We left Barb & Steve’s mid afternoon Thursday and headed to a boondocking spot on the Knik River. They had warned us that it was a locals spot and may be noisy and not to leave our rig unattended. When we arrived, it wasn’t very busy and we were happy to find a nice spot on the edge of some trees. Walking around though, we realized it was very dirty with lots of trash everywhere. It made us really sad because the river and the mountains are so beautiful. I guess it happens everywhere.
Friday morning we woke up early and it was really foggy, but we could see that we were surrounded by a motor home and three other vehicles and a tent had set up right in front of us. Not what we really wanted so we packed up and headed up to Hatcher Pass. We found Fishhook parking lot which charged $5 for camping. It was a nice large parking lot with pit toilets and an awesome view. We grabbed the corner and stayed there for four days.
We drove up to Independence Mine. It was raining lightly but we still walked around the old mine and learned about how it was a booming little mine in its day. It’s tucked in the valley and the views are amazing. Barb & Steve had told us about a hike to Gold Cord Lake that started right by the mine. We made the hike up with Gus and enjoyed it so much. We continued to comment on the views and even though it was overcast, it was just amazing. We got to the top and Gold Cord Lake and it was gorgeous.
After we hiked back down, we drove up to the summit of Hatcher Pass and down the other side and decided to keep going. We ended up in Willow. The road followed the river and had a bunch of cool little places to pull off.
We got a hold of Jeff who had offered to take us rock climbing up on Hatcher Pass. Turns out he couldn’t find shoes for us to rent but he could make it work. We decided to pass since he was coming from a couple hours away and we didn’t have the right equipment. Someday we would like to learn, but we found so much to do up there already, we felt okay with not seizing this opportunity.
Saturday we drove back up to the summit ready to hike and it was packed! So many people were parked all on the side of the road and down the road, it was crazy. We think someone may have been getting married as we saw people in dress clothes. Good for them as it was a beautiful sunny day for it, bad for us because we couldn’t even find a place to park. We decided we didn’t want to deal with the crowds and drove into Palmer to check it out.
We went to Bleeding Heart Brewery which is a farm with a brewery run out of a barn. It was pretty interesting, the place and the beer. A bachelorette party was just getting assembled there so we hightailed it out of there. We went to Arkos Brewery next and unfortunately were not impressed. And the bachelorette party followed so we again left pretty quickly.
Our next stop was Matanuska Brewing. We were happy to see $4 pints and $7 growler fills! Finally beer that wasn’t going to break our budget. The bartender told us that people already pay enough at the stores, why should they have to pay more at the actual brewery. Smart people!
Sunday we were excited that Barb and Steve were able to drive up and take us on a hike. We hiked up to April bowl and it was awesome! They brought their dog, Farley, who clearly was meant to live in the mountains. He was bounding up and down the mountain side and when I thought he would tumble ass over apple cart he never did. Gus was content watching until we let him off leash and he bolted for an ice covered tarn, which is a small mountain lake. This sent me running after him in my hiking sandals into the cold snow. It’s a good thing he’s cute! We really enjoyed learning about the area. They pointed out more hikes we could do, where Denali would be if it wasn’t cloudy and other cool things they’ve done in the years they have lived here.
We parted ways with Barb & Steve and headed off to find a Jeep trail they mentioned and one that Craig had read about. It was called Craigie Creek Road and went up to Dog Sled Pass. We found it and started driving it not knowing how far we would be able to go. It was rocky and bumpy but nothing difficult at the beginning. It weaved us through a valley and past an old mine. The scenery was very pretty and we really enjoyed being out with no one else in sight.
We reached a section that looked a bit harder. There were bigger rocks and boulders and I was getting a little bit hesitant. Visions of my new-to-me Jeep getting scraped or busted up did not make me excited about going further. Of course, Craig was very encouraging and was able to spot me through it. We reached another difficult section where our first line wasn’t working out and we were loudly discussing our options. Me saying we were done, Craig stating it was fine. This is when we realized there was a truck behind us. A guy got out and walked toward us and I thought we were in trouble. Alaska doesn’t have many rules. If a road doesn’t have a sign, it’s fair game. But we still are a little hesitant and know they value their privacy. This is when we met John. He was just out trying to see how far he could go on the trail in his full size Dodge Power Wagon.
