9/20/08: Archangel Mine, Hatcher pass.


My goal for this Saturday are the Arch Angel and Independence Mines. This shot is just outside of Anchorage along the old Glenn Highway headed to Palmer. This marsh is good habitat for moose, or so claim the locals. I still haven't seen a single one. There is however a sign along side of the road which says that 48 moose have been killed by vehicles, since JUNE!! Hunting season started this weekend so that might explain where they are.....










Straying off the beaten path as often as possible leads to some interesting sights, such as this "wild game" farm.



Caribou are smaller than I expected. Haven't seen these in the wild yet either.

These are what Alaskans call "foothills". Of course Denali park, which is North of here, is home to the tallest mountain on this continent.

If the weather holds I may just head up there to see for myself.

Fall is a nice time of year here, lots of color, not too cold yet, the air is clean and thankfully nearly all the tourists have run South for the winter. Traffic is light and there are very few people around to crowd the experience.




It's difficult to put into words just how utterly beautiful it is. Pictures don't begin to do justice to the rich and limitless scope of Alaska's nature.


Streams, rivers, waterfalls, lakes, ponds and fjords are everywhere. It's really amazing. I struggled to get my mind around just how gorgeous it is.


Every fall color you've ever or never seen, simply all the best. Everything from rich buttery yellows to gold, tan and brown.






Although they're a little on the rare side the reds are my favorite.




Salmon Berry bush. I wonder if it would grow at home in Palo Cedro?

OK, last stream picture... I promise.

Actually, I took this thinking it would be a nice water feature to copy in our new front yard.

Mountains are everywhere around here. The fresh white powdery stuff is called "Termination Dust" by the locals.



Meaning that which comes and terminates summer.






Travel through the Southern end of this valley brings you close to the Arch Angel Mine. Independence Mine is actually one valley West.





This crystal clear stream, which has it's own special inhabitants, runs through the middle of it all.



Isn't that a book..?









The Arch Angel Mine is actually a little further up the valley to the North. I hiked across this valley, over and around enormous piles of scree to get to a pair of abandoned mines. There are literally thousands of them in these mountains. You can see the tailing's from one in the very center.





There were at least Three or Four more of these within a few hundred yards of here.

There are several active mines on the other side of the ridge to the West.

This would be a cozy place for a bear to sleep...

No telling how deep they go.

There's a lot more of Alaska that I'd like to see,


so I stayed out of trouble.....


This is whats left of the foundation and walls of what I presume was the miners little cabin / hut. It's built into the side of the mountain below some large piles of rock.

It's about 10 feet square.
Imagine living in that.

With your pardner!
All winter??? (No way)


Really nice view though.






Well, that was the first half of my day. There are another 15 or 16 pictures to load. I'll do those soon. Then you'll see who lives in the little stream, we'll taste "bear snacks", look at a couple of nice homes for sale, one needs a little work. (yeps, right in the middle of all this somebody built houses) and then we'll play "where's Waldo."



OK, so here's the second half of the day.

Several interesting things here. There are dozens of little ponds all along the stream that runs up this valley. (more on those...) Walking on the vegetation is like walking on a giant sponge. Really strange, you sink 4-5 inches. I was concerned about damage to the plants, but when I looked back where I had walked it was like I was never there. Weird. Notice the purple, gold and yellow plants that cover the valley. (More on those too).

The ponds are created by beaver dams. These appear to be maintained although I never saw an inhabitant. There are about a dozen ponds along the 1/4 mile section that I hiked. The big bump is the beaver house.

The sound of water is everywhere. It disappears under the rocks and green spongy earth and then just appears again.

You have to be careful where you walk or your feet can get wet in an instant.

Clever beavers. These Dams are STOUT! 2-3 feet thick at the bottom, many of them 3-4 feet deep. Although I wouldn't dream of trying it, you could easily walk across them. The only thing missing was a pond full of trout. I suppose it gets too cold in the winter for trout, no food.

Don't forget about those purple, gold & yellow bushes....

The valley is carpeted in this stuff! Ferns, Soap Berries, Moss, Grass all sorts of lush plants.

There are granite outcroppings all over the place half covered in this pink flowering shrub. It's really just too beautiful to convey in words. But it's not just the visuals. The air has this strange clean / lush "taste". It is so quiet out here that you can literally hear your heart beat (especially when it hits 145 bpm after you climb to the mines...) If all I had seen this day was this little valley it would have been enough. But there's more. Next we have Bear snacks....

Actually the purple, gold & yellow bushes are in fact wild Blue Berries. The alpine valleys up here are literally covered in them. I mean literally covered.

As I drove up the dirt road through the valley I saw 8 or 9 parked vehicles but no people. When I hiked across the valley I finally ran across a couple picking berries. The plants like to grow down in the "hollows" so people just disappear when they kneel down to pick the fruit.

Yes, they taste as good as they look. Although they're plump and juicy these wild berries have more/finer seeds than what we buy in the store. My timing was perfect today, I ate wild Blue Berries all the way up and across the valley. You could pick berries in one area for an hour and never tell that you had been there.
The one rule I broke this day was hiking alone without a gun, a whistle or pepper spray. Although I saw no signs of bears, I made plenty of noise to let them know I was around.

FOR SALE!!

Snow Bird Special /Fixer-Upper.

Great location, superb views.

These little shacks dot the landscape here and there. Miners shacks? Hunters shelters? Old homesteads?Who knows. For the most part they just add interest to the country side.

There are about half a dozen or more of these just there where I stopped to hike across the valley. None appeared to be in use, I suppose you could duck in here in an emergency.

My goal for today: The North end of Archangel rd. This view is actually being enjoyed from just outside the mines I hiked to, the same ones in the previous pictures. I drove to the very end of this road of course.

Ok kids, where's Waldo? There are Two people in this picture. Good luck finding them. I could hear them and after looking for about 1/2 an hour I finally spotted them through the telephoto on my camera.

This nut is at the very top of the previous picture. His or her buddy,

...is in the middle of that same picture.

I watched these two for a good hour.

For a moment or two I actually had myself convinced that this might be a fun experience to add to my personal list of adventures.

And then I came to my senses....

It was getting on in the day and there was still a long way to go and alot more to see. I drove Hatcher Pass Rd. over/up to Summit Lake and continued on the Willow / Fishhook Rd. to the town of Willow, (saw about a million hunters along the way....) then down through Nancy, Houston, Pittman and on to Wasilla. No, Sarah wasn't home and no, you actually can't buy a Moose burger, ANYWHERE in Alaska, no matter how hard your wife searches the internet for a restaurant that serves them...

This little guy was just sitting on a boulder watching the road go by.

I had stopped the truck to check him out, and figured he'd scamper off if I got out. No way. This was his front yard and he wasn't going to budge. So I took this shot and left him in piece.

I asked a passerby. It's a marmot. (Cousin to a prairie dog by the look of em.)

He was about Two feet long, maybe 7 or 8 pounds.

So thats it for my first Saturday in Alaska. Actually that was just "some" of it but I had to choose between posting all night or getting some sleep. Next Saturday I head for Seward (but never make it). I end up on a secret WWII military base, meet a Mormon, drive through an active TRAIN tunnel, see a little cruise ship and of course drink ice melt from a glacier. Oh, and did I mention the Beluga whale?