Independence, Hatcher, and Denali

John is officially back on days and our sleep schedule is back to normal. It’s time for more sightseeing. We are again traveling north, and this time we are bringing John’s coworker Martin, with us. We are heading to Independence Mine State Historical Park as our first stop.

The scenery is amazing, of course, like all of the landscape of Alaska.

Our drive is taking us along the Little Susitna River.

I absolutely LOVE the blue color of the water. Its a light blue similar to aquamarine.

The road winds its way through the mountains and away from the Little Susitna River. It joins up with Fishhook Creek, a lazy waterway compared to the roaring glacial river.

In September of 1906, Robert Lee Hatcher staked the first hard rock (lode) gold claim in the Willow Valley, on Granite Mountain and named it the Independence Mine.

Post World War II, mining became unprofitable and in 1951, after producing approximately $6 million worth of gold, the mine was officially closed. You can read more about the mine here.

The town is on the National Register, and slowly they are restoring and preserving the buildings that are standing. This year four buildings are available to tour.

Remnants, tailings, of the blasting and rock crushing can be seen at the base of the gray granite mountain. Below that, part of the trellis structure for the mining train rails are still standing.

Establishing the rail system in 1940, greatly improved the efficiency of the mining operation. This is one of the mining trains that was used.

Along with the water tunnel, this allowed the ore, personnel, and supplies to be moved quickly in and out of the mine. It was nice and cool inside the tunnel.

We spent hours walking around the grounds, touring the buildings and just enjoying the serenity of the place.

It is mostly sunny and around 80 degrees. The sun is warming the thousands of acres of tiny mountain heather flowers that carpet the ground. I can smell their subtle, sweet scent on the light breeze that is blowing.

We all could spend more time here but we have other things to see today. From here we are taking Hatcher Pass over to Willow. So far John and Martin have both seen a moose. I have seen a marmot. Sigh.

We get to Hatcher Pass Summit without any other wildlife gracing our drive.

It is much cooler up here than it was at Independence Mine as the heavier snow cover indicates.

Cooler temperatures sometimes mean a different kind of wildlife is around. Mountain sheep? Mountain goats? You decide.

We do get a great view of the valley. I wish we had the time; there are a lot of hiking trails around here that I bet lead to even more spectacular views.

We couldn’t see the lake from the summit, but down around the mountain here it is. The last we heard about Summit Lake is that it is frozen over. Well, here it is July 3 and it is almost ice free.

Oh my gosh. The cutest little baby birds are in the road! EEE! I need a picture! They won’t hold still so I decide to get out and chase the little buggers down. John and Martin are laughing at me I’m sure but I got some good pictures. When I get too close they lay down really fast! Best guess, these are bufflehead ducklings.

As we are approaching the end of the pass and almost at sea level, the pine trees are appearing but what we see is devastating. The mountains are covered with dead trees for as far as you can see. Could this be the pine bark beetle?

Our last stop today are two Denali viewing areas. One just outside of Talkeetna (towl-KEET-nah) and one further up HWY 3. As we are approaching I kept thinking the top of Denali was a cloud. It is a bit cloudy but no, that is the peak of the mountain sticking out of the cloud. It’s a good end to a great day.