Craigie Creek: An old mining road turned beautiful hike in Hatcher Pass

This old mining road alongside Craigie Creek sometimes sees four-wheeler and Jeep/off-road traffic, but it’s also a great, moderately difficult hike into an open valley and past some interesting mining ruins.

The real treasure is Dogsled Pass and Schroff Lake, which look imposingly far from the end of the road but are surprisingly easy to reach with a minimum of boulder scrambling.

You might find yourself sharing the first part of this trail with ATV riders and off-roaders, especially on weekends, but they won’t be able to follow you past the end of the road.

This is hike 2 in my guidebook Day Hiking Southcentral Alaska.

Hiking Craigie Creek

As you set out from the parking area, take the immediate right fork to avoid private property. Aside from that, the first 4.2 miles of the Craigie Creek trail follows an old mining road — no worries about routefinding here! You might, however, find yourself sharing the trail with ATVs or even full-size off-road rigs. That’s usually not a problem unless a whole group of folks has rallied to ride here, in which case I would choose one of the other nearby hikes in Hatcher Pass.

The mining road ends at about mile 4.2, but if you have time you can continue another 0.3 miles on a clear if sometimes patchy footpath that runs uphill to nearby Dogsled Pass. There is a little mild boulder-hopping on the way up, but nothing too bad — and as long as the pass isn’t socked in, it’s a great endpoint with great views and pretty little Schroff Lake, which sits in a boulder-studded depression on the east side of the pass.

I wouldn’t drink the water in the creek beside the trail, thanks to all the old mining material slowly rusting into it. But if you’ve brought a water filter, you can refill your water containers at Schroff Lake.