Highlights Map
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After our first night in Anchorage we actually plan to visit two sites outside of Anchorage before spending the last day in the city. But first we have a brief breakfast and take a look outside our Airbnb, everythink is covered in white fluff something quite common in Alaska in spring.
The first goal for the day is Independence Mine State Historical Park which is tucked quite high in the mountains with the access road having quite a lot of switchbacks. It is also quite cloudy and we drive through the fog for some time but as we get higher and closer to the mine the fog dissipates and suddenly it is sunny and nice outside.
We pay the entrance fee at the automated station that seems to stump a lot of people and then arrive at the parking lot that is not yet full this early in the day. There is a hiking trail on the other side of the road from the mine going to a hidden lake but we have to see the mine first as it looks quite impressive.
The first place we enter is the Manager’s House, one of the three houses that can be visited in the state park. There isn’t a lot that can be visited but what can be visited is quite interesting and we liked the historical objects and exhibits.
From some points the village still looks lived in with buildings clinging on the slopes of the magnificent mountains. If you squint hard enough you see the rubble but this still doesn’t take away from the beauty of the setting and the historic town.
There is a creek flowing through the town which likely was one of the reasons it was built here. It also is an attractor for many of the birds and mammals in the area, mostly golden crowned sparrows and squirrels.
As we continue on the trail through the town we get higher and higher and the buildings here are more destroyed. We start to wonder if the buildings below are more restored or if they survived in a better shape.
It is early spring and the flowers are either starting to bloom or are still in a fast growing phase, we think it would be fun to leave a time lapse camera over a few days to see how fast they are growing but unfortunately that is not possible for us..
The views over the valley are magnificent, we can see the clouds that we drove through to arrive at what it seems is the “top of the world”.
We walk around for some time exploring the rocks trying to see pikas, which supposedly are around, but after some searching with no luck we satisfy ourselves with the only mammal that is in abundance here, the Arctic Ground Squirrel.
Returning to the main trail we continue across bridges climbing up to the mine to a nice view of the town from an area that is so destroyed that it looks like a hurricane went through it.
You cannot enter the mine, in fact the river starts from the mine which likely was flooded. It is quite cold in the entrance nook so soon we exit and continue on through the building remains, which here are quite destroyed compared to the ones downhill.
The most common birds along the trail are the golden-crowned sparrows, they are seemingly everywhere and some of them are quite photogenic as they take baths, look for food or just preen themselves.
There are two more buildings that can be visited with one also having a small gift shop inside it. We start with the Assay Office, which has a larger museum and also fits better with the route we have taken.
The museum is interesting with a few of the tools used for mining being exhibited as well as tools specific to assaying and a safe used for holding the gold.
The last exhibit in the building with the gift shop is more focused on how the miners lived. It shows how they were fed and supplied and is quite interesting to undestand how they were surviving in this remote outpost.
For the second part of our visit we decide to start on the trail towards the lake and find a cache in the area that has never been found before. We also still harbor hopes of seeing a pika and the area looks rocky enough to give us some hope.
As we enter the rocky area we hear a shrill whistle so we decide to follow it. After careful scanning of the rocks we notice something on a boulder and there it was our first collared pika. We watch it for a while until satisfied and to avoid distressing it we move on.
We find the cache in pristine state and after signing the log we return to the parking lot passing an attentive Hoary Marmot on the way, they are so cute!
On the way back we enjoy the many wildflowers, the smaller ones seem to be already blooming everywhere and the can be quite beautiful if we look at them carefully.
The second target for the day is the agricultural city of Palmer which has even a walking tour designed around agriculture. We start at the Grow Palmer – edible rail trail which seems like an interesting idea.
It consists of the former railbed converted to multiple planters growing vegetables which can be picked for free as needed. We don’t need them here but at home we would have liked to have something like this.
We follow the railway tracks to the disaffected rail station, the only sign of its former glory days being a small steam locomotive display nearby.
The goal of our little walk is Palmer Museum which doubles as the visitor center. We are surprised at the crowd of people nearby until we discover it is tour bus with people from Japan or another Asian country.
It is interesting to read the exhibits inside and find out that the area was settled by people that were more or less displaced from northern USA due to the great depression. It was assumed they would survive better in the Alaska cold but were underfunded and understaffed making their survival in the Palmer area quite a success story of human resilience.
The major attraction near the visitor center is the garden which is also the center of attention for the tour bus. We wander around a bit looking at the flowers in bloom before returning to the car.
We then drive through Palmer towards the Arboretum while looking for historic houses based on our walking tour map. Many of them are either closed or have been repurposed and cannot be entered and can only be seen from outside.
The arboretum itself is a bit of a disappointment, it is very small with no actual maintained trails and no signs describing the vegetation. However the nearby airport is interesting as it holds a few old planes easily seen from our side of the fence.
Last stop of the day is at an access to the Knik River which has a few trails and we want to explore for any interesting birds. Here there are lots of other people visiting, we are quite surprised at how many.
The major attraction is Reflections Lake, a nice lake but with very few birds. We are quite disappointed and being already quite late and we being quite tired we decide to drive home for our last night in Alaska.
