Welcome to my 1997 Alaska Adventure!

Part 4 of 4
(Denali National Park and Hatcher Pass Gold Mine)

Enjoy!

THURSDAY:

A run about day of cleaning, shopping and packing. Six of us will be living out of mom's camper for three days. We will also have a second vehicle. Monica and Tara were gracious enough to lend us their Ford Explorer. They just love their Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Kathy...

Mom made us a wonderful steak dinner, our last fine meal for three days. We are going to bed with bellies full and hope of good weather at Denali.

FRIDAY:

Up at 7:00, showers (last for a while), into town for a hot coffee and to Bev's to get the kids. Out of town by 10:00 for the 220-mile trip to Denali National Park. There we will set up camp for the night and then take a bus trip into the park and, weather permitting, see Denali.

Denali, the native name for Mt. McKinley, means "Great One." Out of respect for their traditions and the right to name their land, I will call the mountain Denali, Great One.

We arrived and settled in around 4:00, after stopping for lunch, gas and some souvenirs. After a dinner of fried chicken and a few games, we are all settling down and preparing for bed.

Tomorrow we will go to the Denali visitor center and catch the bus for the 5-hour trip into the wilds of this park, along a narrow gravel road. I look forward to this adventure as our vacation draws to a close. I will miss this place, as I did two years ago.

SATURDAY:

Did not sleep well, maybe 3 hours, tops!   Kathy and I are sleeping in the back of the Explorer in our sleeping bags.   There's activity all round us as people show up throughout the night.  It's dusk (as dark as it will get) and the windows let in far too much light.

Quite tired, but excited about what the day will bring.  As we're preparing breakfast, we notice the train again.  Our camping area is a flat area of ground and gravel nested between the highway and a valley containing a wide, fast moving river. On the far side of the river you can see the rise of a mountain, gently leading up to peaks far into the distance (denali National Park).  About 200 feet up the slope, you can see a thin line that, it turns out, is a railroad

bed.  Every few hours a train passes by on that track.  Very pretty and I wanted to be sure to photograph it at least once before we have to leave.

A filling breakfast and we're trying to get information about where we have to go to catch the bus.  A couple of miles down the road and into the visitors center.  We have plenty of time, but get off to an early start so we have time to look around before we leave.

Well, not too much to see at the visitors center.  We spend our time reading local literature and talking to other vacationers about their adventures.   Our bus is preparing to board so we go through a final checklist of our supplies.   This is a 5 hour bus trip in, a few hours at the end of the trail and 5 hours back, so we have made a point of packing a good selection of sandwiches, snacks, water and other things to keep us comfortable and happy.

We're all loaded up and begin our trip.  Bumpy ride. Not sure how many journal entries I'll be able to make like this...

Our bus driver does a wonderful job describing where we are going and what we could expect to see.  Unfortunately, a cloud cover (getting thicker by the hour) may prevent our seeing denali.  We were forewarned that this was likely as the mountain is viewable only about 10-20% of the time due to weather.  This "rock" is so big that it creates its own weather and is very unpredictable.

My first impression of this part and this trip was the danger we seemed to be in along this narrow dirt road.  We were traveling in an old, reconditioned school bus, bouncing along a dirt road that didn't seem any wider than the bus itself.  The real fear/excitement would come when we would meet an oncoming bus returning to the visitor center!  Talk about "close quarters"!  I would not have believed that two busses could sit side by side on this road.  A part of me thinks that there are specific passing areas and when you reach one and know that an oncoming bus is ahead, you wait till it gets there to pass.

This road, not only being very narrow, has no escape routes left or right.  Going up, your right side is nearly against a cliff that seams to go straight up in places, to the mountain peaks.  On our left is a similarly steep drop into the valley below!  It was not uncommon, when passing an oncoming bus, that our mirrors would hit and have to be readjusted after passing.... too close for comfort!

I had to ask our driver if they had *ever* had a bus roll off of this mountain.  According to her it has never happened.  Hard to believe, I'll tell you!

Many times along our trip, we'd stop and be allowed from the bus to stretch our legs and take pictures.  One area that was wonderful was the "Braided River".  An area within the valley where river erosion had left a very wide, very flat area of mud and permafrost.  With the water levels so low, at this time of year, the water flowing through this area would leave more river bed exposed than not.  The result was many shallow, thin rivers meandering through the flats, crossing

and cris-crossing, often changing paths and routes, creating beautiful patterns in the flats.  Very much like braided string, hence its name.

