Crow Pass Cabin

Just after arriving back in Anchorage from fishing in Seward, Andrea and I took her family up to Crow Pass, outside of Girdwood, for a night's stay in a Forest Service cabin.

The hike in is "only" 3.5 miles, but almost all of it is uphill, with the grade becoming progressively steeper as you reach the top of the pass. The cabin is seated at the top of the pass next to Crystal Lake, a deep green alpine lake formed by the terminal moraine of a retreating glacier.

The family made it up to the cabin with no problem, in much faster time than I had anticipated. Coming from the flatlands of Wisconsin, I was pretty impressed how well they climbed up hills. After a brief rest and unloading at the cabin, we headed to the very top of the pass and were afforded great views of the Raven Glacier just on the other side.

We had a nice "backcountry" dinner of risotto and salmon that we had caught in Seward accompanied by 4 bottles of red wine we carried up with us (yes, actual glass bottles). We stayed up until after dark playing Mexican Train, an addicting game Andrea's brother Dan taught us using 12-sided dominos (yes, he carried an entire tin of dominos to the cabin too).

The weather was a perfect mix of sun and dramatic clouds with just a hint of rain on our decent back to the car. We arrived at the car around 11 and had a nice breakfast of sourdough pancakes at the Bakeshop in Girdwood.