Palmer Alaska day four

Stan:

In Utah and Arizona the colors displayed in the dirt and rocks are kind of mystical. Most people get as far as red, rusty, or possible ochre, before words fail them. And very few artists can come close to mixing pigments that realistically depict these colors. Here in Alaska, green is the predominant color.  Grass, leaves, almost every growing thing is a deep dark green.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen this intense shade of green before. We’ve not seen much landscape art yet; so I don’t know how close artists come to matching this color. It is certainly one of natures’ best efforts.

Lots of green.

Palmer is located in the Mat-Su area, short for Matanuska-Susutna.  The Mat-Su is about the same area as West Virginia. Mat-Su has glaciers, fishing, reindeer, musk oxen, and much more. In four days, we’ve seen only a fraction of the area, and enjoyed it all.

Twenty miles or so up the road from Palmer is Hatcher Pass and the Independence Mine State Historical Park. The park consists of refurbished buildings, walkways, and interpretive panels. Guided tours of the park are offered several times daily. Construction of the camp and mill was started in 1937. By 1941, the Independence mill, camp and mine employed 202 men. The Independence mine became the second largest lode gold producer in the Willow Creek district.

On Saturday, the mine was our first destination. The usual scenic drive from Palmer,  is up Fishook-Willow Road, along the Little Sustina River, to the Independence Mine, and then, onto Willow, following Willow Creek via the Hatcher Pass Road. I was told at the RV office that Hatcher Pass Road was still  closed for the winter. But we wanted to see the mine, so we went ahead.

We started on the Fishook_Willow Road, and our trip began to look less and less promising; the further up we went, the foggier it got. We finally reached a point, just inside the State Park entrance, where visibility was reduced too less than 200 feet. I stopped in a parking area and tried to figure out where we were. Walking a couple of  hundred yards back down the hill to a lodge and restaurant, I  found an information panel with a map of the immediate area. The mine was just up the road about a mile, through the fog. I went back to the truck and  gingerly drove the last mile to the mine parking area. The fog had thinned  a little and we could, by straining our eyes, see the visitor center. By the time I walked Sheila around a bit, we could make out the surrounding mountain peaks. Things were looking much better, not a wasted trip after all.

Fog almost gone.

The state has done a good job of refurbishing many of the major buildings and providing good walkways for visitors. The walkways are paved in the main camp, but if you want to see what’s left of the mill complex, you have to walk on unpaved dirt trails.  Dirt trails go up the mountain side to the original mine, if you want to take the hike. We got as far as the old mill, when it started to rain. It was as far back as it would be to continue on the trail loop. So we kept going, getting wet and a little cold. It was a good hike anyway. It’s too bad the mill couldn’t have been saved, mills are always interesting. The mill complex is just caved in buildings and rubble now. All the big machinery has been removed. Again, that’s to bad; the mills and associated equipment are a big part of the attraction to these old mines.

Some of the refurbished buildings, and an ore car.


What's left of the mill complex.


Supervisors were provided apartments with kitchens like this.

I asked one of the park volunteers if the Hatcher Pass Road was open; it was and had been for two weeks. Off we went for the second part of our day’s adventure. From Hatcher Pass to Willow is almost 30 miles of pot holes and unimproved road. The road gets graded once or twice a year, but I don’t think it does much good. Any way, when you’re intent on scenic drives, who cares about a few rough spots?

Coming up to the Hatcher Pass summit, I was looking for a photo opportunity, and I though I saw a paraglider dip below the horizon. I found a parking spot and walked up a short rise to take a look. No paragliders. I asked around, but no one had seen anything unusual; I though I was losing it for sure.

Paragliders.

We continued on over the pass a few hundred yards and parked off the road next to Summit Lake, which is fed by snow melt. It’s not much of a lake, less than the size of a football field, and may not last ths summer. But, holy updraft Bat Man, was that a pair of paragliders I just saw gliding on the mountain breezes? Yes! I hadn’t been hallucinating after all. There were three guys paragliding. Air currents from the valley provided updrafts strong enough to lift the paragliders above the surrounding peaks. I hadn’t seen them from up the road, because of an intervening low hill. When they get tired, the landing area is flat and open. They land, fold up their gear and wait for someone to drive down and pick them up, or, trudge back up the slope and do it all over again.

The landing area. Not as far down as it looks.

We continued on down the road. Within five or six miles, the road follows Willow Creek and flattens out into a narrow valley. We started to see campers with tents, or trailers set up in almost every flat spot. I think almost everyone had an ATV and delighted in driving it 50 mph up and down the dirt road, stirring up as much dust as possible. This long weekend will bring out many campers. Alaskans seem to like spending as much time as possible in the great out of doors.

We stopped and talked to a couple as they exercised their dog in a beaver pond. The man would through a stick into the middle of the pond for the dog to retrieve. He said the dog would spend hours fetching the stick. Sheila looked at the water but didn’t seem inclined to go for a swim. Many dog owners take their dogs to the streams and rivers for a swim.

Sunday we sat around and didn’t do much. The sun came out in the afternoon so we went for a short drive.