It is also very common to pass and pick up backpackers along this route and, for that matter, to have some on the bus from the visitor center for drop off.   We had two backpackers on our bus that were being dropped off inside the park for time in the wild.  These folks would stay anywhere from a day or two to weeks at a time.  We picked up one guy who had been out here for 3 days.

This is something that I would enjoy doing.  I will have to review my orienteering and map reading though.  I was asking about such trips when I discovered that there are no trails in denali National Park.  In fact, trails are prohibited.  If you are hiking with a party, you are required to stay several paces abreast and NOT in single file.  They want no trails that will become artificial for the wildlife, cause erosion and require maintenance.  You do it all on your skills at map reading.  This is definitely in my plans for the future. Kathy likes the idea too!

I am so glad that we were able to get up here and show all of this to Kathy.  Joe and Jen are enjoying some experiences they will never forget.  I am sure that they will make a point of visiting Alaska long after they've grown.   Maybe even show this to their children as I am doing with them.

We arrived at the end of the trail only to discover that the mountain was "Cast In", meaning covered and un-viewable.  I suspected as much, given the overcast nature of the day.  But that didn't dim my spirits. I was just glad to be here.  This final rest stop sported a small building not unlike the visitor center.  We were able to get some additional snacks and drinks, relax and eat lunch and marvel at the wonderful views of the wilderness around us.

The prairie dogs were very abundant here.  They knew where the "free" handouts were to be had and took good advantage of it!  You couldn't resist these adorable little animals.  They'd run up to you, jump on their hind legs and beg for a snack.  Jumping around, rolling over and playing together, it was almost as though they were performing for the snacks we'd toss their way.

The only concern we had was that, in all of this trip we had not seen any bears yet.  We were told that they are abundant in this park and hoped that we'd get that chance.  We saw many during our first trip in 1995, but Kathy wasn't with us then.

Our stay was at an end and we had to board the bus for the return trip to the visitor center.  Very much like the trip out, but with much more wildlife this time.  It is getting later, and they are coming out to eat and getting bolder as the day gets long.

MOOSE! someone yells.  Well, we've seen many moose, so what's the big deal?  I notice that the bus is slowing and coming to a stop.  I can't see the moose as it is on the other side and people are already standing to either get a better look or leave the bus for pictures.  So I head out to see what there is to see.

	Man, they weren't kidding. This wasn't a "moose", this was a "MOOSE"!  I quickly went back into the bus to gather my zoom lenses and attach them so I could get a better shot.  There were two of them, both bulls.  One was so large as to sport a rack that his head was barely able to hold, it seemed.  Estimates by the experienced on our trip (including the bus driver) was that this was one
of the largest moose ever seen.  Probably 8 feet at the shoulders and with a rack better than 10 feet across.  Hell, the head of this thing was bigger than most deer I've ever seen!  BEAUTIFUL!

She pointed out the caribou and we got to watch them for a few minutes more, hoping they'd come closer.  They never did, so they said their good-byes and the cyclist headed off.

Well!  He got no more than two hundred meters down the road when this one caribou noticed him and took off in a flash!  Don't know if he felt threatened or was simply amorous, but he had eyes for that bicycle, that's for sure!    The bicycle disappeared around a bend and we figured that would be it, but the caribou simply picked up speed.  Our bus driver called ahead to see if there was anyone who could either warn the bicyclist or cut off the caribou.  This is weird!

As we came around the bend, we couldn't see the bicyclist, but noticed the caribou heading back, with a car right behind, being careful to coax the caribou along without spooking him.  He moseyed along, very slowly, taking his time.   Trotted right past our bus then off into the woods to rejoin his herd.  I can not imagine any such a thing happening and here I was seeing it first hand.  Great trip!

We got to the visitor center without further incident and made our way back to camp.  We'll spend the night then head home in the morning. 

Unforgettable!

SUNDAY:

Up at dawn.  Dawn? what the heck does "dawn" mean in a place like this!? sheesh!  I slept much better but look forward to getting back to Anchorage for a bath and a hot meal.  The trip back was uneventful, but the thoughts in the back of my mind, that our vacation is almost done, sadden me.

Once home, we unpacked, cleaned and went to see Bev and everyone.   They are getting ready for their first hunt of the year and expectations are high.   I would enjoy joining them on one of these deep-woods hunts for caribou or moose.   Someday...

We only had one more full day here, in Alaska, and I had a score to settle with a certain mountain in Hatcher Pass.  So, Kathy and I are going to head north and do some mountain climbing tomorrow before we have to say goodbye and head home.

