We decided last night to drive through since it's only open about 3 months a year. We stopped about halfway up at the lodge for dinner and it started to snow. Not a whole lot, but the first snow of the season. It's always so pretty up there in the fall. It's about 60 miles northwest of Anchorage, the highest part of the pass is about 3900 feet.

Little Susitna River














Driving Home

Absolutely beautiful! Been 24 (?; damn I'm old!) years since I've been there and I think I need to get back soon.

Brian,
I know your gonna miss it if you move back down, Reminds me of Scotland,

I thik PNWX needs to follow through on that Alaska trip next year. OR do White Horse to Inunvik up by the Beaufort sea, 3850 miles round trip from Vancouver. The road is only open 3 months of the year with a streach of 360 miles without supplies.....Cool !

That is some incredible scenery. Geez, I really need to get there someday. If only my wife would leave the beach for a week....

The first picture is awesome....

"ALASKA...the last great frontier"

Sweet, I hope I can get up there someday after I move to CA.

Just went last month to visit my daughter in Valdez, Alaska. We went up to Thompson Pass to see Worthington Glacier and all around the Valdez area. It was incredibly beautiful and unspoiled.

When you're out hiking, you wear a 'bear bell' so as not to startle a bear and 'bear mace' in case the bell doesn't get the job done. My daughter joked that the bell is really a dinner bell and the mace just makes 'em madder.

Yup! It is like putting a bell on your cat in cougar country.....Here kitty kitty kitty kitty!

Hahahahaha... Funny.

I was in Alaska in June, spent three days in Denali Nat'l Park, and the closest I ever got to a bear was about half a mile or so. I guess that's a good thing, looking back on it, but man, he looked just like a teddy bear -- all cute and furry and huggable...

*don't start -- I'm well aware of the power and ferocity of grizzly bears and would never actually attempt to hug one of them, or approach one of them, out in the middle of nowhere*

I lived in Fairbanks for 2 years back around '79, would love to take the X up there but it's just too long a haul to drive from SoCal.

We used to camp out in the back country allot and saw plenty of bears up close and personal, the one that stands out in my mind was waking up in a tent on a small river, opening the flap and seeing a Kodiak snagging Arctic graylings out of the water less than 20 feet away, talk about crapping your pants.

A 9' bear that close is anything but cute and cuddly looking, not that I would have wanted to shoot him but the first thing I did was reach up and take my sidearm out of it's holster.

We all slowly worked our ways out of the tents and just sort of stood there in awe looking at this mighty creature, for his part, we appeared to not exist at all. He just fished, ate, and fished some more and eventually wandered off without so much as a backward glance.

Where Superjens and I live there are Bear Sightings in residential areas about a dozen times a week. Mostly Black bears...This year I have only seen one at about 40 feet away while scouting trails for the Nissan Titan event.

VERY NICE PICS..

I'll be up there around X-mas visiting my X-wife and daughter who are stationed at Elemdorf AFB. Maybe I can get up with you guys and you could show me some of the sites. Wish I could take my X up there, but that would be like 5000 miles of driving.

Send me a PM.