I woke up in the morning to find Lake Lucille shrouded in advection fog (see page 15 on the link). Visibility was less than 1/8 of a mile. As the sun rose, the fog eventually lifted. This sequence captured it all. Today I would be going to the Mocha Moose, then straight to Hatcher Pass.

The rain continued well into Palmer, but just as I got to the area of the Alaska State Fair, it had stopped….My first order of business was to go on the Super Round-Up.

New York City’s Four WTC at 977′ superimposed over the 875′ Butte for perspective. The Butte is larger than it looks from a distance. Standing at 875 feet AGL (Above Ground Level), The Bodenburg Butte or simply The Butte is 102 feet shorter than New York’s Four WTC. I had never climbed any significant mountains

I pulled off the Matanuska Bridge and into the turnoff just like I had done yesterday. The low clouds clung to the mountains and you could see how it was steamy at the cloud base. When I was working on my instrument rating, my instructor told me that when you first enter clouds its like [...]

First thing I did in the morning was visit Wunderground to check the weather. Wasilla was a rain-out, but Palmer had localized rain cells and was otherwise clear. The conditions in Palmer were semi-favorable to hike the Bodenburg Butte, but I would have to play it by the seat of my pants….

As I proceeded down the Old Glenn toward the Reindeer Farm, after leaving the Musk Ox Farm, I noticed another scenic pull-off just over the Matanuska River Bridge. I would come back to this location after I was done with the farm. The bridge turnoff is a popular location for four-wheelers and campers. It offers [...]

I saw the trail to the Butte off to my right as I drove down Bodenburg Loop Road to the Reindeer Farm now less than a quarter of a mile away. I would check out the Butte later….

Located off the Glenn Highway at 12850 E Archie Road in Palmer, Alaska the Musk Ox Farm is home to dozens of these domesticated ice age-era animals. The word, “ox,” is a misnomer. Musk ox are in the goat family and have cloven hooves. The farm has birthing, yearling, steer and retirement pens.

Today, I would visit the Musk Ox and Reindeer Farms, and the Wasilla Museum of Transportation and Industry. Temps were in the high 50s and low sixties with periods of on-and-off rain. I learned quickly that rainstorms in Alaska occur in highly localized cells. You can be in one part of Wasilla or Palmer and be caught in a major downpour while the other side is dry and watching double rainbows.