Hatcher Pass

About 5 weeks ago, when I was in this area before, I wrote about driving the 60-mile Hatcher Pass from Willow.  The road was closed past Summit Lake because of snow.  Today I drove Hatcher Pass from the Palmer end to Summit Lake.  It was worth the drive ....

Little Susitna River

There is still snow everywhere you look, right down close to the road ...

Summit Lake

The largest mine in Alaska, Independence Mine, is being restored and is open to visitors ... It was really very interesting to walk around and learn what it was like for the miners and their families.

This mine was one of Alaska's top-producing mines before gold mining came to a halt during World War II.  After which, mining activity declined until the mine was officially closed in 1951.   The abandoned buildings and the surrounding 271 acres became Independence Mine State Historical Park in 1984. Thirteen structures built in the late 1930s and early 1940s remain standing.  

And on the way back to town ... 

 The log-cabin museum's most unusual exhibit is Togo, the famous sled dog that led his team across trackless Norton Sound to deliver serum to diphtheria-threatened Nome in 1925 – a journey that gave rise to today's Iditarod.  This is checkpoint 4 on the race route.

I have seen some very nice houses driving around the Palmer and Anchorage areas; much different that what I saw in Fairbanks.