Our Alaska travels are going to shift gears with multiple long-term stays. Our first stay is in the city of Wasilla, a suburb of Anchorage about an hour to the north. It is the fourth largest city in Alaska with a population about 9000. Wasilla’s claim to fame is that it is the home of Sarah Palin who served as the Mayor of Wasilla before becoming the Governor of Alaska and then chosen by John McCain as his running mate in the 2008 US Presidential election.
This map shows at a high level the areas that we will cover in this post.
Day 1: Transition to Wasilla (day 82 of the overall trip)
Waterfalls and Failed Railroads
We head north out of Valdez along the Richardson Highway with better weather on the way out than we had coming in. We stop for few minutes to take a few photos of the waterfalls and to see the “railroad tunnel” some of the locals had told us about. When the Kennicott mine was being built, the towns of Valdez and Cordova went into fierce competition for the railroad to be built to their towns. Valdez went so far to as to start construction of a railroad tunnel in hopes of swaying the decision. This all ended as a result of a gunfight that stopped construction in its tracks and Cordova was chosen as the end site for the railroad..
Thompson Pass
We are delighted that we have much clearer skies as we cross Thompson Pass. The elevation is 2600 feet but with an average of just over 500″ of snow each year, Thompson Pass is considered the snowiest place in Alaska. The record in the winter of 1952-1053 was 974.1 inches of snow making it the most snow ever recorded in one season at one location anywhere in the United States. The pass also holds the record for the most snow in a single day with 62″ falling on December 29, 1955. Automobiles first drove the trail over this pass in 1913!
The gold seekers of 1898 crawled over the Valdez Glacier and then up through Thompson pass on their way to the gold fields. There is a marker for the trail and we walk down this for a short distance. You can still see the road and wheel tracks from this era.
Worthington Glacier
Worthington Glacier is down the road from Thompson Pass and we stop of to take a look only to find that the trail up to the glacier is closed becuase of instability issues. We turn around and continue onwards towards Wasilla.
Scenic Driving the Richardson & Glenn Highways
We continue up the Richardson Highway and it is filled with mountainous beauty on this clear weather day. We pull over for a few minutes as we pass the Wrangle Mountains and snap a few pictures of the clearly visable mountain range.
In Glennallen we turn east onto the Glenn Highway National Scenic Byway, also known as AK-1. The Glenn Highway was originally called the Palmer Road and is THE only road access to Anchorage from this part of the state.
Lake Louise
Since it is time for lunch, we take a 19-mile scenic detour to Lake Louise where we stop at the Lake Louise Lodge for lunch. This lake had been on our radar as a place to stay on our journey and once there, it really would have been a great stop. The drive takes us past mountain views and the Tazlina Glacier. The clear waters of Lake Louse and adjoining Susitna Lake encompass 37 square miles and represent Alaska’s largest lake system with road access. There are a few lodges in the Lake Louise area – the one we chose offers 7 rooms and 6 cabins. People are checking in for the weekend and we also have a chance to chat with someone who comes here quite regularly. The food was great and we make note to consider this as a stop the next time we come to Alaska.
Going Price for an Outhouse
On the way out of the lodge, we spot a bulletin board with ads on it. The $2,400 outhouse catches our eye.
Scenic Driving the Glenn Highway
We continue our drive to Wasilla, but the weather is going downhill as we get closer to Wasilla. We pass Matanuska Glacier and agree we’ll come back here later this week when the weather is better. The road starts to wind and narrow as we get closer to Wasilla and the mountain views are just stunning.
Our VRBO rental
We have rented a house which will serve as our home and base camp for the next 8 days. It’s a pretty nice VRBO in a complex of 8 individual houses about 3 miles outside of the main section of town. We’re really looking forward to a home for 8 days after all those 2-night stays at remote lodges with just a typical hotel configuration.
Day 2: Exploring Palmer (day 83 of the overall trip)
Exploring Wasilla
The weather is still not cooperating, but it is time to explore Wasilla and Palmer. We drive all around the Wasilla area looking at potential restaurants as well as what else the city has to offer. Although the mountains are mostly obscured by clouds, we can tell that the scenery on a clear day here must be great.
Exploring Palmer
We move on to Palmer, the 9th largest city in Alaska and another Anchorage suburb about 40 miles out. Its population is just under 6000 and is the host to the annual Alaska State Fair. After passing the Alaska State Fairgrounds, we turnoff, find the historic downtown and get out to stretch our legs, hoping to find a quaint little place to grab lunch. We stick our heads into a few places and decide we can do better elsewhere.
