17 August 2007 – the adventure began early that morning, by 6AM we had ordered breakfast and by 6:30 we had eaten and had driven out of the parking lot on our way to Girdwood some 40 miles south of Anchorage up to the Crow Pass Trailhead. We reached the trailhead around 7:30AM.
Crow Pass is a steady climb, on a well defined trail for the first 7 mi. In June 2006 we traversed over 3 avalanche slide areas in order to reach the falls at the top of the pass – we never reached the falls. That day was glorious, I had plastic bags (the kind you get at Wal-Mart to carry your items out in) using these to slide down the chutes on our butts, we were soaked but it was fun.
This day Jeff and John will hike 26 miles one-way from Girdwood to Eagle River. I am supposed to pick them up around 11PM. Today the sun goes down around 8:50 PM. On our end of the trail, very dark clouds moved in up and over the canyon where Jeff and John are to immerge in 6 hours – I knew something wicked was knocking at their heart strings – rain, cold, wet, walking through a dense forest wrapped in a cloak of darkness, they would come. In the meantime, here are some choice words about their trip!
Behind Jeff is the trail - coming off his left shoulder - if you follow this around the side of the mountain and to the left of the ridge - this is where the trail head starts - and is about 3.5 mi to the cabin which is just ahead. “We reached the top of Crow Pass Forest Service Cabin in just a couple of hours. It was about 10AM. The sun was shining, it was really pretty – we had good weather pretty much the whole way; we could see the storm coming, it followed us for most of the day.” 
At the top of Crow Pass, past the Cabin is Raven Glacier (pic below)– this area has glaciers named after birds – Crow, Raven and Eagle are most known. Eagle Glacier feeds the Eagle River and this is coincidently the name of the town located below the canyon. Eagle River is a nice town located about 10 miles north of Anchorage and has stunning views of the Chugach Mountains to the East, the Alaska Range to the west, and Mt. McKinley (Denali) to the North. On a clear day you can see Anchorage and the Cook Inlet depending where you are standing. On a really clear day, depending where you are standing, you can see Mt. McKinley which is over 200 miles to the north as the crow flies and I wish everyone could see that.
← This is below Crow Pass looking back up the mountain from where they just came down.
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This is a water fall - the water is literally pouring out of the mountain - this is perhaps a most intriguing phenomena inpsiring me to make this trek, to that point, next summer.
← This is the bottom of the falls. Further down from here Jeff and John saw 2 bear walking, eating, and just plain in the way of getting through the valley. John had an air horn and began making his loud noise - as they descended, the bear became more clear - they were actually moose.
Lunch break at the Eagle River ford area. The "ford" is where they are going to cross the river and is about 13 mi into the trip. The pic below - if you look closely - you should be able to see a white post on the other side of the river - this is the target you WILL make every attempt to stay on course to. This is important as the river is full of surprises. The water is "glacier" cold and it "makes your feet hurt" as you walk through to the other side.
The otherside - it looks like the current and cold took all the hair off John's legs.
The pictures stop here at Icicle Creek as the weather finally caught up with them. Icicle puts them 5.7 mi to their destination and as you can see, it was dusk. Sunset is 8:50 - this pic was taken around that time...and then...the rains came. Jeff says it "got real dark at Echo Bend" - Echo Bend is "3.0 mi to go!" This is the point on the trail where you leave the river for the forest.
← This is the bottom of the falls. Further down from here Jeff and John saw 2 bear walking, eating, and just plain in the way of getting through the valley. John had an air horn and began making his loud noise - as they descended, the bear became more clear - they were actually moose.
Lunch break at the Eagle River ford area. The "ford" is where they are going to cross the river and is about 13 mi into the trip. The pic below - if you look closely - you should be able to see a white post on the other side of the river - this is the target you WILL make every attempt to stay on course to. This is important as the river is full of surprises. The water is "glacier" cold and it "makes your feet hurt" as you walk through to the other side.
There was another hiker on the trail that morning - he showed up while they were eating lunch at the rivers edge. He had walking poles and crossed in front of Jeff while John followed behind. Could he have been one of God's guides? Jeff said he was camping at the cabin and caught up with them. The man poked his way across the river, Jeff and John following, leading them around holes/pockets at the rivers bottom. Do you see the white post on the other side of the river...the river had 2 tributaries which had to be crossed and this was not the end of river crossings - the Icicle Creek bridge had washed out in between our hike up a couple of weeks before their trip. This fierce, deep, little creek is nothing to scoff at - it is a wicked little creature -this creek is found at mi 20 and was crossed in the dark as you will see soon.
The otherside - it looks like the current and cold took all the hair off John's legs.
This trail is actually a portion of the historic Iditarod Trail. The Iditarod Trail was a trail that connected a point 80 km (50 miles) north of Seward, Alaska, where a forerunner of the Alaska Railroad ended, through Iditarod, Alaska and then to Nome. The trail was about 1,850 km (1,150 miles) long. From its beginning, the trail wound along Turnagain Arm, over Crow Pass, down the Eagle River Valley and northward to the trading post of Kink, Alaska, the largest town on the Upper Cook Inlet until the railroad town of Anchorage was founded in 1915.
← This is Twin Falls which is approximately 16.5 mi from the Girdwood trail head and "9.5 miles to go." 
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This is a pic of the Eagle Glacier - this is a zoom looking back from the Eagle River side of the Trail. This massive glacier feeds the Eagle River which flows into the Cook Inlet.
The pictures stop here at Icicle Creek as the weather finally caught up with them. Icicle puts them 5.7 mi to their destination and as you can see, it was dusk. Sunset is 8:50 - this pic was taken around that time...and then...the rains came. Jeff says it "got real dark at Echo Bend" - Echo Bend is "3.0 mi to go!" This is the point on the trail where you leave the river for the forest.Jeff says you could still see, but shadows were your guide which played in their minds - well, in John's mind anyway. Jeff says this "is when John came alive."
John was talking, using his horn, singing - I can imagine. The area is littered with wild animals, bear, moose, squirrels - there is no telling when one of these will jump at you from the nearest tree - I'm kidding! Moose can't climb trees. "It's important, you want to make noise - you don't want to sneak up on a bear."
In my minds eye the Eagle River side of the trail is a pain in the --- to hike over - you have rocks jutting up all over the trail, tree roots spread intermingled between the rocks - some parts of the trail are very narrow and close to the rivers edge - one slip or lean in the wrong direction and you could find yourself in the drink being pulled by the roots and rivers current. This side of the trail has a lot of designated camping spots and most campers come in at dust/night - which is a common practice on all the trails we have hiked. The animals are out at dust, hunting/foraging, which makes for the perfect photo op.
I had been sitting in the truck at the Visitor Center waiting for their arrival for the past 30 minutes. It was late, I was tired, the rain was relentless, it was dark. I rolled my window down just enough to hear the sounds of night when I heard what sounded like wolves in the distance. Many residents own half wolf, half Husky dogs - these howling sounds are not uncommon to Alaska. I could hear the owner yelling at the dogs to be quiet. About this time I decided to hit the horn - listening for a response - nothing. 15 minutes had passed when I hit the horn - toot, toot, toot - I heard a blast! It was John's air horn - they were close now but still had a few more minutes before they would reach me. It was 1115 when they came from the other side of the center - the end of the trail. They were happy to see me - I was happy to see them - the chatter home was unending - Jeff says they ran about 3 miles as it rained - the adventure was fantastic.
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