If I Were Going...: 2021 Alaska #6: Fall Glory

Fall along the Glenn Highway

The rest of our trip was a bit wonky. We were driving from Homer past Anchorage to spend the night in Wasilla, where we could explore around the Matanuska Glacier before driving back to Anchorage for an overnight flight back home.

Wildlife

On our way up, we stopped briefly at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center, a 200-acre zoo/rehab/research/education center in Girdwood on the shores of Turnagain Arm.

The Center, which opened to the public in 1993, has certainly grown since our first visit when there were only a few animals in fenced areas. Now, the animals are located in different areas grouped around several road loops that you can walk or drive.

This sign cracks me up

Most of the residents are rescues that cannot be released into the wild. This includes Black …

This guy was entertaining

… and Brown Bears …

The Bears' enclosures are large and very natural

… as well as Moose (which we could never find), Wood Bison, Reindeer, Elk, Wolves, Deer, Muskox and Foxes.

AWCC map

It was a pleasant stop and we also got a couple of “Rudys” (Reindeer hotdogs) at the food truck on the grounds. It seemed rude to eat them in view of the Reindeer enclosure. But …

The food is sold from food trucks; Photo: AWCC

Fall Color

Our plan to go to Wasilla turned out to be a good plan. During the week we had been in Alaska, fall had come into its own. And, along the Glenn Highway out of Wasilla, it was spectacular.

Foliage along the Matanuska River

First, we drove along the very colorful highway to the Matanuska Glacier.

The mighty Matanuska Glacier from an overlook

We ended up not going to the foot of the glacier (which has shrunk considerably since first we saw it back in 2001). But, we did photograph it from the highway.

We've walked on it before, but it looks like access may have become more difficult

At 27 miles long by 4 miles wide, the Matanuska Glacier is the largest glacier accessible by car in the United States. A valley glacier that moves about a foot a day, its terminus feeds the Matanuska River.

The foot of the glacier

After that stop, we captured more fall foliage …

Color everywhere

… and more incredible vistas …

Nice fall reflections

… and more …

It looked pretty even on a gloomy day

... gorgeous scenery ...

Lots of reflections

Follow along here.

Then, we headed to the Little Susitna River, which originates in Hatcher Pass (where we were headed next) and then flows a few dozen miles to the Cook Inlet. Where we stopped, it flowed over boulders. It ranges from flat water near the inlet to class 5 water at the Pass Hatcher Pass. The "Little Su" flooded in 1972, 2006 and 2012.

A peaceful stop

The River is fed by the Mint Glacier, Archangel Creek, Fishhook Creek, Government Creek, Nurse Creek, Mary Creek, Swiftwater Creek and numerous other unnamed streams.

The Mint Glacier, summer 2001

Popular activities along the river include camping, wildlife viewing and photography, hunting and fishing. Fish in the Little Susitna include King, Red, Coho, Silver, Pink and Chum Salmon, Dolly Varden, Rainbow Trout, Arctic Grayling, Burbot, Round Whitefish and Northern Pike.

A beautiful river flowing over boulders

And, then we headed on to Hatcher Pass …

In Alaska, the elevations seem so low (but they rise from sea level)

Our destinations

Fall meets winter at elevation

At 3,886 feet, Hatcher Pass divides the alpine headwaters of Willow Creek on the west from the Independence Bowl and Fishhook Creek on the east. The heavily glaciated area has steep-walled cirques, jagged aretes and hanging valleys above U-shaped valleys.

Fall foliage

Trees grow only in the lowest valley bottoms.

Brush, often dense, grows on lower mountain slopes, yielding to open tundra as elevation increase.

Some nearby peaks are over 6,000 feet tall.

The Castle Mountain Fault crosses the road a few miles south of Hatcher Pass. Studies show that magnitude 7 earthquakes can be expected to occur on this fault with approximately a 700-year recurrence interval. The last big earthquake was 650 years ago.

Hatcher Pass; Photo: Scott Stevens

The road is unpaved and minimally maintained for about 20 miles over the Pass. This central portion of the road is usually closed by snow from late September to July. It was snow-covered, but still open to cars when we made it to the top. Soon, only snow machines and skiers would be able to access it.

The road would be closing soon

The area is popular for day trip recreation: sledding, skiing, snowmobiling, hiking, camping, hunting, white-water kayaking, berry-picking, climbing, recreational gold-mining, mountain biking and so forth.

Building snowmen is another recreational activity

Independence Mine State Historic Park, a few miles east of the pass, consists of 271 acres of well-preserved mine buildings and a mining museum that offers underground mine tours. This mining district is historically the third-largest lode-gold producing district in Alaska, having produced 624,000 ounces of gold.

Photo: Mat-Su Convention & Visitors Bureau

Placer mining began in 1906 and is still sporadically conducted; hard rock gold mining starting up a few years later and was conducted until 1951. In the 1980s, one of the area's hard rock mines was briefly re-opened and at least one mining company is actively exploring for gold in the area now.

Totem poles dot the property

Anchorage

After all this fall color and winter snow, we descended back into Anchorage, which was still fairly green.

We stopped at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, one of Scott’s favorite Anchorage spots.

This indoor/outdoor museum is an educational and cultural institution that shares the heritage of Alaska's 11 major cultural groups: Athabaskan people, Eyak people, Tlingit people, Haida people, Tsimshian people, Unangax people (Aleut), Alutiiq people, Yup'ik, Cup'ik, Siberian Yupik and Inupiaq.