots, slick like popsicles, and rocks with sharp edges ready to turn the already weak ankle. Every step must be carefully placed. Concentration on each step becomes more difficult as one becomes more fatigued. Sooner or later a mistake made. We stopped in time.

Annie:

It rained all night but stopped by the time we got up the next day - a nice thing to happen. The trail, however, was a trail through alders and cow parsnip that were about 6 feet tall and totally wet. We just thought can there be any more challenging things and then the bear poop started showing up every few feet. Tim was singing and I was praying. We actually made pretty good time despite the fact that I was hobbling along up and down the cliffs and arrived at the trail end about 3:30 PM. In retrospect, it was a fabulous trip and will provide years of tales.

Editor’s Note: We have been back in “civilization” for three days. Annie’s doctor (Joey) has required her to stay off her feet for a week. That is like telling a frog not to croak. The blue part of her foot is now spreading up her leg. I think we may have to amputate. I am more and more impressed that she finished that trail and that she did so with such a wonderful attitude. We both feel that this trail was a special experience, and that we are happy to have had the chance. There are not many places as beautiful and as demanding. I have tried to think of an analogy that would help explain our feeling about this experience. This is the best I can do so far: Hiking the Crow Pass Trail is like having a girlfriend who is a Miss Universe and a masochist. She was great to look at, but the relationship was painful. We are glad we did it and glad it is over. Thanks to the Girl Scouts.