We spent much of today planning tomorrow's trip.  We will have the whole day, so we can take our time and enjoy the climb.  My hope is to find an easier trail then we took in '95.

We had halibut for dinner and got an early night.  The kids are going to spend the day in Anchorage while Kathy and I climb the mountain.  They, too, are feeling the pangs of our trip coming to an end...

MONDAY:

The drive into Hatcher Pass was breathtaking!  I remember our drive from '95 and recall much of the landscape. The mountains and plains are beautiful.   No mark of man to be seen, horizon to horizon.  But that is soon to change.   We are approaching the valley that leads to the gold mines.  Hatcher Pass, it is called.  Here the mark of man is evident everywhere you look.

	We've stopped along the dirt road, that marks the entrance into the pass, to relax and stretch our legs.  In a short time we are going to be using leg muscles that haven't been used in a while and wanted to prepare ourselves.  From here you can see the winding dirt road that leads into the ghost town that was once a thriving frontier gold rush town, now a tourist attraction.  Behind the
town, we can see the mountains that lead men to this isolated spot.  Mountains filled with gold, more than they could carry, and still producing.

We continue on, entering the town from the east, approaching the visitor building.  It wasn't crowded in '95 and it isn't today either.  We unpack our supplies and prepare for our hike.  Our climb will take us about 2000 feet up the mountain slope along an poorly maintained trail that isn't a trail in most places.   I am giving ourselves 3 hours up and 3 hours back with about 1 hour at the mine.   So we need to be prepared for 6-7 hours away.

	I can see our destination from the parking area, and am anxious to reach this goal.  You see, in 1995 my son (Joe), daughter (Jen) and best friend (Jim Meyer aka Big Jim) and I climbed this very same mountain with the intent of visiting a gold mine in Alaska. [When I finally get the 1995 journal posted you will be able to read the tail of that harrowing experience!] We were able to reach a
small shack stuck to the side of the mountain, about 200 meters down-slope of the gold mine entrance and we had nothing left... we were exhausted and out of time.  We were never able to reach that gold mine and it has haunted me ever since.  I vowed that if I ever made it back to Alaska, I was going to visit that mine.

After checking in (a must if you plan on hiking anywhere in Alaska, for your own safety), we began our hike.  We also made a point of checking the weather conditions (partly cloudy, cool), as well as define our route and expected time of return.  Beauty of it is, with this mountain being 95% exposed rock, it is fairly easy for the park employees to spot hikers and climbers from the main building with binoculars and such.

Kathy looked at our goal, and moaned.  She has not done much mountain climbing and it is clear that there is no smooth, flat trail, and that elevator she's been looking for is nowhere to be found...  I just tell her to take one step at a time and, before you know it, we'll be there... (thinking to myself, "hmm, I wonder if she's really gonna buy that").

Our first issue was to find a suitable start.  Remember, there are no *real* trails around here.  2 years ago, we went around the southern slope, along the road deeper into town and the refinery, which resulted in a 300 foot vertical rockface climb.  We wanted to avoid that at all costs!  Off around the northern face lead to a serious valley of rocks and boulders (some larger than a house).  The result of dynamiting half the mountain range in search of gold (the touch of man).

I suggested that we head up along this narrow trial that followed up the slope of a small peak that seemed to lead straight towards our goal.  By all appearances, this slope leveled off a few hundred meters up and we'd be well on our way. So we began, stopping every so often to rest.  I knew this would be a strenuous hike, more for Kathy than me, and planned such stops in my timing of this hike.  The slope was steeper than it looked, but then I knew that would be true too.  So, we'd stop when we wanted, rest, enjoy the view and the solitude, then continue on.

I didn't take long to reach the peak of that first rise and we were elated when we did.  That small feeling of accomplishment one gets when achieving such a feat (even a small one like this).  Our elation was short lived though...   I could hear Kathy moaning and muttering something at me (or about me, not sure which...).

By all appearances, we were no closer to our goal than when we started, but this is to be expected.  The mine is a long way off and we will have to do a lot of climbing before we really notice our advance.  I went up to her to see what the problem was when I saw clearly enough....

The peak we had just spent 45 min climbing simply dropped down a similar slope back to the base, on the other side only to rise again at the base of the mountain we SHOULD have been climbing!  And, clear as a bell, you could see the smooth, well maintained path that lead around the base of this small mountain to the point where we should have begun our journey.  oh man, if looks could kill...

