Started our day with a mini stop at Thunder Bird Falls for our warm up two mile hike…
Next is Independence Mine which is a defunct gold mine. You learn about the gold rush but to see the operation was pretty interesting. Most of the buildings were wood, so they are all falling down but you can definitely picture the hustle and hustle at its height.
The clouds were really low and were sinking while we were there, so after some wandering around the mine town, we headed down the Hatcher Pass (it is closed most of the year and only opened two weeks ago). The views were beautiful.
After making it back to Anchorage, we said goodbye to our friends and headed to dinner at one of only four remaining Tastee Freez’s. If you don’t know, my grandpa owned one in the middle of IL back when every midwest town had one, so it was just a bit of nostalgia we didn’t expect in the middle of Alaska. Ice cream tasted the same, crazy enough.
Now for anyone keeping track, my moose sightings are still nil and I’m down to hours left. As a last ditch effort, we went to Kincaid Park which is a wooded area right on the beach where they sometimes hang out. Taking all the less traveled paths, it finally happened. We turn around to head back to the main path, and one is literally laying in the off beaten path just waiting to see us. We were so close to him, so close that Kevin immediately told me to start backing up keeping my eyes on him. Me? I’m literally gonna have “but he wanted pets” on my headstone. Obviously I didn’t pet him, but he definitely wanted me to be his friend.
Since he was on our path, we had to go through a bit of a wilder path backwards to stay clear from him. Then walking back we saw another one! A bit farther away but he also wanted pets, but Kevin said no.
We officially can go home now.
Until the next adventure. Stay kind – to others and to yourself.
Animals we came to see:
Grizzly Bear – ✅
Moose – ✅✅
Bald Eagle (and eaglets!) – ✅✅✅✅✅
Horned Puffin – ✅✅✅✅✅
Tufted Puffin – ✅✅✅✅✅
Humpback whales – ✅✅✅
Animals we did not consider we would see:
Sea otters (a raft with babies!) – ✅✅✅✅✅
Golden Eagle – ✅
Sockeye Red Salmon – ✅✅✅
Red Breasted Merganser (and babies!) – ✅
Other black and white bird (and babies!) – ✅
Seal – ✅
Sea lions (and baby!) – ✅✅✅✅✅
Fin Whale – ✅
Orca – ✅✅✅✅✅
