The Mat-Su Valley, Alaska

Views as we left Denali and headed towards Palmer, Alaska, which is about 45 minutes from Anchorage.

Igloo City was first scheduled to open in 1973 promising a hotel, restaurant, gift shop, and fuel stop. The structure opened and closed over the years under new managements and finally shut down in 2005.  

Eroded bluffs along the highway.

We couldn't see completely what this chopper was doing but something was being moved.

The mountains just continue to awe us.

The Hurricane Gulch Bridge is 260 feet above Hurricane Creek.

We stopped at Denali Viewpoint South which is park of Denali State Park.  Took a hike up a trail and saw some beautiful mountains but Denali still was not showing.  Notice the trees growing on top of the information kiosk.

We have no idea what this was......a bus....an RV.......

After a five hour drive we made it to Mat-Su Valley.  It includes the valleys of the Matanuska, Knik, and Susitna Rivers.  The valleys are shaped by three mountain ranges: the Alaska Range, the Talkeetna Mountains, and the Chugach Mountains.  The Matanuska-Sustina Valley (Mat-Su) was carved by glaciers leaving thousands of lakes.  The rivers and lakes are home to the spawning grounds of chinook, coho, sockeye, pink and chum salmon.   

It is the fastest growing region in Alaska and includes the towns of Palmer, Wasilla, Big Lake, Houston, Willow and Talkeetna. Thousands of residents commute to Anchorage each week for work. 

Wherever you look or whichever way you drive you see the mountains.

Although our RV park had a Palmer address we were actually closer to Wasilla which was the larger of the two towns.

We drove into Palmer on Saturday and they were having an arts festival.  We took our pups with us and walked around to see all the different venues.  What surprised us the most was how many people came up to us and asked to pet our dogs.  There were other dogs there, too, and everyone stopped to enjoy the pets.  It was a beautiful, sunny day in the upper 60's and perfect for a festival.

The next day we drove up in the mountains to see the Independence Mines.   It is the site of a former gold mining operation in the Talkeetna Mountains across from Hatcher Pass.  The mining history dates to 1897 when claims were reported in the area until  mining efforts finally became hard-rock gold mining with Independence Mines.

It was a substantial mining camp with as many as sixteen wood frame buildings which were connected to each other by sheltered wooden tunnels.  The mine was operated year round and at its peak 204 men worked there. Over 150,000 ounces of gold was recovered from the mine from 1936-1943 when the federal government shut down all businesses that were considered non-essential because of World War II.  The operation started up again in 1948-1950 but the price of gold being set at $35 an ounce was not enough for the operation to stay sustainable.

This is a B&B we passed down the road from the Independence Mines.  I think it looks like a quaint Swiss village.

As we drove further up the mountain the gold mine came into view.

Another view of the B&B from the parking lot of the gold mine.  Notice how clear it is.

The superintendent's house was very nice with indoor plumbing and hot water.  He lived here with his family.

This player piano was built in 1908.

Hard rock or lode gold is found in veins in bedrock and must be blasted loose and milled to separate it from waste rock.  The large buildings in front were for the unmarried workers.

Muckers spent most of their shift shoveling rock blasted at the end of the previous shift.  A mucker sometimes shoveled 20-25 tons of rock into ore cars during his shift.  The men who drilled and blasted were called miners.  Using pneumatic drills, it took an entire shift to bore a series of holes, pack them with powder and prepare for blasting.  There were as many as 40 different working faces being developed at one time, each advancing only a few feet a day.

Water from rain and snow melt percolated down through the mountain following cracks in the granite rock. The result was a continuous flow of water dripping into the mine with a underground temperature of about 38 degrees.

Notice the birds sitting on the upper part of the old structure.

They are called Black-Billed Magpie and are aggressive and sassy.  They did not like the tourists that were around.

And then all of a sudden the clouds drifted in and visibility disappeared.

You could barely see in front of yourself and the view of the B&B in the valley was completely gone.  It was amazing how quickly the fog drifted in.

We drove down from the gold mine to where the B&B was and took another road, this one gravel, up to Hatcher Pass which is 3,886 feet above sea level.  It was 44 degrees up here so we were bundled up.

Summit Lake was up near the top of the pass.

Additional hiking trails snaked up the mountain and many people with kids and dogs were on them.

It was amazing to see it rainy and cloudy on one section of the mountain and sunny and nice on another. 

When we returned down into the Mat-Su Valley it was sunny and warm again.

