Harp Traverse

 Today we placed my car and Jane's car at the South Fork of Eagle River Trailhead, and all piled into Madeline's car and drove up Hiland Road to the Harp Peak Trailhead. This trail is commonly known as the easiest 5000-foot peak in the Chugach Range, but considering the steep grade, it is by no means that easy. It seems to go up forever over multiple false summits, with increasing loose rock and scree until you finally reach the highest rock pile. We encountered a lone hiker named Mary who ended up joining us up to the summit. When she heard what we were doing she decided to join us. She was quite a strong hiker, having done Reed Lakes, to Bomber to Snowbird a day or 2 before. She stayed with us most of the traverse. We hiked along the long ridge for 4 or 5 miles of scrambling over huge rock gendarmes, a few of which made me a little nervous. Erin was the most experienced at this traverse and was always a bit ahead of the rest of us. I tried my best to keep up with her because, of course, Bella was always right behind her. She tended to pick routes that made me wonder why I had chosen to do this hike! I was still a bit tired from the recent activities and seemed more anxious with the heights and rock climbing than usual. I had to take a few deep breaths and follow my dog who was happy to bounce along over scary precipices that made me cringe. But it wasn't nearly as bad as my mind was making it. I did do it once before and don't remember having that anxiety then. Mary ended up much faster than even Erin and took off well ahead. Her intention was to go to Hanging Valley, walk around the lake then climb the ridge behind it then work her way down to the South Fork Trail. We were all in awe and told her that if she saw a red Subaru with license CAREN at the trailhead, we would be happy to take her back to her car at the Harp Trailhead.

We found the correct trail down from the ridge and worked our way across a couple of small creeks. I had to hand Bella over one of them. She crossed the second one easily but couldn't get up the steep grassy slope above it. I handed her to Ivan, and he fell over, but they both made it up that slippery slope. I grabbed some branches and got myself up there too. We had a hard time finding the actual overgrown trail but eventually worked our way to the South Fork Trail. I had brought a lot of extra water figuring it would be very hot. I was frequently giving Bella water. Now that we had some creeks, she was able to get her own water. Soon after we crossed the South Fork Bridge, Bella started really slowing down. I dumped out some of my water, gave one bottle to Jane, and put Bella into my pack. She got to ride back there for the last couple miles of the 10-mile hike. When I first took my pack off, she knew what it was for and immediately tried to crawl into it. She's a tough little dog and as much as she was running around, she probably hiked more like 15 miles total. 

Finally, back at the cars, Jane took Madeline up to her car and I stayed and talked to Kanaz and Ivan until she returned. We kept wondering how Mary was doing. A couple of guys said they thought they had seen her, so we wondered if she might be coming along soon. But we really didn't know what she might have decided to do. Madeline drove away and I started my car, then Bella was licking her lips. I got out and got my water bottle and gave her one last drink before heading out on the long drive back to Palmer. Then, out of my rearview mirror, I saw Mary crossing the parking lot! It was perfect timing! I had her hop in, and I took her back to her car. She showed me the route she had taken, and it was quite impressive. I was delighted to be able to help her, and we were all happy we got to meet her. She was an inspiration.