After some discussion, and a quick walk to check out what was ahead, we decided to go for it. We got through some pretty rocky stuff. We had to winch the Jeep over a rock, made it past an old miner’s cabin and went until the trail ended. John stated that there was supposed to be a “Jeep Rock” that everyone always posted pictures of, but he didn’t recognize anything where we were parked. There was a hiking trail that led up the mountain to the bowl so we went up there and enjoyed the magnificent views and got some great pictures.
We made our way back down to the vehicles and headed back. After driving down about a quarter mile-ish, John pulled into a turn off to a big rock and told us that he found “Jeep Rock”. We kind of chuckled as we had gone further than the rock but took pictures on it anyway. It was a really great day and I was happy to drive it even though I got stressed out at times. I’m still learning but think all the years of watching Craig four wheeling helped me a ton. He even said I did a good job and picked good lines most of the time.
We spent the rest of our time driving around the area. We went into Wasilla looking for power wash places and laundry. We had to have a day to catch up on stuff. We left Hatcher Pass on Tuesday and got all our errands done. Clothes were clean, propane filled, washed the Jeep, truck, camper, trailer and dog. All bright and shiny we headed toward Portage River Valley.
We drove the Seward Highway and again were just in awe of how beautiful the mountains and the water were. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were excited to be moving south. We headed toward Portage Valley and found another cool boondocking spot. We planned on going to Whittier in the morning.
In the morning, it was rainy and windy and cold. We were told not to go to Whittier when the weather was bad because it’s always “Shittier in Whittier”. Whittier is a historical area, established by the U.S Army during World War II. You can only get to Whittier by driving through the world’s longest highway tunnel. The 2.5 mile one-way tunnel must be shared by cars and trains traveling both directions. The unique design enables a single lane of traffic to travel directly over the railroad tracks.
Once in Whittier, we hiked up to Portage Pass. This hike was only a mile long one way, but had an elevation of 800 feet in that mile. Gus was pretty slow moving up it, but once up top it was cool to see Portage glacier. Right after we got up there, the fog moved in and you couldn’t see the glacier at all. We hiked it back down to the Jeep and got under cover just as it started to rain.
We drove around the unique little down. Most everyone lives in one building in town. We grabbed a quick halibut lunch and headed back to our campsite. It continued to rain all night and into the next day. We decided we didn’t want to sit around so we packed up and drove south to Seward hoping the weather would clear.
We found ourselves a campsite just north of Seward. We had checked out the campsites that were right on the water and they just looked cold and people-ly. It was a cold night and we hunkered down in the trailer with the heater on reading.
Friday we planned on hiking to Exit Glacier but got a little bit of a late start. The weather had cleared and although not sunny, we could see the mountains all around us much better. We drove to the parking lot and it was packed. Again cars were lined up and down the road. We had no desire to shuffle up the trail with a bunch of other people. We went into town, went to some shops, and then drove to Lowell Point which is south of Seward. We meandered on different roads, seeing how people live. We went back into town and across the bay to the other side and did the same thing. It was a fun day just touring around, seeing Seward in a non-touristy inexpensive way.
We planned on getting up early Saturday morning and the neighbors car alarm going off three times at 6:30 a.m. ensured that we did. We went to Exit Glacier and avoided the rush. It was pretty amazing to see up close although I forgot the camera and we both forgot our phones. I guess we aren’t used to functioning early in the morning anymore. In any case, it was beautiful and interesting to see this living glacier and see how much it has melted over the years. Strange to think it won’t be there someday.
We headed out of Seward by noon. It was a great little town and we know we didn’t utilize all the things you can do there but we enjoyed it just the same.
Off to Homer…