Day 3 of our vacation was dedicated to flightseeing to Knik Glacier north of Anchorage near Palmer. Our helicopter flight did not leave until 4:30pm, so we had a morning to explore the Anchorage area before making the hour-ish drive to the helicopter base near Palmer. We decided to check off two of the boxes that Ann had on her list: Black Cup Coffee and then Flattop Mountain.
Coffee
On leaving our Airbnb, we took a quick diversion to Fred Meyer for a couple of toiletries for Ann, before heading to midtown and Black Cup Coffee where the dark roast drip coffee was outstanding. We would come back a second time while in Anchorage but the drip coffee would be a different roast, good but not as memorable as this first time.
The guys running the shop (since when do you ever see an all-male crew at a coffeehouse?) were really nice and clearly professional about their coffee. The shop was nicely appointed in an Ikea meets Rejuvenation Hardware vibe. Our coffee came in nice-looking modern sculpted cups that you see in the photo of Ann above. We liked them so much that we looked the cups up on the net and ordered a pair which were awaiting us when we got back to Oregon.
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| Monkey See, Monkey Do |
Flattop Mountain
After coffee we headed due east of Anchorage into Chugach State Park to climb Flattop Mountain, a hike that a lot of people recommend during a stay in Anchorage. We second that recommendation although the only chance we had to visit was on a partly cloudy day that afforded some mediocre views early on, but became totally socked in by the time we hiked up the mountain. Clear weather would have brought astounding views of Anchorage and Cook Inlet.
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| Flattop Mountain |
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| Battling Clouds All Morning |
This highly trafficked trail starts wide, smooth, and easy, but becomes steep going up to the first bench. Then the trail peters out fairly quickly on the scree slope headed up to the peak, leaving a pretty decent scramble to the top.
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| Steep Terrain, Low Clouds |
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| Seriously Steep Stairs |
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| No Trail at the Top |
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| Flag At the Very Top |
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| Ann's Obligatory Shoe Shot |
By the time we got within 200 feet of the top and just as Ann took the photo just above, the clouds rolled in hard, obliterating any chance of a view. Going up a scree field is always easier than coming back down and Annie was getting concerned about her ability to climb back down. After sitting on a small knob just below the peak and taking in what view we could, we reversed course for the parking lot, picking our way slowly back down through the slippery scree field.
Flattop was really a nice, short hike that I'd like to take again some day when the weather cooperates, especially because the lower half of the hike offers some excellent wildflower viewing.
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| Bunchberry, Cornus canadensis |
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| Dwarf Fireweed, Chamaenerion latifolium |
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| Dwarf Fireweed and Canadian Burnet, Sanguisorba canadensis |
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| Canadian Burnet |
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| Red Elderberry, Sambucus racemosa, in Bloom |
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| Monkshood, Aconitum delphinifolium |
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| Broadleaf Arnica, Arnica latifolia |
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| Subalpine Fleabane, Erigeron peregrinus |
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| Whorled Lousewort, Pedicularis verticilliata |
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| Unalaska Paintbrush, Castilleja unalaschcensis |
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| Twinflower, Linnaea borealis |
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| Mountain Harebell, Campanula lasiocarpa |
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| Northern Geranium, Geranium erianthum |
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| Tableau of Arnica, Geranium, and Angelica |
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| Heuchera Growing on a Rock |
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| Northern Goldenrod, Solidago multiradiata |
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| Arctic Willow, Salix arctica |
Palmer and Matanuska Brewing
At 4:30, we had scheduled a helicopter flight seeing tour of Knik Glacier near Palmer, so we decided to head north out of Anchorage and get lunch at Matanuska Brewing. They have two locations north of Anchorage, a pub in Eagle River and the brewery proper in Palmer. We decided to go all the way in to Palmer (slightly out of our way) to the main pub because we thought we might be in Eagle River in a few days and would try that pub then. It turns out that we were so tired by the end of our trip that we never made it to Eagle River.
On our way back to Anchorage after hiking Flattop, we saw our first two moose of the trip and we’d see a third later on Knik River Road, the only moose we would see in Alaska. Although later in the week we missed a cow and a calf that walked through the front yard of the B&B in Homer where were staying, not five minutes after we left to head into downtown Homer.
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Young Bull (left) and Cow Moose
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On our way out of Anchorage up the Glenn Highway headed for Palmer, we drove for several minutes alongside the vast JBER complex, the joint based formed by the merger of Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson. JBER is what prompted our trip to Alaska in that Carter had orders for JBER before the Army decided he needed to go to Fort Carson in Colorado Springs instead.
The drive up Highway 1 was uneventful and about an hour later, we pulled in to Matanuska Brewing right downtown in Palmer. Even at the late lunch hour at which we arrived, they were slammed and our server was acting a tad bit peckish. It wasn't hanger, but need of a cigarette and once she smoked one, she mellowed out. The beer and the food were excellent, and this is one of the only times that we could say this about any establishment during our two-week stay in Alaska.
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| Matanuska Brewing |
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| Annie Attacks a Delicious Burger |
In going to Palmer, we followed the west side of the Matanuska River, veering a bit north and west of our afternoon destination at the Knik River Lodge east up the Knik River. The next post will see us headed east from Palmer across the Matanuska River to the Knik River and then on up the Knik to the helicopter base.
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