Hatcher Pass Road Treks

 Pam and I wanted to hike somewhere but we just couldn't decide where to go. The weather was kind of unsettling, and it looked like we'd be faced with anything from wet muddy trails to snow and rain. We met up at the Independence Mine Road and just ducked under the gate and walked up the plowed road. Cars can't drive up there now, but it was nice and dry for just taking a nice walk. The sky was dark and threatening at first but then we started seeing some blue sky. Once back down to our cars, we continued on down to the Hatcher Pass Road which is closed for the winter. We ducked under that gate and tried to make our way up to Summit Lake or at least to the Hatcher Pass Monument. Now the sun was shining brightly and the distant mountains looked gorgeous in the bright sunshine. The road had been recently plowed so we were able to walk on bare dirt on most of the road. But that ended fairly high on the road where we found the road grader was parked. After that the road was snow-covered, but mostly well packed down by foot traffic. We continued on and the snow became deeper and deeper. By the time we reached a point where I could actually see the summit in the distance, Pam decided she didn't feel like post-holing up through the deep snow. She turned back and I decided to continue and then just run down and catch up with her. It did get pretty deep. Bella was staying with me, but the snow was now over my boots. I finally did reach the monument and took a quick photo. Then I heard Bella start frantically barking. About the same time, it started to snow. I looked back and saw that Bella appeared to be stuck. I hurried back down to her and found she was so full of giant snowballs in her hair that she couldn't even move! I think she was carrying close to her own weight in snowballs. Many were the size of baseballs and a bunch more were more like golf ball size. I picked as many out as I could then scooped her up and carried her through the rest of the deep snow. Then I put her down in the packed snow, removed most of the rest of the snowballs and she took off running. At that point I was also able to run as fast as I could downhill to try to catch up with Pam. Suddenly Bella really took off and I lost sight of her. I heard someone shout, and that was Pam because Bella had caught up with her. I apologized to Bella the rest of the way down! At one point a guy on a snow board came screaming down the snow on the side of the road with 3 huge dogs running beside him. Our little dogs were in his way, so he purposely plunged into the embankment and deliberately crashed into the soft snow. He was not hurt and we all got a good laugh. The 5 dogs ran around greeting each other. Then he picked himself up and took off down the rest of the hill. We walked down the rest of the way as the snow finally stopped and so did that bright sunshine. We were back to the dark threatening sky again. But it was a nice 6-mile hike even if not very technical. I was glad I had reached the monument, and Pam was just as glad she had turned back. I think Bella was most happy to be rid of all those heavy snowballs. We ended the day with lunch at the Hatcher Pas Lodge. It's now pouring rain at home.

Bella on the road to the mine

Hatcher Pass Summit Monument