Today we took a drive up the Glenn Highway, following the Matanuska River for about 30 miles. We’ll be taking this same highway when we go to Valdez.  When we got back, the RV park owner was having her annual 4th of July  picnic; it was well under way, and we almost missed it. She provides hamburgers, hot dogs with all the fixens and other people bring side dishes. I was unusually hungry, so I pigged out on a hot dog with pasta salad, followed that with a hamburger and potato salad; finally, I topped everything of with some cake, three pieces I think.

Tomorrow, if I’m still alive, we go on to Anchorage for at least four days and then to Seward, and Homer. That will just take care of the Kenai Peninsula. Everyone says the scenery is outstanding and I’m looking forward to it.

Johnna:

July 1, 2005

Thunder storm with hard wind and rain last night. Low fog this morning. Sun finally came out about 1:00 PM. Decided to do a little exploring in the local area. Palmer is in the middle of the agricultural area of Alaska. Land of the giant cabbage. It was settled by farmers from the Midwest during the 1930s as a new deal project. On the advice of the next door neighbor, went to the U-pick farm run by the LDS to see what they had to offer. We were a little early. They were not going to open for business until next week. On our way there, passed by the Rein Deer Farm. Will go back to take a closer look in the next day or so. Stopped by the local Friday craft show in Palmer to see what they had to offer. There were not very many venders exhibiting; probably due to the threatening weather. Also stopped at the Fred Myers supermarket for fresh bread and dairy products. Before going back to the rv park, stopped at the viewpoint/river access where the Old Glen Highway crosses the Matanuska River. There were some local people there letting their dogs romp in the water along the river bank. Sheila would only go in just far enough to get her feet wet. The other dogs went in up to the their bellies and had a great time splashing around.

The property next to the rv park is an organic truck farm. On Fridays they harvest and prepare their produce to take to the Saturday farmers market in Anchorage. They sell to their neighbors for two hours (5-7 PM) Friday afternoon. Walked over to check them out. They had spinach, several varieties of lettuce, Oriental vegetables, radish, beets, basil, turnips, cucumbers, and mixed greens. All their offerings having just been harvested were of very high quality. Purchased some Japanese turnips and spinach. Walked over to the field area to learn how they grow these beautiful vegetables. They plant most of them on raised beds under plastic until the weather allows them to be uncovered. Other plants are started in a large green house and transplanted through holes in a plastic sheet covering the raised bed like strawberries are in southern California. All together, a very impressive operation.

July 2, 2005

Upon the advice of the rv park owner, drove up to the Independence Mine State Park, a beautiful drive up the Little Susitna River. The road is paved all the way with numerous pull outs to enjoy the view. There are many ponds created by beaver dams. The vegetation is lush and emerald green with many different wild flowers in bloom. The state park is above the tree level at 3,500 ft. elevation. The terrain is covered with green mosses, stunted willows, stands of short brush and tinny delicate wild flowers. Interesting is how the ground is mounded in some places. I think this may be caused by frost heaves.

Just we got to the park entrance, we drove into the clouds. We could hardly see more than 100 feet. Started at the visitors center and watched a video about the history of gold mining in the area. The center is located in a very comfortable two story house which had been built for the mine manager. By the time the video was over, the clouds had lifted enough to see the valley and the lower half of the surrounding mountains. We got rained on as we were walking the trail that circles the mine camp buildings. The mill buildings and machine shops have all collapsed, but most of the buildings which housed people (bunkhouses, mess hall, engineering offices, commissary, and apartment houses) are still standing and are being restored. It was interesting to see how over 200 men worked and lived in the late 30s, early 40s. The mine ceased operation in 1951.

By the time we were ready to leave the mining camp, the clouds had lifted above the tops of the mountains, so we decided to take the road west over Hatcher Pass and down Willow Creek to the Parks Highway. Even though the pass is only 3,800 ft. elevation, there was still snow on the ground and ice in the lake and it seemed like we were on the top of the world. We stopped to watch two paragliders enjoying the updrafts at the summit. The road over the pass and down Willow Creek is dirt with some gravel. Very bumpy and slow going, but the views were stupendous making it well worth the trip. Many people were camped next to Willow Creek. Many had brought their ATVs and some of them were zooming up and down the road making the other campers uncomfortable with all the noise and dust they were generating. Other ATV riders were considerate and slowed down when passing other campers. Hopefully the discourteous will someday learn by their example. We had not gone very far this day (less than 100 miles), but we were very tired by the time we got back to the rv park. Went out for pizza.

July 3, 2005 

Rained again last night. Overcast all morning. Took the opportunity to do laundry. After noon, took a drive up the Knik River Road to its end hoping to get close enough to the Knik Glacier to get a good view. No joy. I guess the only way to see this glacier is to take a boat up the river or to fly over. Went back to the trailer and cooked stir fry using left over stake from a couple of days ago.

July 4, 2005

Visited the Musk Ox Farm. Viewing these permeative animals made me feel like we had gone back in time thousands of years. Drove up the Glen Highway as far as Chickaloon before turning around and heading back to Palmer. Stopped at the Alpine Historical Park in Sutton where the ruins of a coal washery is located. Coal was mined in the Chickaloon area to service the U.S. Navy’s coal burning steam ships. Spent about an hour looking at the antique mechanical equipment and restored buildings of the turn of the 20th century era. The park grounds were covered by a lawn of mostly clover in full bloom. The scent was overpowering. There was also a nice display of flowers including columbines with color combinations of lavender and purple I had not seen before.

Pansy