PALMER, ALASKA

Yesterday we left Kenny Lake and traveled approximately 167 miles to Palmer, Alaska on the Glenn Highway.  We left the Wrangell Mountain Range behind.  This range has three of the highest peaks in Alaska and one of them is the third highest in America..

Wrangell Mtns

The day was sunny and as we traveled further southwest, the temperature changed drastically.  We went from the 40s to the high 60s by the time we arrived in Palmer.  It certainly was good to see the sunshine.  There were several sightseeing opportunities along the way, the mountain range and three glaciers. 

Nelchina Glacier

We arrived in Palmer which gave us enough time to check things out at the Visitors center.  The town of Palmer is a colony town that was settled during the Great Depression.  Destitute farm families were forced on government relief and the Roosevelt Administration forced a resettlement project as a part of the New Deal.  Because of the fertile land in the Matanuska Valley, in1935, the government relocated 203 farm families from the Minnesota, Michigan and Wisconsin to farm this area.  Palmer became the trade and cultural center of the colony.  You can learn a lot from the visitors center.  We visited an early colony home that the government built.  It had original furniture and was really a nice home for the day.  Our host was a WWII veteran that lived in this area.  The military was what brought him to Alaska and he settled in the Valley and was a Dairy farmer.

He was really interesting to talk with.  Afterwards we went to a Musk Ox farm in the valley.  The Musk Ox only lives in the extreme cold, such as Siberia, Russia, but a local man decided they could be domesticated and provide a livelihood for the local natives.  The hair is called quivet and is really fine and very expensive.  It is woven and made into scarves, and head pieces. 

Bull Musk Ox

The hair , before processing, sells for $50 for 1 ounce making a neck wrap sell for $200 plus.

 After a good nights sleep, we took care of a few items at the coach, made calls, etc. and then went to the Noisy Goose Restaurant for breakfast.  Linda found it and said the ratings and comments were excellent.  Eating out is very expensive in Alaska, but the Noisy Goose was well worth it and we figured we would be on the ride to Hatcher Pass and would miss Lunch.  Before leaving town we found a bike shop and took our bikes there to get them tuned up.  They really took a beating over the Alaska Highway and all the frost heaves in Alaska.  Linda's bike tire was warped, the mirror off and my seat post had worked lose and needed replacing. Finally we headed out of town to Hatcher Pass.

Little Susitna River

2 mile 8% grade walk

  The drive was beautiful, running along a rapidly moving creek, rippling over boulders in the creek bed.  The day was beautiful with plenty of sunshine.  To our disappointment, the road to the pass was closed at about the 17 mile marker.  It was open to the Independence Mine.  We parked bout 2 miles from the mine and walked the distance up an 8% grade.
Gold was discovered in the Willow Creek valley in September 1906.  Before 1938 two companies existed in Hatcher Patch, the Alaska Free Gold Mine and Independence Mine on Granite Mountain. These two companies merge to pool expenses and resources.  Together they produced 34,416 oz. of Gold.  worth $1,204,560 (17 million today).

The mountain was still covered with snow and the visitors center and building were closed to visitors but that did not stop us from walking around the barricade and walking the two miles up he mountain. 

At the Mine

We then drove to Wasilla, which is quite a metro area.  We tracked down Sarah Palan's home, which is gated and fenced, but we were able to drive around until we got a view from the side outside the fence.

Palan"s Home

Afterwards we ate at a local Mexican restaurant were a couple overheard us speaking and they were from Kentucky.  He had worked in the coal mines at Brilliant, Al. not far from Nauvoo where I was raised.  It is truly a small world!  The next day, Friday, June 2, we visited a local reindeer farm.

Moose Horns

The farm was one of the original colony farm with the barn and house built in 1934.  The farm consisted of 160 reindeer,

Feeding the Reindeer

Baby Moose

elk, and a baby moose.  The tour was interesting and they allowed you to get in the pen with the reindeer and feed them.  We learned that the difference between reindeer and caribou is that one lives inside a fence and the other outside.

Linda feeding a Bull Elk

 Afterwards we left Mountainview RV park and drove 55 miles to Anchorage.