Crow Pass to Glen Alps
by John Nevin, Scree 9/84

A call to Bill Stivers verified the typical 1984 hiking trip - only Pat Murray said he wanted to go, so Bill was going and included me.  Thank goodness, as it was one of the best trips I've been on.  My only contribution was due to selfish reasons, that was to cut the trip to four days.  This turned into a blessing as the fifth day Anchorage and vicinity was deluged with rain after four perfect sunny days.

Pat's wife graciously drove us to the trailhead at Crow Cr. and said she would pick us up at Glenn Alps on Sat. night if we were there.  After going over Crow Pass we ate lunch by Raven Glacier and Raven Cr. valley.  Several other hikers passed by ranging from twin brothers with packs to three with shorts and no gear. Toward the creek, then up into the cirque.  I went straight up to the sheep trail while the others side hiked.  Thinking I had died, they waited until they saw me running along the sheep trail.  Sometimes I wonder if it is worth the effort going so high, since my leg muscles were starting to cramp we camped in the cirque right near a bunch of sheep and frolicking lambs.

Next day we scrambled up to the low spot on the ridge and worked our way down the other side to the north fork of Ship Creek all snow on this side.  With much sliding and glissading down slopes.  Just after sitting high on a hillside for lunch, we were entertained for a half hour by a wolf checking out two ewes and a lamb.  The latter did not care for the lunchtime show and themselves checked out to unwolf like territory.  We stopped at the lake near Bird Pass, had a leisurely dinner and good nights sleep, except Pat, who after a thorough search of the area, managed to find an uncomfortable spot every night,

Pancake morning for me and we were off to try a "Stiver's shortcut" to Ship Lake via a couple more steep ridges.  We headed to the back of the next cirque after Bird Pass and came face to face with a steep snow sided ridge with a cornice on top.  A narrow vertical strip, was visible though, and we decided to try it.  Up we went, but found that chunks of grass and sod would sluff off as we stepped on them.  We finally made it to the top, but not before Pat slid off the mud into a steep snow gully.  He arrested himself with his ice ax about half way down and managed to get back to the snow free area.  We climbed higher on the ridge to a sheep trail, angled to a stream gully and back up another ridge.  Here we sat a long time and enjoyed the view.  We dropped down to a bench below.  In camp, after finishing Reader's Digest, I glanced out of the tent in time to see to see a moose.  But it ran funny.  I got out the binoculars and found it was a large chocolate brown grizzly out looking for a marmot dinner.

Next day we took the same route as the grizzly.  We crossed Ship Lake pass. Bill and I finally made it up and over behind Pat.  After lunch we hiked to the powerline via the new bridge that goes nowhere.  We caught up with Pat and the van in the parking lot to end a super trip.  Bill's knowledge of this area paid off again.