While in Palmer Alaska, we were encouraged (by a few folks) to go see Independence mine. We are staying in the Elks campground for a week so we took the truck up to see the mine. Lots of decaying buildings, some restored buildings and plenty of scenery!
While hiking at the top, I did a panorama video so you can see the whole view from near the top of the mill trail.
Scenery seen from the top of the mill trail:
The first building we encountered was the cook house and is only partially restored, apparently they fed a lot of miners an amazing amount of food!
I am sure working as a mucker or a miner was a really hard job, but according to this sign they were at least well fed:
We decided to take the Mill Loop trail which is advertised as a quarter mile loop. Seems like we often encounter a bit of false (advertising) mileage on these hikes, the quarter mile was healthy and very steep, no handicap access from the side we began.
Just past the warning sign we traveled over a little bridge an took a groupie showing the stream:
If you do not want to watch the video here is a panorama from my phone.
The mine buildings are restored in some areas and completely decimated by the elements in others. Here is an example of the mess that is left after nature (snow, wind, etc) has worked for 60 years:
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