"Well", I said, "this is a good place to take a rest, and it's all downhill from here for a bit.", followed shortly by "ouch!".   No sense of humor, sheesh.  Onward and up, er downward.  Not bad. Only an hour or so into our hike and we're at the beginning.  Looking up at the mountain face, we can now see that we are, in fact, closer to our goal.

We begin climbing again, legs struggling against the unaccustomed work.  We rest for a minute after every 15-20 min of climbing.  Chat, sip our water, relax.  The views are fantastic!  The once high, spotty cloud cover seems to be getting closer.  Part of that is compounded by the fact that we are climbing up to meet it.  One minute it seems clear as a bell, then a cloud mass will move over the area and eclipse the sun and it becomes real dark.  As we climb higher, these

heavily overcast by any means. clumps of cloud mass hit the mountain face and roll right across our path.  More than once, we have to stop hiking and wait for the cloud to disperse or move on before we can see clearly enough to hike safely.  Only the clarity of the sky, when we can see it, tells me that it is safe to continue on.  It is not

During one of the clearer moments, I am able to see the town below us, with the pass stretching off into the distance.  Wispy clouds hanging over the town seem to be right at eye level to us at this altitude.  This gives us a good idea of the progress we have made so far.  We are doing fine and our goal seems that much more reachable now.

Looking up towards the mine, we realize that we have come a long way.   We are close enough now that we can clearly see the shack (that I got to in '95) and the gold mine further up the face.  With my binoculars I can see details that I could not possibly see from the town.  We're close and I'm getting excited!

About 100 meters from that first shack, we take our last break before reaching our first goal.

A very odd feeling, sitting here, knowing that in a few short minutes I will be reaching a goal that I've thought about for 2 years.  We are both tired, but excited.  Kathy is glad the hike up is near done, but it's clear that she is enjoying the trek.  She can't believe how high we've climbed.  The welcome center at the main parking lot is a small spot in the distance, down the mountain.

It was just below this point that I was able to show Kathy the rockface that we climbed 2 years ago to get to this same point.  She was shocked that we even made it, let alone the fact that we didn't just give up and go back!

Well, enough of this sitting around.  We came up here for a purpose and we need to get to it.  More when we reach the first building...

That wasn't too bad.  We're here and what a great feeling it is!  I was able to show Kathy what we saw the last time we were here and how close we had gotten to that final mine.  The view is unbelievable from here with wisps of clouds obscuring the scenery here and there.  We decide to spend some time here, relax and enjoy the quiet before continuing up to the gold mine which is about 200 meters up and to the right from this supply cabin.

We figured this would be a good time/place to eat lunch, so we did.   sandwiches, water, fruit.  Very good, seeing as we've been burning a lot of calories hiking up here!  Being very careful to clean up our mess (I will not leave my messes up here for someone else to find!), we began to lighten our load for the final trek.

Kathy decided that she didn't want to climb the remainder to the gold mine.  The climb looks treacherous as there were many large boulders between here and there, and she was satisfied with reaching the first building.  I, on the other hand, came here for the expressed reason to reach that other building and its mine.

So, leaving the bulk of our supplies at our "base camp", I began the climb to that mine, leaving Kathy to rest and watch.  Several times I would have to climb around a boulder that would obscure my view of Kathy (and hers of me), and I would make a point of waving to her when I came around it so she would know I was ok.   It was a very hard climb.  Much harder than any of what we've already gone through.  Had this not been so important to me, I may have stopped less than halfway up, but it was and I didn't...

Finally! only a short distance away.  Short rest, legs tired.   The building doesn't look very secure there on the mountain face, but it's been there for nearly 100 years so...  The front of the building has an strange protrusion made up of the face wall and roof, giving it a very odd looking profile. I don't know the purpose of this, but you can be sure if they put it there, it has a purpose and

was needed.  You don't haul that much lumber up a mountain like this because you think it would look nice Whew! made it!  Feels good too!  I propped my camera on a rock and tried to get a picture of me sitting near the building.  I think the shutter went off before I got seated, but I'm not sure.  Hope it's a good picture!  My proof that I made it!

Bummer!  No way into the mine.  At least no safe way that I was willing to risk!  The building covers the entrance to the mine proper.   The only way to the mine entrance is through the building.  And this building looks none too stable...  The back off the building has a wood tunnel constructed joining the back of the building to the mine shaft.  Inside the building there is the remains
of an old generator, probably used to provide electricity inside the mine.  I can not imagine what it took to haul that up the mountain on mule or by hand!

