Greetings from the North! This past week has been a whirlwind of excitement and history! To start off we would like to announce that Adam and Ashley are now the proud aunt and uncle of a little baby boy named Louie! He is adorable, healthy and we cannot wait to spoil him and his brother Colby rotten when we get home. Ashley was just a little bit excited in the fact that she told all of our coworkers about him and basically anybody who would listen. The Eagle River Nature Center is very thrilled over this little baby. But do not worry; the excitement does not stop there!
One of our other volunteers is a professional photographer and he teaches photography classes here at the nature center every season. Ashley expressed interest in attending his class that was on Saturday but could not really afford to attend. Our amazingly wonderful director offered to pay for Ashley to take the class! Ashley spent all of Saturday learning how to use her camera and gained skills that will help us get some great photographs of the beauty that is Alaska. Adam covered for Ashley at work and we spent a total of 5 hours apart, the longest we have been apart since we have left Wisconsin.
The photography class could not have come at a better time because we visited one of the most beautiful spots in Alaska. This past weekend we went to Hatcher Pass. This is a mountain pass through the southwest part of the Talkeetna Mountains. It was named after a man named Robert Hatch who was a prospect and miner. Not only are the mountains and rivers in this area beautiful but this area also is home to several abandoned gold mines.
As Adam and Ashley find a place to park in the mountains we see several groups of people heading off on a trail that is not marked and we decided to follow. As we head further up and over the rolling hills we decide to keep following the trail as it winds into the basin beneath the mountain tops. Soon we lose everyone else and we feel like to only two people on the planet. As we get further and further into this basin we soon have scattered rocks everywhere upon a field of small green vegetation and small mountain flowers. The neatest part was the area had tons of lumps. It was like walking across a boulder field but everything was covered in vegetation. Soon we came across a patch of snow and had ourselves a snowball fight. We ventured across streams and as we looked up in the mountains we see a small flag waving in the wind. Upon closer inspection (aka binoculars) we see three people standing on top of the mountain with an American Flag. We have no idea how they got up there but kudos to them, that was impressive.
As we enjoy our time exploring we discover something off in the distance, something that looks very similar to a cave in the mountain side. So what did we do, we off-roaded the trail heading towards the cave. What we discovered was even cooler. As we got closer we notice that there was corrugated steel, old hoses, pipes, and cables scattered everywhere. Soon we discover more and more old equipment, payload buckets, and we realize we discovered an old mine. There were no signs, maps, or any indication of what this was so we felt like we discovered this hidden gem in the mountains. What we thought was a cave turned out to be the access point for the mine shaft. Adam thought that was the coolest thing since sliced bread and Ashley was scared beyond belief and wanted to spend as little time near it as possible. Luckily, Adam listened to Ashley's voice of reason and did not go inside to explore. Even though it was a bit eerie it was still so cool to see. We loved it so much up in the basin that we had lunch there and easily spent 30-40 minutes just exploring and having fun. Eventually we made our way back to the trail and continued back to civilization. We did some research into the abandoned mines in Hatcher Pass and we believe that we came across the Rae-Wallace Mine, it was active from 1911 to the 1920's.
A little further up Hatcher Pass we came across Independence Mine, an old gold mine that ran for many years and brought in nearly 34,000 ounces of gold in its peak years. The remains of this great operation are left for people to explore and is now owned by the State Parks of Alaska. Adam was having a ball seeing all the old machinery, buildings, tools, and equipment used. We joked that Adam was born 100 years too late because he would have made an excellent miner. We hiked around and explored Independence Mine which is quite large and decided to call it a day because we were exhausted. Also all of the mines in Hatcher Pass unearthed over 150,000 ounces of gold during their operations. How cool!
Just yesterday we were setting up our tent to air it out and get some much needed practice setting it up/taking it down. Then all of a sudden we hear something walking through the woods. We stop and look around, sure enough a young black bear was 40 yards away in the bushes. We snuck into the cabin to get the camera only to realize the SD card was in the computer in the kitchen, 200 yards away. We snuck towards the kitchen to find the black bear crossing the road in front of us, he saw us and just wandered away. We are kicking ourselves for not having our SD card. Whoops...
The rest of the weekend was relaxing and getting the mundane chores done such as dishes, laundry, etc. Even two Alaskan explorers such as ourselves need to get chores done every now and then. Tentatively we have some big plans for this coming 4th of July weekend so it make take us a while to get the next blog out. Have a safe and happy 4th of July! We miss y'all like crazy!
-The A-Team
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