Hit this yesterday, dueling packrafter and kayaker. Thought I’d add a few clarifying comments. First, this truly is a gem right under my nose that I had ignored. We almost reluctantly decided on it yesterday due to some time constraints, with the unknown factor at least giving us some intrigue, and with the water level being on the low side were merely expecting a nice but not overly exciting run, like what you see from the bridge in Girdwood (take-out).
90 seconds after put in you couldn’t have torn the smiles off our faces.
First, for those unfamilar, the best access is from the intersection of Crow Creek Road and the Crow Mine Road. However, if driving, note that there are ‘no parking’ signs posted everywhere near there. Have no idea how strictly enforced, but if you go back down a couple hundred yards there is a 3-4 car pullout. Don’t park at the official ‘hand-tram’ parking lot unless you want quite a bit of a walk (if you do its easier to walk on the road to above point).
From the mine intersection, take the mine road about 100 yards, on the right will be an obvious trail that leads to the main trail. Its about 3/4 mile to the hand-tram. If you want to put in here you can just go to the left from the tram and there’s an easy trail right down to the water. It will be a flying start but its doable. From this point on we encountered no obstacles, class II-III, fast, kept us on our toes, kept us smiling. In my humble opinion, I would advise this is not a run for first whitewater experience unless guided or extremely comfortable.
As alluded to in an earlier post, a bit more excitement can be had from backtracking from the handtram a few hundred yards and putting in at Crow Creek. Look for the first not-so-obvious path straight down, ropes, and an old sign saying something like “travel at your own risk”.
*Note there is a more obvious way down even further away from the handtram with ropes that also has ropes and I assume leads to Crow Creek. You do not want this one or you will be in for at least one nasty surprise, a nice chest-level (when sitting in a raft) log/bridge after a blind corner. This log/bridge is at the put-in describe above, so if you see it, you’re at the right place.
This 2-3 minute segment on Crow Creek down to the hand-tram is III-IV, fast with a couple of pipes, rocks, etc… that require avoidance but not stoppage, couple of nice 3 ft drops, generally a rockin good time. For maximum enjoyment acclimate the air inside the raft to the water temps as much as possible and re-fill up before blasting off, instead of relying on my normal modus operandi of being able to get out a few minutes after put-in to do so as there might not be a place to stop for awhile.
If you want to see the run, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itQqJ99TmH4
Looks like it was measured at 25.37 on http://aprfc.arh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=pafc&gage=gcga2&view=1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1
So now, a question for others more familar with it, whats it like with higher water levels? Smooths things out or makes it rowdier?