Day 42, Aug. 13

Another overcast drizzly morning with hints of sunshine periodically. We went to the visitor centre to get some ideas of things we could do in the next couple of days in Palmer. The lady there was so full of personality and had lots of suggestions for us. 
We first went to the musk-oxen farm. They are trying to domesticate musk-oxen and harvest qivuit, the warm under hair of the musk-ox that it sheds every year. They hand comb the hair out. The hair is softer than alpaca and warmer than wool. It is also very expensive. A toque was $285 USD.
They have a three legged female named Luna that was hand raised as she was rejected by her mother. She now relates more to humans than musk-ox which is a problem as she weighs 500 pounds. She likes to be combed but the staff have to have a wall between themselves and Luna or she would lean right into them and knock them down. 

We then headed up to Hatcher Pass. The road followed the Little Susitna River which didn’t look very little or canoeable. Close to the pass summit is the historic Independence Mine which closed in 1951 due to the economy, the high cost of production and the regulated low price of gold. 

As we were approaching the mine site, I had a feeling that this all seemed very familiar. Then it came to me. Back when we did an Alaskan cruise in 2015, we had a full day before our red-eye flight back to Toronto. We rented a car and drove up to Hatcher Pass and the winding gravel road beyond it. It was quite eerie then as we went mile after mile without seeing another soul. The road today was extremely muddy and we had no interest in doing the journey again. 

Instead, we spent an hour or so wandering through the mine site that is now a State Historical Park. Some of the buildings are heaps of rubble but others are in decent shape considering the amount of snowfall and the fact that nothing was done with the property for many years before it was given its historic designation.
We had noticed a sign on the way up to the pass advertising the world’s best ice cream. Challenge on! They had over 30 flavours, but we were disappointed. It was soft serve ice cream with flavouring added. The salted caramel didn’t have the crunch or chewiness one would expect. 

Our last stop of the day was at  reindeer farm. They have over 178 reindeer that they breed. They are show reindeer and are sold around the world to zoos and other reindeer farms. They also have a male and a female moose that they care for but are the property of Alaska Fish and Game as it is illegal to own a live moose. A few elk, some alpacas, two yaks, ponies, an exotic pig and a some Scottish Highland cattle made for interesting viewing. Workers were at every enclosure handing out food we could give to the animals. 

On our way back to the motorhome we saw an area along the Knik River where people were camping. We followed the path and vehicles were crossing a stream to get to river flats. The Jeep was up to the task and easily crossed over just because we could. The underside of the Jeep is now the only part of it that is clean.