Hatcher Pass

Yesterday we headed out to Hatcher Pass - a frequent recommendation of my coworkers who, it turns out, are good recommendation givers - in search of some fall color.  Hatcher Pass is only about 30 minutes outside of Palmer, so it's a pretty easy day trip from Anchorage.  Apologies in advance - we took HUNDREDS of pictures yesterday, so I had a hard time picking only a few to share on the blog.  I think I ended up "narrowing" it down to 40 or so.  I'll try to keep the writing to a minimum so you don't have to spend hours reading about our Saturday.  

On Tuesday night, we had a pretty nasty windstorm in Anchorage.  They recorded 130 mph gusts on the hillside above our house and a ton of trees fell victim to the wind.  We never really lost power for more than a minute or two, but it was a crazy storm, and some people lost power for several days.  We even got a day off work on Wednesday because of the damage and the power outages!  When the clouds cleared, there was snow all over the tops of the mountains in town.  A taste of things to come! Knowing all that, when we headed up to Hatcher Pass, we should not have been surprised by what we faced at the top of the pass (but, we were anyway).

SNOW!

The road up to the top of the pass is windy and goes through some great scenery along the Little Susitna River.  (No pictures because there's literally no place to pull over.)  As we got to the top and saw the parking area for the recreational stuff, we decided to head straight to the top of the pass first and then check out the main attraction - an old abandoned mining operation - on the way back down.  

On the way up the hill, we saw a little friend who was nice enough to pose for us.

The internet says he's an Arctic Ground Squirrel.  Cute!
We actually see them quite a bit when we go hiking and Ripley has chased his fair share.

The view from the top was pretty nice, and the snow was pretty fun to play in.  Especially for a certain black dog we brought along.

Ripley was running around in crazy circles just like he used to when we'd take him to the beach.  RUNNING FOR THE SAKE OF RUNNING!!

At the top was Summit Lake, which was little and almost black and looked verrrrrrry cold from where we stood.

mountains mountains everywhere!

On the way back down from the top the snow cleared and the scenery got even better. 

The cute little red buildings you can see in the picture above are tiny cabins you can rent.  Totally adorable.

Looking back at the cabins from the parking lot.  Not a shabby view, huh?

So we parked and headed out to explore.  We both figured we'd walk around for about a half hour or so, take some pictures and head home.  But there was so much cool stuff to see!  The parking lot right at the old mine was closed, so we had to park and walk about a mile up to the mine - an easy little hike with lots of pretty sights along the way.

Fireweed - after the blooms are gone, it turns a brilliant red, which is probably why it's called fireweed.

As we walked along the road we suddenly heard a loud screeching/screaming sound.  It sounded kind of like an eagle almost, but it was super loud and we saw no birds flying around.  We quickly spotted the source of the noise:

According to a sign at the mine talking about the local wildlife, this little friend is called a "hoary marmot."  I personally would have gone with "screech weasel."  I think that people need to be more descriptive when naming wildlife.  Andy and I thought he bore a striking resemblance to fro.  What do you think?

As we continued up the hill, we could see the mine.  We also heard more screeching.  A family of them took up residence in that tin shed in the foreground.  

Can you spot him?

In case you didn't notice, the weather was AMAZING yesterday.  The sky was so clear, you could even see the moon.   It was also so sunny that we had to bust out the polarizing lens for the camera so the pictures wouldn't be washed out.

We were pretty much the only people up around the mine when we got there.  It was fun to walk around and read about the history and check out all the deteriorating buildings.  Some of them are kept up as visitors centers, etc., but everything was already closed for the season.

The mine is officially (now) called the Independence Mine State Historic Park.  The mine originally opened in  1906 when Mr. Hatcher (fancy that) discovered gold in them there hills.  The mine became a really big operation where a bunch of people - including families - lived and worked year round.  There was even a little school among the buildings!  The mine really became busy in the 1940s and 50s and then closed in the mid 50s.  Now it's just a museum and even allows for recreational gold panning.  We did not bring our gold panning gear...mostly because we don't have any.  I really want to get some (which they sell at Fred Meyer!) but Andy would probably divorce me.

Anyway, check out some pictures of the mine:

I asked Ripley to pose with me and all he wanted to do was lick my sweaty face. 

From the top, we looked across the little valley and we could see a weird bowl.  I'd overheard a school group in the parking lot talking about going to see a lake around that area and we guessed that was it.  More on that later. 

Ripley loved running around aimlessly all over the trails around the mining equipment.  We're responsible dog owners for letting him do so.

So since we were already there, and the weird bowl shape seemed intriguing, we decided to hike up the mountain and check out the lake.  On the way up, we were treated with more great scenery. (and a snow-covered icy trail which was trying to make me fall, so I didn't take many pictures on the way...also, the battery was starting to die on the camera because we'd already taken about 200 pictures at this point and we hadn't charged it before the trip.  Amateur mistake.)

you can see the whole mine from here - pretty big deal!

About half way up to the lake, we passed an old cabin.  It had sod walls and was pretty run down.  But what a view! I'd totally live there.  

The sign means it's legitimately historic.
1930 is basically ancient history as far as Alaska is concerned.

 While the trail was a little treacherous at times with the snow and ice.  We were in for a treat when we hit the top.  Excellent views, as you probably could have guessed.  Hatcher Pass is super photogenic, unlike myself.  More pictures!

Even though it was freezing, Ripley went for a swim.  Of course he did.  I didn't get a picture because I wasn't expecting him to get in the water.  What was I thinking? 

On the way down, we saw our third kind of fancy rodent of the day - a pika!

Have you ever seen anything this adorable?  You haven't.  It's not possible.  

On the walk back down to the car, I was able to take one last picture of the beautiful fall colors and the awesome scenery.  Did I mention the scenery here was good?  This is like Eklutna levels of pretty...without the strenuous hiking!  This is going on the short list of places to take people when they come to visit.