Hatcher Pass is one of my favorite hiking areas because of its rugged alpine beauty. I thought it might be a bit early, but I drove up anyway, out of curiosity. The road over the Pass was closed due to heavy snow cover, so I drove as far as the open road went. The entire area was still buried. The trails appeared to be under about 2' of snow, and it was dirty, soft snow at that, not pleasant for walking. Slushy snow was falling. At a slightly lower elevation, it was raining, and signs of spring were everywhere. The willows were just beginning to bloom catkins, and there were a few alpine flowers. The five-pedaled yellow blossom in the collage was found there. Further down the road, the sun was shining, flowers and butterflies were abundant. So, on one trip to Hatcher Pass, my dog and I got to take shorts walks in each of three seasons.
Click on any of the five small photos (above) to see
larger versions.
Additional Photos:
Arctic "Angel" White Butterfly, nectaring on small alpine
flowers
A marblewing, another type of white butterfly, also enjoyed those flowers.
Two views: dorsal & ventral
Falls Creek, near Anchorage, taken a day earlier
Sunset view of Anchorage, seen from GlenAlps
Cut-leaf Anemone at GlenAlps, in sunset lighting
