A Hike Into Alaskan History

Did you ever wish you could wipe the slate clean and start all over again? Probably everyone has felt like that once when something wasn't going just right. This was not one of those days however, and yet, it happened. I had hit the "Publish" button to upload our latest story and something went wrong. Just like that, the entire blog entry was gone and my slate was wiped completely clean. I'm not sure why Google's auto-save hadn't been saving, but apparently it wasn't. I found myself staring at a blank screen. I said bad words! Seems there's always a lesson to be learned and mine is to always save what I'm working on as I go along...even if the little icon has been telling me all along it's been doing it for me. So, as I write this today I'll be recreating for you as best as possible what was written before. With any luck I'll do it right this time.

The Alaska Railroad has a rich history here in the state. Long before roads linked more remote communities and villages together, trains were the mode of transportation that brought people and supplies where they needed to go. In the early 1900's the Alaska Railroad had a rail spur that ran along the Matanuska River from Matanuska Junction (which would later be colonized to become the town of Palmer in 1935). The train traveled north to the mining community of Chickaloon. It serviced the Chickaloon Coal Mine, as well as the Eska and Jonesville mines. Coal from the Chickaloon mine was used for the Naval reserve.The trains carried passengers, and supplied coal to the military bases near the tent city of Anchorage. The Navy used the coal to resupply ships on their way across the Pacific. It didn't take long for the Navy to realize this was not profitable and they started ship to ship refueling and mining in the area declined. The railroad spur was abandoned in the late 1930's. Sometime later the tracks were washed out north of Moose Creek, which the train crossed on the way to its destination. Chickaloon remains a community of around 275 residents today.

Fast forward about 85 years and the rail bed that once carried the train is now called The Palmer-Moose Creek Railroad Trail. It's a wonderful, unmotorized trail used by hikers and mountain bikers. We caught the trail in Palmer and headed north. Some of the old rails were still visible at the beginning of the trail. Rockslides and years of erosion must have washed most of them away, but it gave us a sense of being on the tracks and actually retracing the route the mighty train once traveled.

Birch, Cottonwood and Alders have grown up since the days of the train and a lot of the trail now passes through thick woods. It was a hot day and we were grateful for the shade. Every so often though, we'd break out into the open to glimpses of the Matanuska River below us. The river must be more than a mile across at this clearing, with the Chugach mountains jutting up on the other side.

Not too far out of Palmer we came to a rockslide that had washed a huge portion of the mountainside away. We had to be really careful walking over that section so not to lose our footing. People biking the trail would have had to stop and carry their bikes across. I wouldn't have wanted to be out there in the rain or in icy conditions. One misplaced footstep could have been disastrous.

Retracing this route gave us a sense of what it would have been like to ride that train long ago. As we continued farther north we noticed a large brown structure over the bank. As we got closer and walked down to it, we realized it was the rusted remains of a passenger car that had derailed years ago and tumbled down the mountainside, settling on it's side. How many people lost there lives that day? Later, on our return we saw another train car at the base of the mountain along the banks of the river, partially submerged in the water. What happened that ill fated day to cause the train to end up there, we'll never know. I'm sure there wouldn't have been a way to remove those cars. Instead they'll forever remain where they came to rest, as rusted pieces of Alaskan history.

The brown you see is the train car partially submerged in the river.

The terrain was mostly easy and level, although the elevation changed. Sometimes the trail took us quite high on the steep slopes and other times we were fairly low on the mountainside. We kept thinking the trail would take us to the river's edge, and maybe it would have if we'd hiked the entire trail. Finally we decided to climb down the bank and try to get to the river. Over the centuries the Matanuska River has changed course many times. It's a glacial fed river and as the glacier receded the rocky moraine is what remains. What we realized once on the riverbed, was that the actual flowing braid of the river was much farther away than we were willing to walk in the hot sun.

This is the old riverbed.....

The flowing river is close to the mountain in the background....

We don't consider Maggie much of a water dog, but when she found this snowmelt she made it perfectly clear she was not going any farther and she'd had enough hiking for awhile! After letting her rest and cool off we began our return to Palmer.

Hiking back was just as pretty and we got to see it all in reverse. This time we passed a few people on the trail. We got a few more pictures of the Matanuska River and the Chugach range.

If you look closely you can see a hanging glacier in the center of this one.....

Who'd have thought that within minutes of leaving town we'd be transported to a bygone era that day. Our simple day hike opened up a portal into the lives of those adventurous pioneers who settled there years before. They must have felt like they were a million miles from anywhere a hundred years ago. We're reminded how tough they had to be to survive in that harsh environment. We think of the men working in those coal mines and of the unfortunate ones who's lives were lost along with the rusted rail cars that derailed from those tracks. What happened that day? Were their families onboard? And we pay tribute to those that built the railroad all those years ago, over rugged land that was anything but kind.

I'd like to think the people that traveled on the rail spur 100 years ago were not much different than Alaskans of today. The pioneer spirit lives on in those who choose to keep it alive. If we let our minds wander we can almost hear the whistle of the train and the conductor yelling "All Aboard! The train is departing!" If we close our eyes, we can picture that train, chugging along on those rusty old rails. All we have to do is imagine, and keep an open mind.