July 18 – Hatcher Pass

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Another wow day. We both agreed that today had the best views of our trip so far.

We had decided to drive up to Willow and take the Hatcher Pass Road back home. When we woke up (after my early morning phone call) there was a clear blue sky. Perfect!

After Willow we started on pavement for a few miles and then it was dirt road until we crossed the pass about 25 miles later.

We followed this river/stream for quite a while. We even saw a few fishermen.

Then we climbed out of the trees into the alpine meadows.

Looking back we can see the mountains of the Alaska Range which contains Denali but it is farther north.

Looking forward are the Talkeetna Mountains containing Hatcher Pass.

We stopped at this spot, part way up the pass, to have lunch.

Up a little higher was a pullout and Summit Lake which was nicely reflective for a few minutes.

Just to the left in the picture above was a cliff favoured by parasailors.

At the top of the pass was another pullout and a trailhead for the April Bowl Trail. It looked like a short zig zag up to the top of a knoll so off we went.

We didn’t notice the snow patch, which was steep and slippery. If you fell you would slide a couple of hundred feet down to the road.

At the top of the knoll. Oh, look, the trail continues.

Welcome to April Bowl. Oh, look, the trail continue up along the ridge above the bowl.

and up all the way to the left edge of the picture below.

It was another case of “Let’s go to part way up that first ridge to see what is on the other side”. So we get there.

Great views of the Talkeetna Mountains to the east and the valley below that has the Independence Mine.

So higher we go.

It looked like someone had recently been skiing or boarding on the remaining snow patches.

Higher

A pause to enjoy the view. Jennie is sitting at the bottom right.

Yet another spin around video from here. I zoom in on somebody at the top of the trail. Remember that spot. I eventually get there.

Some of the rock was quite loose so we had to be very careful.

Now we are high enough to see the Chugach Mountains past the valley with Palmer to the south.

In places it got a bit nerve wracking for Jennie because the ridge was really narrow and it was a long way down.

Jennie went as far as where the people are in the picture below. You can see the top at the far left. The path got even narrower and big steps over stones so Jennie stayed here and I made a quick trip to the top.

Part way up looking back towards Jennie.

The top for a 360 degree view. What an amazing place. West:

North: On the way up someone said you could see Denali from here on a clear day. It should have been over there.

South:

East:

One more spinning video: Sadly my video making skills have not improved and I am too lazy to try and edit them every night. Also I am standing on a 4 foot square rock with not much else around so I was a bit nervous about falling off.

Reluctantly, back down we go.

Driving back towards the RV.