Sharry Miller

Crow Pass 3 Icicle Creek to Eagle River Nature Center

After a completely sleepless night on the gravel near Icicle Creek, I was ready to be up at 5:00 and on the trail. With oatmeal and coffee to sustain us, Jenny and I were off before 7:00 to complete the last six miles to the Eagle River Nature Center and the end of the trail. Within half a mile we figured out that we could have had a comfy campsite at Heritage Falls. If we’d... Read more →

Crow Pass 2 Turbid Creek to Icicle Creek

“I saw the brush moving in the middle of the night and was sure it was a bear going after our food,” Jenny said after I’d pulled our intact food bags up from where she’d hung them off the side of the bridge over Turbid Creek. “I kept imagining that we were having a huge earthquake and the bridge got taken out. We were on opposite sides and couldn’t hear each other over the river.”... Read more →

Crow Pass 1 - Girdwood to Turbid Creek

As Jenny Kelly and I posed for a photo by the Chugach National Forest sign at the Girdwood end of Crow Pass Trail at 10:00 on the morning of July 29, I was giddy with excitement and nerves. We were about to embark on an adventure that would accomplish two things for me: put a tick mark on my life bucket list and fulfill my July Year of Fear goal. The other end of the... Read more →

At One with the Caribou

I understand how the caribou feel. The madness that causes mid-summer herds to careen across the tundra and plunge into icy rivers. The drive to keep moving, moving to the point of starvation. I understand. ***** One of my Year of Fear goals has been to hike Crow Pass. The hike itself doesn't scare me, although any time I sleep in a tent in bear country I get a little nervous. No, what really makes... Read more →