Alaska - Day 6

Our last moments in Denali. In spite of our cheery faces, we were sad to be leaving.

Day 6 was supposed to have perfectly clear blue skies so that we could enjoy a flightseeing tour of Denali and the Alaska Range and land in the Sheldon Amphitheater.  It would have been incredible but it was not to be.  The day started out looking not too bad, but not too far out of the park and on our way to Talkeetna it just got really cloudy and rainy. So rather than a flightseeing trip we just spent a few hours in Talkeetna.  It is a great little town and is famous because it is where all the climbers fly out from to base camp that are hiking Denali.  We ate at a little pub that had lots of climbing memorabilia and articles and pictures.  The rest of the time we spent exploring the little shops, walking along the river and discussing where would would go next. The date was July 15th and we had nowhere to be until the morning of July 19th.  We did have some ideas for options on these extra days and I don't think they could've played out more perfectly.  I've decided every trip we do in the future should have some extra unplanned days so that we can fill them with whatever we might find later on in the planning stages or is suggested to us by other tourist or the locals.
We set off for Hatcher Pass. Probably the best pass in the world.  And I say that even as the pass was all cloudy and we couldn't really see it in all its glory.  So green.

We knew there was a hiking trail we wanted to do the next day. The trail head was 11 miles from the end of the pass so we were going to camp somewhere around there.  Then we came upon one of the greatest surprises of our trip.  Independence Mine.  I think that if I ever had to be a miner, this is where I would want to work (that or Kennecott, but I'll get to that later).  As we were descending the pass we came to a T in the road.  To the right was down the pass to a town called Palmer and the trail head we were looking for. To the left was an incredibly green and sharp peaked basin dotted with a lodge and little cabins and Independence Mine.  So we checked it out and didn't regret it.  

We spent a lot of time reading the interpretive signs and learning about the mine and surrounding area.  The mine operated until the 1950s.  Skiing is and has been a popular activity in the area as well.  It is crazy to think that this mine and it's little town supported about 300 people not that long ago.  It is also crazy to think how people discover these mineral deposits and how they are able to get them out of the mountains through a network of rails, water, and human labor.

After our mining exploration we hiked up to a Gold Cord Lake. We saw more old cabins along the way.  It was cool to see how they used the earth for insulation and how little space they could live in.  We also saw lots of marmots and baby ones too.  The lake was incredibly clear and had an awesome waterfall going into it.  The peaks had a lot of snow too as Alaska had one of their snowiest years on record.  As a side note, Anchorage still had huge piles of snow that hadn't melted and that is after they had airlifted out a lot of their snow buildup.  

                                 

As the day winded down we realized that we couldn't pass up a stay at the Hatcher Pass Lodge.  It is a small lodge with 7 or 8 little rustic cabins.  You can barely see it in the picture below just to the left of the road.  What a setting.  It wasn't fancy. The shower was in the lodge, it had a portable toilet in the cabin because there was no running water, and it was small but it was perfect.  Way better than some run of the mill hotel.  That shower and that bed felt so good.  Take a look at this little slice of heaven.  We were so glad we came upon such a gem of a day at the mine and the lodge.