George Parks Highway - The Most Scenic Drives in America: 120 Spectacular Road Trips - page 8

1. Palmer
Ice sculpted the face of Alaska, and the chisel marks are visible in the very first leg of this
dramatic drive. Heading northeast from Anchorage, the Glenn Highway (Rte. 1) crosses
two ice-fed rivers—the Knik and the Matanuska—en route to Palmer, gateway to the
glacier-gouged Matanuska and Susitna valleys.
The colossal sheet of ice that covered this region some 12,000 years ago has long since
retreated, but the silt and soil it left behind make the Mat-Su Valley (as the two valleys
are jointly called) a veritable 15,000-acre vegetable garden. With daylight stretching to 19
hours and 21 minutes at the summer solstice, local farms turn out radishes the size of soft-
balls and cabbages weighing as much as 90 pounds. You can find this prodigious produce
at roadside stands throughout the summer or at the annual Alaska State Fair, which is held
in Palmer during the 10 days before Labor Day.
The area north and east of town is laced with hiking trails that afford good views of
snowcapped Pioneer Peak, named to honor some early emigrants from the Lower 48. In
1935, 203 families moved here from Depression-ravaged farms in Minnesota, Michigan,
and Wisconsin to form the Matanuska Valley Colony, a New Deal agricultural collective
believed to be the first and only one of its kind in America. Hence the area's gabled barns
are more reminiscent of Midwestern dairy farm architecture than they are of north-country
homesteads.
2. Hatcher Pass
Just north of Palmer the drive jogs west for a detour to Hatcher Pass. About 10 miles
up Palmer-Fishhook Road, where the pavement gives way to gravel, the route enters a
gorge and climbs through stands of willow, spruce, and birch that border the Little Susitna
River.Thisstreamonceyieldedgoldbutnowisprizedforitssilver—silversalmon,thatis.
Grubstakers picked the river clean of gold by the early 1900s, but its modern riches swim
upstream on their spawning runs from late July through August.
Farther up the road is Independence Mine State Historical Park, where exhibits recall
the heyday of drill-and-blast gold mining. Hiking trails thread the 761-acre park and over-
look the lake-pocked floor of the Mat-Su Valley below.
Two miles west of the park, the side trip reaches its scenic highlight: 3,886-foot-high
HatcherPass,whichservesasthecross-countrytrainingcenterfortheU.S.SkiTeam.Situ-
ated 1,500 feet above the tree line, this alpine enclave features hanging valleys, scooped-