September 25, 2025
Here are some of the things I saw as I completed my exit from Hatcher Pass.
This post is kind of short, as I decided not to include some of the photos I had prepared because they were too repetitive.
Below is a photo looking back at the way I had come so far.
And the next photo is looking at the road still ahead.
And another one looking back between some of the hills near the road.
Below is the sign on the gate at the end of the dirt and gravel road which can be closed to block access over the winter months until the road reopens in the summer. It opens inward so people who arrive at other times can see the risks of traveling on the road up to Hatcher Pass. I had read that the road is usually closed from late September (though it was obviously open on September 25 this year) until July 1 of the following year!
It had taken a little under an hour to get to this point from when I started my descent from the apex, though I did stop many places to take photos. I didn’t measure the distance.
I still had a 40 minute drive on a very rural paved road to get out to Hwy 3 in Willow, and from there it would take an hour and 20 minutes to get back to Anchorage.
That is the view from an intersection on the west side of downtown Anchorage looking out at Cook Inlet. From here I would turn left and go south a short distance to work my way out to the overlooks near the airport. I was hoping I might get lucky and see some more moose, as the area around the airport seems to be a “hot spot,” and I still had some more daylight. As you will see in the next post, my thinking paid off.
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