Hatcher Pass? Anyone driven recently?

[42trvl]

We were thinking about this ride between Willow and Palmer on our way back to Anchorage from Talkeetna. I realize part of the road is unpaved and would like to hear from anyone who has recently driven on it, how rough it is. I understand that it's quite a scenic ride and worth a stop at the Independence Mine State Park.

 

Any opinons from past visitors?

 

Thanks.

[Budget Queen]

The problem is most if not all of the major car rental prohibit driving on the unpaved section. If you do have a company that allows it- verify all your insurance options- some are void as it is consider "off road". Photograph the car from every angle before you leave- it won't be in perfect shape. :) I drove only to the mine last year.

[travelgirl87]

We did this drive last week in our rented Dodge Neon! I don't think we violated our rental contract as that prohibited driving on "unimproved roads" and the park roads are graded and somewhat maintained during the summer. I'm sure someone on this list will tell me if we erred in our interpretation of the contract. We drove the car for several days afterwards and noticed no damage or change to the ride.

 

The Hatcher Pass road from the Independence Mine to Willow is a gravel road that is filled with potholes and is quite the bumpy drive. I drove a few of the sections with the car in a lower gear although I probably would have been okay staying in "drive". We never encountered an unsafe driving situation. Most of the other vehicles we saw did seem to be 4 wheel drive, though.

 

We also went slowly -- both to enjoy the amazing views and to protect the car and our bottoms. There are many designated pull-off areas so you do not need to (and shouldn't) stop on the road itself. The one-way trip takes a few hours as we were usually at @15 mph. Only do it if you have the time to appreciate the trip.

 

At one of the pull-offs, there was a fellow that was paragliding. He was happy to chat with us as he set up and we watched him glide around for a bit before he returned to his starting point. It was fascinating to see.

 

One final note -- don't miss the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer. The non-profit organization raises the musk ox for their quiviut (the downy hair that is shed in the spring), does no harm to the animals (it's actually a rescue location for some former zoo animals), and deserves support. Most of the musk ox shy away from humans but there are some there that were hand fed after being abandoned by their mothers and will come to the fence to munch handfuls of grass/dandelion weeds from your hand and to be patted. Tours (you must be in an escorted group) go around every half-hour or so.

 

Enjoy your Alaska trip!

[42trvl]

Thanks for the feedback.

Travelgirl, I didn't even think about going quite that slowly, but you're right - it's definitely something to consider if we want to take so much time, and we would certainly prefer to be careful!

 

Any idea how bad it is to just drive up to the Mine from Wasila? It looks like there's just a little bit of unpaved road that way. Is it still worth the ride? We will have an SUV with 4 wheel drive, but still don't want to go "crazy."

 

Thanks too for the tip about the Musk Ox farm also. Sounds like you had a nice trip up there.

[Budget Queen]

You may have violated your rental. As I mentioned- I don't know of ANY major rental that allows driving on gravel roads. And I have rented many cars in Alaska. They never tell you at the counter what roads are off limits and it may be on a listing at the desk and hidden in the contract. Gravel and unimproved are essentially the same thing- unpaved. The other factor that may impact greatly is your own insurance- mine is void on gravel roads- as it is considered off road. No guarantees in life- an accident could get very costly if you find you have no insurance. I have rented from independents that do allow specific roads to be driven- I always have in writing that they have agreed to it and then note every ding and photograph the car. This was the case in both Fairbanks and Anchorage.

 

Also for musk oxen, head to the Fairbanks U large animal research farm and consider their tour. I just love looking at these animals and detour by there just for a look- even in winter they are outside with great views.

[travelgirl87]

Budget Queen,

 

We used Thrifty. I just dug out my rental contract and took a magnifying glass to the fine print.

 

"Prohibited Uses of Car" includes "On other than a paved or graded road or driveway". I took that phrase to mean that unpaved was okay as long as the road was graded. As noted, we also took care to avoid any damage to the car as we would certainly have been responsible for that.

[travelgirl87]

42trvl,

 

We drove to the Mine from Palmer, not from Wasilla, but all the roads we took to get there were well maintained roads that would not have been considered "crazy" for a SUV (or even a Neon). I'm assuming you'd take Wasilla-Fishhook Road north to Palmer-Fishhook Road so your route to the Mine wouldn't be much different than ours.

 

Here's a link to the website for the Indepedence Mine for your convenience.

 

http://www.dnr.state.ak.us/parks/units/indmine.htm

 

Enjoy!