Tripping

  

For the past few weeks my sister-in-law, Jill, has been visiting. She came for a visit once or twice when we lived in Hoonah, so it was nice for her to get to see something totally different this time around. This past Saturday, we drove to Hatcher Pass, about forty-five minutes away. The bottom three pictures are from there. The week before we took about a four hour trip, one way, to Denali National Park.  It was Labor Day weekend, and I was a little leery of all the traffic, but it wasn't too bad. Once inside the park, you can only drive about twenty miles to Savage River, and there really isn't all that much to see. There is an unpaved road beyond that but you have to take a tour bus or some such thing in order to run on that. I'm not sure how far it goes or if you ever get to see the mountain (Denali) once you get to the end. There were several spots along the way while we were still about a hundred miles away where we could pull off and stop, but of course we didn't do that, thinking we 'd see it up close and personal. WRONG! I actually enjoyed the scenery on the way up to the park more than I liked the park itself. Like all tourist destinations there were dozens of places that were trying to get you to part with your money. When we pulled in to Healy, before you take the highway to Savage River, there were at least twenty tour busses, plus places to rent bikes, and kayaks and God knows what all else. It really detracts from the experience. We managed to see one small moose once we got into the park. It was confused, probably by all the traffic, and couldn't make up it's mind whether or not to cross the road. It finally did, which I was eternally grateful for, since traffic was stopped because everyone wanted a picture I guess.

My oldest daughter, Jen, had come up to visit with her aunt, so she and two of her sisters and a niece all drove in Autumn's car together. We were supposed to leave at nine, which Jan and I and Jill did, but of course car two was delayed, as expected. There were even more delays once they got underway because of multiple potty breaks. Jen can't function without a gallon or more of coffee to start her day, and apparently Liz has developed a slow leak, so needless to say, the progress in car two was somewhat hampered. At one point, they called to say that they had passed us. I didn't see how that was possible, but for some unknown reason, I believed them. It wasn't until a later phone call that we determined that they were miles behind us, and we had to wait in Healy while they caught up. Typical of tourist places, everything is sky high, and the price of gas was no exception. If I recall correctly, gas was going for about $5.51 a gallon, which in California would seem like a bargain. Bidenomics is really working well, at least in Joe's world. Needless to say, we didn't buy any there.

Frankly, I had a better time the other day just driving less than an hour to Hatcher Pass. The view was breathtaking. We paid the $5.00 fee to go up and park near the Independence Mine. I knew that Jan and Jill wouldn't be up to walking there, and if I had walked up there, I'm not sure I could have walked back. It was worth the fee though. The view was spectacular, and we got to see inside some of the buildings. The girls stayed behind when I went on a half mile hike up the hill to a waterfall where the water was used to transport ore down the mountain. I saw some of the ore cars and a mucker that was used to haul them. If I recall correctly, three times a day the ore train hauled 50 tons of rock out of the mine to be processed. I can't recall how much gold they mined out of there, but it was enough to employ a pretty good crew. It's been shut down for years. I think during World War II the government determined that what they were doing wasn't necessary for the war effort, and it just shut down. Such a shame. It's become a tourist attraction but without all the usual shops, busses and overbearing hucksters that go with it, like so many places in Alaska.  I'm hoping it never resorts to that. For now it's just a great place to visit, maybe pan for a little gold in one of the streams and pick some blueberries, and of course, enjoy the view.