The University of Alaska has a pretty nice set of flower and vegetable gardens at the visitor center which we walk through. There are a number of plants we are familiar with. At the entrance there is a little placard dedicated to the super-size vegetables that are grown in this area due to near 24-hour sun in the summer and the rich soil. We are looking forward to seeing this at the fair in a few weeks when we return.
Dinner out
We hop back in the truck and head back to Wasilla where we settle on a known chain restaurant – Red Robin Gourmet Burgers and Fries. It is rare for us to eat a chain restaurant when so many regional ones are available, but we’re lazy today and just take the easy way. Our food is great and we get a chance to chat with the bartenders who give us insight into other restaurants in town as well as some key drives we’ve heard about.
Day 3: Independence Mine & Hatcher Pass (day 84 of the overall trip)
Independence Mine
We are definitely in a cloudy/drizzly weather pattern, but adventure awaits. Today we head to the independence Mine State Historical Park. Yet another gold mine in Alaska, this community was home to over 200 workers and 16 families who lived above the tree line. There are 22 building along 1.5 miles of paved walkways with numerous placards that provide insight into life when the mine was in operation. The mine closed in the wake of World War II when gold mining was deemed non-essential to the war effort.
Hatcher Pass
Not far from the mine is the spectacular 49-mile rugged unpaved road named Hatcher Pass Road. It is named after the man that found the gold that led to the opening of the mine. As we turn on the road, we notice a line of about a dozen cars coming from the other direction also turning onto this road. It is unusual for us to see this many cars all turning on a rugged unpaved road, but it is a Sunday. We drive about 2 miles to Hatcher Pass at elevation 3886′. Parking is a challenge but as we glance up the hill, we see not just one wedding about to happen, but two! Well, that explains the traffic. Sure enough, just after we climb up to the viewpoint, we see bridesmaids walking up to the viewpoint and one bride being walked up the hill by her father. The other wedding is about to take place on a different viewpoint. There’s a small “lake” at the bottom as well as snow piles.
We get back in our truck and finish the remaining 47 miles on this very beautiful drive and then head home to make dinner.
Day 4: Devil’s Canyon Adventure in Talkeetna (day 85 of the overall trip)
Devil’s Canyon Adventure
It is going to be a rainy day, so why not spend the day on a jet boat on the Susitna River where you are probably just going to get wet anyway? We booked the Devil’s Canyon Adventure tour through Mahay’s Jet Boat Tours that leaves out of Talkeetna. We leave bright and early to arrive by 9am. Since we have our own vehicle, we head straight to the boat dock where we meet Alice, the naturalist that will accompany us on our trip. She’s from Germany but has worked here now going on 15 years. The shuttle bus arrives from Talkeetna with the other passengers and all 45 of us get on the boat. We nail a front seat just to the right of the boat captain, Israel Mahay. This is a 5-hour trip that travels 130 miles through Denali State Park into Devil’s Canyon Gorge and includes a 45-minute stop at a recreated early settler village that also includes an authentic trapper’s cabin.
After about an hour going up the Susitna River, we stop at the village. The tour normally stops at the village on the way back, but there’s an electrical problem with the windshield wiper on the boat so we stop there first. While we tour, a smaller boat comes from their docks to fix the wiper issue. Alice leads us through the drizzling rain along a nature trail to both the village and the cabin.
Notice the shotgun she carries on the tour. This is active bear country!
She tells us about wildflowers and plants with information about which to avoid and why. She shows us several animal pelts and we learn why the trapper cabin has one short door that opens out (bears tend to push, not pull), has no windows but had bear traps on the roof (the most vulnerable place for a bear to break in). We see the meat storage building 25′ above ground with metal stovepipe on the building’s legs so animals can’t climb to the stash.
Back on the boat, we see eagles and even see one bear (that moves too quickly to pose for the camera). Israel tells us numerous interesting tales of growing up here and of his 27 years operating this tour. We will be going into Devil’s Canyon where the rapids are class 4 and class 5 – but will stop just shy of the class 6 rapid. We learn the river has never been successfully rafted and only two jet boats have every negotiated the class 6 rapid upstream. One of those people is his father. We hear of an attempt to cross the rapids in the 1960’s in a wooden boat. The boat disintegrated in the rapids with 8 men clinging to the cliffs on the side of the canyon and one man floating downstream. An area pilot spotted the 8 men and rescued them one by one – the 9th man was presumed dead but on his final pass with the 8th man, they finally spotted him down river. That 9th man once took this tour! I ask him if he has any plans to try this himself and he give a decided “no”, explaining it has been done and it is just too dangerous.
