Snowy Trails

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It was a very soggy Anchorage that we left behind. Luckily once we had put a few miles behind us, the rain eased off and the skies began to clear. Our plan was to drive up to Glennallen, taking in a few sites of interest on the way. A drive of just under 180 miles, we hoped that we would find enough to do, but it turned out there was too much to do!

The guidebooks had warned us that driving north from Anchorage (our planned route) was nothing like as spectacular as the drive south. Perhaps the drive is different in the summer, but the mountains and the Fall colours were absolutely beautiful.

We started out on the Glenn Highway, but were soon tempted to take a detour onto the Eagle River loop road which took us into the Chugach Mountain range. Like actually into the middle of it. We were forced to pull over just to be able to take a proper look at everything. We made many such detours along the way, including stops at Reflection Lake and Thunder Birds Falls (hehe). The native Athabascan Alaskan village at Etlukna was a strange place. Tourists are encouraged to visit, but only to see the Russian Orthadox church and the native graveyard, with its painted spirit houses over the graves. The paved road disappears before you reach the village itself, and what we could see was rather tired. A happy accident of navigation took us on to Etukna Lake, where you can hire kayaks in the summer. Of course, we were out of season, but Laura bravely tested the lake temperature and decided that we wouldn't want to go out onto the water anyway.

We stopped at Palmer for a swift Taco Bell before taking the Hatcher Pass road towards the Independence Gold Mine. The drive was breathtakingly beautiful. At one point we pulled over to admire the sweeping view of the valley below and the mountains beyond, only to realise that there were mountains surrounding us completely. The mountains had snowy peaks, and as the car climbed higher, we joked about finding snow ourselves. On reaching the Independence Mine, we realised that it was no joke. The mine sits up at the top of Hatcher Pass and is above the snowline. The main road in was closed to traffic, so we walked the mile uphill to reach the site. The road had been mostly plowed, but the mine itself was under snow. Undaunted, we carried on, and soon we were the only people exploring the abandoned ghost town in the mountains. As there is no photos on here yet, Daisy posted a few on Facebook to check out. The mine was awesome and it was actually fun to be walking in 3 inches of snow in trainers, we weren't going to let our soaking wet feet stop us! However, when Daisy decided throwing snowballs was a fun plan, I thought maybe we had better move on...

Once back on the main road, we realised that we had spent far more time than expected in exploring and needed to press on if we were to reach our accomodation before it got too late. As such, we didn't make any further stops, although the drive was stunning. Everytime you think you have seen just how beautiful Alaska can be, you turn a corner and a whole new vista opens up. The road twists and turns as it follows and crosses the river and weaves between the moutains. At roughly mile 100, the Matanuska Glacier becomes visible from the road - this huge body of ice and snow stretching down from the mountain.

It was dark by the time we reached Glennallen, but luckily my phone was within range and we found our B&B with ease. The owners have decorated the trees outside with fairylights, making it easy to spot in the dark. Christie, our host, is from Texas and clearly big on hospitality. Once again it was a calm, quiet night in, but I think we're both enjoying not having to really worry about a thing.

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