I was able to stick my arm into several holes in the building to try to capture pictures of the interior.  If they come out, it will be easy to see why I didn't want to go in.  The walls lean this way and that, and the floor is covered in debris.  All looking very rickety...  I also took a picture of the mine entrance in hopes of seeing how deep it goes!

I was able to see railroad tracks leading from the building into the mineshaft, presumably to haul ore up from deep within the shaft.  These tracks lead to the front of the building where simple processing would occur before bringing it down the mountain.  You can see evidence of this by the wash of sand and gravel at the front of the building, extending in a fan from the face of the building down the mountain slope.

I can see Kathy from up here.  She's a small speck in the distance.  If it wasn't for the building as a landmark and her red shirt, there is no way I could locate her off in the distance.  And I know that it's time for me to head back down.  I've seen what I came to see and I know Kathy must be wondering when I'm returning.  It'll be sad to hike down from here, then from the other building, then head back to Anchorage.  Our wonderful Alaska vacation is near at an end.

Well, it only took a few minutes to climb down from the mine to the supply shack.  Kathy got a kick out of watching me explore the mine area, but was glad I was back.  Another short break before we head on down the mountain.  A good time to explore around this building, as we didn't really look around much.

Son of a gun!  All this time I thought that this building was just a supply shack for the mine further up the mountain.  Wrong...  This is another mine entrance!  If, in 1995, we had simply walked behind this building we would have seen the mine entrance!  Unbelievable that we never did that while we were here! My biggest upset then we that we never got to actually see a gold mine and here one was, not 6 meters from where we ate lunch!

The mine was very cold inside and there is evidence of a fairly recent cave-in that partially blocked the mine about 5 meters in.  I went up to that point but didn't want to risk going deeper.  To be trapped in such a mine with help a 3 hour climb down the mountain was not a good idea...

Going to close for now.  We've enjoyed our exploration and Kathy even got a chance to see/explore a real gold mine.  But it's time we began to head back to the parking lot and head home.

Rest time! No where near as hard going down, but it still isn't easy. We have to be very careful about loose rocks and slippery grasses.  Kathy is resting a little further up the mountain.  I'll wait till she is able to join me before I begin my descent again...

After only two shorts rests, we found ourselves back in the gold (ghost?) town, walking along a very old road, from the east into the village.   Looking back at where we were is very humbling.  And knowing that I may never make that climb again, kinda sad too.

As we leave this area, our last site was the remains of an old building that long ago collapsed.  It was one of the dwelling places for a miner's family, as identified by a placard at the front of the building.  Would have been very interesting to have been a part of that boom town, a part of that history...

The trip home to Anchorage was quiet and uneventful.  We were both contemplating the return east.  It is always good to be home after a long trip, but also sad after having so much fun and seeing so many wonderful sights.  As soon as we get back into town we have to clean up and finish packing for the flight tomorrow.   Going to be very busy for the next few hours then, hopefully, a good nights sleep.

TUESDAY:

Chatting over breakfast, everyone is rather somber.  We're all packed and ready to go.  Some of our film got developed and we're looking over the prints.  Some great shots!  I can't wait to get home and show these around.   Hopefully I will be able to get these on the web sometime soon (unlike the 1995 pictures!)

But it is time to go, the car is loaded and we're saying our good-byes.  Time for some last minute pictures of everyone, then off to the airport.

The Kids	Bev and her pups	The family

Mom	Fritz

We're on the plane now, on our way to Chicago.  Kathy is reading and the kids are napping.  It's going to be a long 10 hours back home.  It seems like we just stepped off this plane into the hectic rush of getting ready for our commercial fishing trip on the Sound.  That was a month ago!

So much happened during those 4 weeks.  An adventure in the truest sense of the word.

Now I have the daunting task of deciding who shares in our bounty of fish.  We must have over 150 pounds of halibut and salmon.  We have salmon steaks (1 inch thick and over a foot belly to back), roasts (upwards of 10 pounds each), fillets, canned and smoked salmon.

And I have to contemplate putting my day to day life back together after an extended absence.  No more going to bed at midnight only to get up at 5a.m.  No more freezing rain or bone chilling wind.  An end of fish slime, nauseating ocean swells and bored tranquility.  An absence of trecherous mountains lopes and rickety buildings.  Finger cramps, hooks in hands, sore muscles and tired backs.

God! I'm going to miss this place.

 [If you've enjoyed this part of my journal (Part 4 of 4), please go onto my Alaska 1997 Photo Album!  A small collection of other photos that warrent a peek, but weren't discussed in this journal.]

Copyright, ©2000, James M. Flis