Talkeetna and Hatcher's Pass

The weather was sunny and this was the last chance to get sight of Mount Denali. I drove the 80 miles north to Talkeetna which, if the weather is with you, gets some of the best views of the Mountain. The weather was with me....which was nice! Great views of Denali but the town itself was very touristy and full of marauding coach parties eating or buying anything in site. If you stood still for any time someone would either try and find the price tag on your or start licking their lips. The coaches would have come down from the lodges at Denali Park and it would be been a good hour since breakfast and with all that waddling about to do!

I headed south again back to Palmer and then up to the gold mine museum at Hatcher's Pass. There was an amazing drive up through the mountains to the museum which is an old gold mine. The buildings have been left to decay and collapse which is a novel approach to curating but it works. When the mooching was done I worked my way back down the hill stopping every now and again to pan for gold in the cold mountain streams. No luck on the gold front but the whole day was under a big blue sky.

The bonus of the day was the Wasilla transport museum which had, planes, trains, automobiles, telephones?, skidoos, tractors (called Oliver), chainsaws and outboard engines!