Words do not describe what it was like to be on that boat in class 5 rapids just 10-15′ feet from the raging waters of the class 6 rapids. Our boat captain is able to hold the boat “in place” for 20 minutes while the front windows are opened and everyone on the boat goes to the front to have their picture taken with the rapids in the background. NOTE – the downside to being in the front seat is that you become the picture taker for everyone coming up to the right side of the boat. Alice is the picture taker for the left side of the boat. The roar of the water is invigorating, and the experience is highly unique.
Tailgater’s Sports Bar
We check out a local sports bar for dinner, Tailgater’s Sports Bar. This is a delightful place with great food. We meet some locals sitting at the bar on both sides and they are a wealth of information on area things to do and places to eat.
Day 5: Knik River Exploration (day 86 of the overall trip)
Knik River Rd
We’re just in a drizzly rain and cloudy weather pattern but it looks like we might have a break this morning. We head out early to do some scenic drives. The first one is along the 12-mile Knik River Road. We take the Glenn Highway for a bit until we see the turn-off. At mile 6 we pass a moose right along the side of the highway, so we turn around to get better photos. We turn around again and continue to the end of the road where we spot the Knik River Lodge. It has the Raven’s Perch Restaurant that has a large outdoor patio restaurant area overlooking the river and glorious Chugach mountains in the distance. This would be a perfect place to enjoy lunch, especially with the sun shining brightly – but it is only 10:30am. The moose is still there on the return trip. Just at the end of the road, we see the old bridge of the Glenn Highway and decide to stretch our legs.
The Farm Loop
Having spent a lot of his youth at his grandmother’s dairy farm, Harrison is very interested in understanding the farming communities in Alaska. He’s read that Palmer has several farms well-known for growing larger than normal vegetables we will get to see later in August when we go to the Alaska State Fair. In the 1930’s, an experimental farm colony, the Matanuska Colony, was established in Palmer. It served not only to assist farmers struggling during the drought and depression, but served to expand US presence in the Alaska territory. Applications were submitted by 200 farmers from the similar climate states of Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin. The chosen were each given 40 acres of land, a house, farming equipment, all courtesy of government funding. They had to adapt to the rocky soil and “tame the land” with a short growing season that had 24 hour sunlight. The soil was rich from glacial silt, but conditions were still harsh. By 1965, only 20 farms remained. Thanks to intel from a bar mate at Tailgater’s, we know to drive “Farm Loop Road”.
Knik-Goose Bay Road
Next, we head on the Knik-Goose Bay Road, a 20-mile scenic drive. A few miles in we pass the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race Headquarters, but a tour bus has just pulled in, so we decide to bypass that stop. Next, we pass Lake Lucille and then Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge. It is raining so we just drive by. We also pass by the Knik Museum and Sled Dog Musher’s Hall of Fame, but yet another tour bus deters us from stopping in. In hindsight – we probably should have visited both, but hindsight is always 20/20. If not for those attractions, the drive is honestly nothing to write home about.
Big Lake
We head on to Big Lake, another scenic drive recommended by the guidebooks. Big Lake itself looks like a great place to stay. We see beautiful lakefront homes as we drive by lake.
Last Frontier Brewery
What a find! Alaska is filled with breweries. Almost every town we stay in has at least one and Wasilla is no exception. We stop in at Last Frontier Brewery and happen to sit next to the brew master who is very eager to talk about the beer he creates. We end up drinking their Hefeweizen that is quite crisp and clean. We also end up ordering a delicious pizza. Soon, travelers Stanley & Diane sit next to us – they are from California and just arrived in town for their 3-week Alaska adventure. We learn they are staying in a VRBO at Big Lake! This is their second trip to Alaska, and they have a similar travel style to ours.
Day 6: Anchorage (day 87 of the overall trip)
Kendall Toyota
This day starts out like a day at home would. Our truck needs its 30,000-mile routine service and so we head into downtown Anchorage to the Kendall Toyota dealership. Our appointment is for 1pm so we first find the place and then drive around the general area to see where we might go while the truck is at the dealership for 3 hours. We find a place and then head back to the dealership a little early, at 11:30am. We cross our fingers they might be able to take the truck early, but even if they can’t, it is just time to kill. Sure enough, they take the truck early and tell us it will be ready around 2:30pm. We head out for a 1 mile walk to the place we scouted for lunch.
Peanut Farm
The Peanut Farm claims to be the largest sports bar in Alaska – and it is a large place. We first poke our heads into the original building which is a dark bar area but decide to look at the whole place before taking a seat. We wander into the newer section and with more TVs and light, we grab 2 seats at the bar. Much to our delight, the Washington Nationals baseball game is just about to begin so that times out perfectly with how to kill 3 hours. The Peanut Farm opened in 1962 in a 2000sf log cabin along the creek. By 2005, after 3 renovations, it had expanded into a 2 story “deluxe” sports bar and grill with 80 feet of bar space, an extensive outdoor heated deck overlooking a creek, 10 big screen TVs and a TV at every table. Our bartender, Deb, is a joy to chat with and our food is delicious.
