Day 58, Soldotna, Alaska

After four days without internet and a day in transit to Soldotna, we have limited internet so will not be able to include pictures.

We left Talkeetna a week ago and stopped first in Wasilla.  The campground there left much to be desired.  Since it was only about 50 miles, we were able to go visit the Independence Mine in the mountains east of Willow.  It was 30 miles back in the mountains and over Hatcher Pass, 3850 ft elevation.  The first 16 miles were paved, then mostly maintained gravel the rest of the way.  As we approached the pass, the road was just wide enough for vehicles to pass, and then with caution as one side was looking down into the valley.  No guard rails.  The views were terrific but as the driver, my concentration was not on the scenery.  We were surprised to find dozens of vehicles parked at the pass and people hiking the trails or picking blueberries.  The berries were about half the size of peas.  Because of the attraction of a beautiful day and summer coming to an end, it meant that there was a fair amount of traffic to contend with on a less than ideal road. 

The mine complex was pretty amazing and, as the state owns the property now, it is slowly being restored to nearly original condition for several of the buildings.  Just prior to WWII, there were about 400 people working there and several had families with them so it was a small town, in effect.  It was almost completely cut off from the outside for 6-7 months of bitter winter.  Independence Mine had over 10 miles of underground tunnels by the time it closed in the 50’s.  Temperature inside the mountain was 38 degrees year around.

From Wasilla, we moved down toward Anchorage and stayed at Eagle River Campground in the Chugach State Park.  We had a nice secluded site in a busy campground.  We were able to get our laundry done and refill some prescriptions in the town of Eagle River.  There were also several short trails and within about 10 miles some lakes to explore.  As we were only 12 miles from Anchorage, we went into town two days to see some of the historic and public sites.  We took a trolley ride around town with a young driver that kept up a commentary about different areas that made it quite interesting.  One area that did amaze us was the small plane airport.  At that airport, 25% of all the small planes in North America call it home, over 10% of all the world’s small planes.  Another topic was the earthquake that occurred on Good Friday, 1964.  With a magnitude 9.2 quake that lasted 4 ½ minutes, only 9 people died.  We saw areas that the ground dropped from 10 to 30 feet.  For some reason, they have rebuilt most of the area, right on top of the fault line. 

On Friday, Aug. 11, we came down to the Kenai Peninsula.  The road from Anchorage to Portage follows the coastline of the Turnagain Arm, off the Cook Inlet.  We did stop at Girdwood and had a giant slice of excellent pizza apiece.  Even though it rained most of the way, it was a beautiful drive. 

I have been spending some quiet time wetting a line in some of the lakes and streams.  So far, I have had only a couple of small Rainbow Trout to take off the hook, so we have not been burdened with having to clean fish for dinner. L

While here in Soldotna, we will drive down to Homer for a day and maybe take a ferry to Seldova to explore that small town.  Weather is a bit iffy this week, so will have to be ready to go when it looks best.