Today's plan was to hike up to Summit Lake at Hatcher's Pass. Nina hadn't been there yet and of course I'm new to it all. Any hike in the area would do as all the trails here provide for either a view, a lake, or high meadow. After a quick breakfast at home we drove off in Nina's GMC truck, with the dogs in the back bed on their familiar dog bed. Both dogs kept their eyes on me in the front cab as we drove 23 miles to Hatcher's Pass, site of the now historic Independence mine (elevation 3500'). The hillsides were still saturated with snow melt but the grass was a lush green. The parking lot was quite full when we arrived. I bought a park pass, we parked, and walked the mile uphill to the historic site. Most of the buildings have been restored to their original design. Gold was mined here until 1951. At one point this place housed both single men and families with children.
http://dnr.alaska.gov/parks/units/indmine.htm
We had good weather for the morning. We arrived to a full parking lot and hiked the one-mile trail uphill to the actual mine location. The dogs were offleash (state parks only require dogs on leash in parking lots, trailheads and buildings.) Neither dog ventured far. The valley was opening up to our southeast as we neared the mine site. Back onleash, both dogs were well behaved. I tied them up only twice, while viewing displays inside several buildings.
Independence mine is now a popular place for recreation, from skiing in the winter to hiking in the summer. We could see groups hiking high to Gold Cord Lake (a hike for another day). We stayed on the trail around the old buildings, a three-mile path that was paved only at the mine site. Nina wanted to save her energy for Summit Lake, the hike that was originally planned for today. I wanted to go higher up the hillside, but the state park borders private property. Rain clouds were moving in as well, making us want to descend sooner rather than later. We hiked back the way we came.
My phone has been acting up when using the hiking app. It was constantly turning off the GPS. I didn't get an accurate reading of the distance covered. My app read 2.8 miles while Nina, who uses the same app, got 3.4 miles. My phone app has been short-changing me since I paid premium price for this app!
The road up to Summit Lake, which is just below the mine entrance, was still closed as we drove by. Clouds continued to move in but we didn't let that stop up. We stopped again at the Fishhook trail head, just below the Summit Lake turn off, to try for another hike. This is a popular berry-picking area but the berries haven't even started growing yet. August here is picking season. I let the dogs rest in the back of the van as we started out, but not even a mile uphill along the rim and we got blasted with a hail storm. At first the hail was the size of peas, but the hail grew in both size and intensity. I mentioned the hail was the size of garbanzo beans but Nina said they were looking like marbles. The hail hit my ears and that hurt. I'm so glad the dogs weren't traumatized by hail pounding, but I'm sure they were wondering what was going on with the pounding on the back of the truck. The parking lot was covered in hail as we got back. Four runners were seeking shelter by the pay station. So much for another hike to round out our daily average.
The sky cleared up as we approached Palmer. We stopped there for lunch at Vagabond Blues, a sandwich-coffee shop with bold coffee but overpriced food. My chicken wrap was $12 and contained more apples and nuts than chicken. We stayed here for a while working on the wifi as the dogs rested in the truck bed across the street.
Nina was now worried about getting back home to let her dog Tofte out. The dog stays in the camper while she is away and we had been away for over eight hours. A quick stop at the Wasilla Walmart, however, turned into a 45-minute stop as I ended up getting a new smartphone, an LGL63 phone (only because it was the cheapest phone with the best camera). The store clerk volunteered to initiate the setup for this phone and I walked away with a phone that no longer stopped while using the GPS, allowed for quick access to the internet and came with several worthy news apps. I spent the last hours awake determined to upload all the apps I use before going to bed.
It was now approaching 8pm as we returned to Nina's home. She got Tofte ready for the night and I fiddled around with the van. I started cleaning out the trash and tidying out the shifted items. I had been working on it for a steady pace when Nina came by and asked me if I wanted to join her with an evening with the neighbors next door. At first I wasn't interested, only because I really wanted to clean out the van, but I could tell she really wanted me to join her. I ended up enjoying meeting these people, older people from Corvallis, OR up for the summer and staying at their son's water-view house. The son was up working the Slope in Prudhoe Bay (two weeks on, two weeks off). He's an avid big game/big predator hunter and has pelts from four grizzlies, one black bear cub, a Northern wolf and several moose racks across the living room. The best part of the view, however, was watching the tide roll in and cover the mud flats in the three hours we were there. We left just before midnight and the tide was still rolling in.
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