Walking Anchorage
Right on cue, at 2:15pm the dealership calls to let us know the car will be ready by 2:30pm. We have a 20-minute walk back to the dealership and then we are on our way to explore the touristy part of Anchorage. The dealership is located in the urban business district so we head to the area our bartender told us about. We manage to find a free parking space on a side street. We’ve been stuck in a rainy/cloudy weather pattern for weeks now. As luck has it, the one day we had the appointment to get our car serviced is the one beautiful day in the forecast. We first walk down by the water, the Knik Arm of the Knik River and walk the River Walk for a bit. We then head up the hill into “town”. Deb said “you’ll enjoy F street” (the streets are lettered) and so we walk by numerous shops and restaurants, wandering in here and there. It is a clean town that feels safe, despite warnings we’d read about prior to our trip that said to be careful in Anchorage. People are soaking up the sunshine and good weather – so many people sitting outside, everywhere.
We’re getting hungry for dinner. Both Deb and a friend back home had recommended Simon & Seafort’s Saloon & Grill. It is back near where our car is parked so we do the long walk and poke our heads inside. The place is packed to the gills and the waiting list is long. We know we’ll be back in Anchorage in 2.5 weeks, so we decide to walk back up F street to one of the other places.
Bear Paw Bar & Grill
There are quite a few interesting bars & restaurants in this area. With several open bar seats, we sit our butts down at The Bear Paw Bar & Grill. Our seats have a great view out the tall windows that allows us to people watch and the food was delicious.
Day 7: Matanuska Glacier (day 88 of the overall trip)
Yesterday’s weather was so nice and while today’s weather won’t be as good, we have a decent forecast of “partly sunny” with little chance of rain.
Matanuska Glacier
We drove by the Matanuska Glacier on the way to Wasilla but saved visiting the place for a return trip (and clearer skies). Today is that day! The drive from Wasilla to Matanuska isn’t as spectacular as it is in the opposite direction, but we’ll get to do that reverse drive on the way back. With winding roads for most of the first half, it is just a relaxing scenic drive. After just over an hour, we can see Matanuska Glacier, a valley glacier that is 27 miles long and 4 miles wide and flows about 1 foot per day. This is the largest glacier in Alaska that is accessible by car. We see a small sign that says “Glacier Access” and we drive down the unpaved, windy road about a mile to the parking lot. Along the way are signs about trespassing, but the web site actually says to just ignore them. While the web site says you can either go on a guided hike or hike by yourself, the lady at the check-in counter tells us: “this is private property, tours only”. The tour is 3 hours and includes a crampons/ice shoes that allow you to walk on the glacier. We’ve done that before, so we skip the pricey tour and decide to seek other options for viewing the glacier. We finally locate Matanuska Glacier State Recreational SIte which is listed as the best place to view the glacier for free. We enjoy the 1-mile Edge Nature Trail walk that offers 3 viewpoints and 8 informational placards along the journey.
Hatcher Pass on a Clearer Day
After a tailgate picnic, we enjoy the drive back to Wasilla. We have time to fill so we decide to head back to Hatcher Passs since the weather seems so nice. Nothing new to say, just new pictures!
Day 8: Rainy Day Non-Adventures (day 89 of the overall trip)
Today’s weather forecast calls for 100% chance of rain. And it rained, and it rained. And we stayed in our wonderful 2-bedroom rental house, watched movies, finished up our previous blog post, paid some bills and repacked the car for our transition to the next destination.
Summary
Wasilla is a great anchor point for numerous places to explore within an hour’s drive. The Devil’s Canyon Jet Boat Adventure was definitely the highlight for this leg of the journey.
Up Next
Time to head into the area known as the Kenai Peninsula. We’ll be staying for a week in Homer, the halibut fishing capital of the world.
Prior Legs of the Journey
An overview of our 6-month adventure is located here.
Part 1 – The Trip to Key West is located here.
Part 2 – Cross Country to Bellingham Washington is located here.
Part 3 – The Alaska Ferry Inner Passage to Juneau is located here.
Part 4- The Alaska Ferry Inner Passage to Haines & Skagway is located here.
Part 5 – Haines to Fairbanks Alaska is located here.
Part 6 – Three weeks in Fairbanks is located here
Part 7 – Fairbanks to the Arctic Ocean is located here.
Part 8 – Denali National Park is located here.
Part 9 – Denali & Richardson Highways (Central Alasks) is located here.
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