But first a picture up on Hatcher Pass.  The road over Hatcher Pass connects the highways that go north up toward Denali and Fairbanks.  In spite of the lateness of the season, and the fact that the road is all dirt, there was still a lot of traffic on it.

I took this photo as a comparison in my own head.  Hatcher Pass tops out at only about 4,000 ft. of elevation.  The mountains I’ve traveled in my life are all forested up to about 10,000 feet and become mostly barren above that.  These mountains lack forest at a much lower elevation because we’re in the tundra.  Different climate, different geography.  Ok, fine, wake back up.  It was interesting to me.

Thunderbird Falls is a great little treasure for my niece when she has guests.  It’s pretty close to where she lives and it’s a hike most anyone can handle.  Speaking of niece’s, here are my traveling companions on this trip.

This is my sister Joan, my brother-in-law Bud, and their daughter Stephanie.  That’s Bud on the right. 😉

 

 

The hiking trail up to the falls stays high above the river until the very end.  Then there’s a spur trail that drops down to the river level just below the falls.  This warning sign along the trail has a cute little graphic depicting a guy falling to his death.  A nice touch.

The banks are very steep and damp with mist near the base of the falls.  If you want to risk getting wet, you can get closer than this.  I chose the common sense image.

Anyone know if this mushroom is edible.  We all decided that mushrooms with color generally are not.  And we weren’t hungry anyway.