The next day we took the pups on a hike to the Bodenburg Butte.  It's a three mile hike up a 743 foot incline that includes 505 steps along the way.  The Bodenburg Butte is a rock formation created by a passing glacier.  During the Ice Age, the Knik Glacier moved through the valley shaping the landscape.  As the ice pushed  through it carried away tons of softer rock carving out the valley.  The knob of much harder bedrock that was unmoved by the glacier is what is called a butte.

The first part of the hike was not bad and we took this picture along the way from the butte.

Then it got harder as the steps got more narrow and steeper.  Several times I had to stop and catch my breath but we journeyed on to reach the top.

The Knik Glacier in the distance and the valley below.

The body of water in the far background is Cook's Inlet. It stretches 180 miles from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage.  It receives water from the Knik River, the Little Susitna River and the Susitna and Matanuska Rivers.  It also includes the drainage areas from Denali.  Cook Inlet provides navigable access to the Port of Anchorage and the Homer Port further south. 

Odd colorations on the rocks at the top of Bodenburg Butte.

During the Great Depression the Federal Government instituted a program to relocate destitute Midwest farm families to Alaska's Matanuska Valley.  Some 203 young families from Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota were selected to participate in a controlled experiment to establish an agricultural-based community.  

The new "colonists" arrived by train in May, 1935. Despite many problems caused by bureaucratic oversight, weather, and the short summer, all families were able to move from tents into new houses by Thanksgiving.  Most land was forested and had to be cleared before farming could begin.  Unlimited credit was available to them at the community store but debt accumulated until income could be produced from the farm.  The government tried to control the farmers by discouraging them from patronizing private businesses in the area rather than the colony.  Control was attempted by issuing the monthly family allowance in unique coinage called "Bingles".

Over half of the original colonists withdrew from the colony project causing the government to recruit replacement families. By 1940 the government gave up oversight management of most of the functions.  The farmers created a member-owned cooperative that made the rules and provided marketing functions for the farmers.

Today many of the descendants still live in the valley.  The crops they grow are root crops and leafy crops.  Because of the extended sunlight, mild temperatures and young soil, many of the vegetables grown have broken records.  A 138 lb cabbage, 20.2 lb cucumber, and 71.75 lb carrot are just a few.    

We noticed that even the wild plants grow large up in Alaska.  The leaves are huge.

And the flower top is also quite large. This is a Boreal Yarrow.

We limped back down the Bodenburg Butte exhilarated but also tired.  Poor Desi was exhausted.  Trying to go up and down stairs and climbing over rocks was a real challenge for him now that his eyesight has gotten so bad.  But he stuck with us because he is still a trooper.  

The mountains fascinate me because they are always changing and dominate every view. 

Since we were here for a week we decided to take a horseback ride.  Not having been on horses for more years than we would like to admit, we knew it would be an experience.

The closest horse was named Colonel and I got to ride him.  Brett was on Dolly, the big black one, and our guide was on the other one.  We were the only ones booked to go out on this ride.

It was a typical cowboy morning as we moseyed out on the trail.

Our guide was originally from Alaska but now lives in Charleston, SC, where he went to art school and now owns an ornamental iron work business there. He comes up to Alaska in the summer to work on this horse ranch.

The Colonel and I bonded on the ride.  Part of the trip took us through wooded areas and the Colonel liked to stop and grab a bunch of weeds to eat along the way.  Since he was bigger than me, and much stronger,  I went along with his request.  But then he would fall behind the other horses and have to break into a trot to catch up.   

We rode along the Knik River and got to see the Knik Glacier in the background.  It was a beautiful day!

The first two hours went well but then the trotting from the Colonel became excessive for this old gal so I was glad to get back to the ranch.  The Captain felt it too but  think he did better than I did.  

Since we were too tired to do anything else we decided to check out another brewery on our way home.

We stopped at the Ale House Brewery to have some local beer.  Mine was called, "Grounds For Divorce Porter".  It was quite good.  The tap beer was presented on a long pipe with all the beer connections built into it.

Our last day here we took the pups on a hike by the Matanuska River.  The water was flowing fast so we had to be careful with the pups.  Trees on the bank were being eroded by the water current.

Alaska in bloom.

Our last stop was at the Bleeding Heart Brewery.  This local brewery is already known for their craft beers but it has only been in business for a few years.  It is on an active dairy farm that was started 80 years ago by one of the families that came from the Midwest during the Depression.  You can sit outside the brewery and chickens will be running around looking for handouts.  We would have loved to bring back some of their beer but they don't bottle it yet so you can only purchase by the glass or a growler.   

The Mat-Su Valley was great.  We enjoyed a week here and never did get into Anchorage.  And now it is time to move on to Seward.  Since it is near the coast the weather prediction is not as good but we have been lucky so far and are hoping for the best.  Peace!