Crow Pass Trail (page 4)

Not a tenth of a mile beyond I found another campsite with a fire ring right next to a pond.  About a half a mile later the trail entered the forest again.  I spotted another waterfall high up on the mountain on the left at about mile 13.3. 

At 13.8 I found Thunder Gorge.  Ramzi had warned me not to cross the river here, but to follow the trail up about 25 to 50 yards until I found a sign announcing Thunder Gorge.  Here there are three trees that have fallen over the river allowing dry passage.  However, the trees are completely unstable.  Half way across I slipped off.  Fortunately I caught myself before I hit the water.  Unfortunately, it was a “crotch catch” as my legs strattled one of the felled trees.  YOWSERS! 

The gals caught up with me here as I made breakfast and recovered from the fall.  I had to turn the breakfast into take-out as the bugs decided to swarm me here despite the fact that I was wearing two day’s worth (now about four layers) of repellant.  I found the trail across the beach by spotting a rock pile.  Right after the crossing there are several good tent sites and fire rings.

For the next several miles there are numerous boggy areas and streams to cross.  Fortunately, all of them either have bridges over them or logs to walk across.  Water crossings were no longer any trouble.  I found another good campsite a mile 15.

At this point the trail is at its poorest.  It follows along the steep bank of the river, and becomes an obstacle course that has likely become worse and worse over the last few years as the river undercuts the trail.  People have tied ropes to help climb steep narrow parts.  There were ropes to help scale up and across rock faces.  There was even a makeshift ladder to climb up one of the boulders.

Twin Falls campsites can be found at mile 16.5.  There are a number of great places to pitch tents and a couple of fire rings.  A wooden bridge gives access across to campgrounds on both sides of the creek. 

Yakedeyak Creek crossing occurs at about mile 18.  The terrain gets somewhat dicey hiking past mountains that seem to go straight up on the right, and my tired ankles and feet did not enjoy the loose boulder fields.

Click here to jump to Crow Creek Map Part IV

The campgrounds from here on out become bigger and more used.  I started seeing more and more people for the final leg of the trip as this is an easy hike from the Eagle River side, and there are plenty of places to pop tents and cook marshmallows and hot dogs.

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