6:03 PM
| Sunrise at | 4:47 AM | in direction | 42° | Northeast |  |
| Sunset at | 10:50 PM | in direction | 318° | Northwest |  |
The sky was overcast as we left Fairbanks. It wasn't the solid kind cloud cover that signals an impending storm, but one that portends isolated storms in the area. Dad showed moderate interest in our surroundings since we were in Interior Alaska and he was becoming more familiar with the birch, spruce, and aspen forests intermixed with poplar and willow. He commented on how he'd never expected birch to be a predominant member of subarctic forests. That is a surprise for a lot of people.
As we left, the leaves were just leafing out. We agreed that by the time we returned, we would return hillsides covered in green, although it was not as leafed out and lush the further south we went. We watched the passing tree population trying to predict how far behind they were compared to Fairbanks. Buds were definitely present, but no real shows of green and the aspen and birch tops were only slightly fuzzy - maybe a week behind?
When we came around the bend where the Tri-Valley Peaks of Deborah, Hess, and Hayes tower above the river bed, he was stunned. Nothing prepared him for the view across the Tanana Flats before that moment. The top of the peaks melted into the white backdrop of sky. Still learning the ins and outs of my camera, my images appear to be over-exposed due to shooting toward a hidden sun (I also forgot to remove the date-time stamp until we arrived in Anchorage).
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| Mt Hayes |
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| Tri-Valley Peaks from Tanana River |
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| Tri-Valley Peaks |
From this point forward, we stopped many times as we passed along the flats and up out of Delta Junction, past Ft. Greeley, and on toward Summit Lake. We saw an especially good view of a glacier as we approached the climb to the Summit and were disappointed by the view from Summit Lake back toward the Alaska Range, but stopped there anyway. We rounded the lake and then as we dropped down into the Basin, I told Dad we had just passed through the Alaska Range. Again, Alaska surprised him. He'd expected a narrow pass, a steep climb, something that indicated he was traveling through a range boasting peaks above 10,000 feet from an elevation of roughly 400 feet in the Interior floor.
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| Glacier from Summit Lake |
We stopped at Paxson for lunch and then headed into the Basin. The basin was shrouded in low lying clouds. Only the base of Mt Drum was visible. Mt Sanford, Mt Zanetti, and Mt Wrangell were totally obscured. We finally turned off Alaska State Highway 4, onto US A1 and switched drivers. Dad commented, as we drove west toward the Talkeetna Mountains, that there was a huge peak in the rear view mirror. The clouds were starting to lift around Mt Drum, but too late for us to enjoy the sight.
Nearing the high point of the crossing from Copper Basin to Palmer, we found ourselves in a spring snow storm. Indeed, there was still a lot of snow on the ground. It has been a long, cold spring, after a long, cold winter for all of us - even the Interior. We eventually came out of the snow and started the long, long, long descent toward Palmer. We stopped to take photos of the Matanuska Glacier and then once past that amazing view of the glacier as it drops rocks at the end on its moraine, we continued until we reached Anchorage.
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| Leading up to Sheep Mountain Lodge |
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| Matanuska Glacier and Moraine |
Once in Anchorage, things settled in quickly for the evening. I picked up Gary from the airport as he'd had to work at Davis while we drove down. Tomorrow we would drive to Seward after a visit with Mom.
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