Hatcher Pass | Lost & Found EP.07
Hey everyone! Long time no talk. We took a brief break from rolling out Lost & Found so we could go to Baja and take a much needed vacation. We’ve been working on this series daily since June and where in need of a recharge to be sure that we finished the series strong. Now we’re finally back with our next episode of the series!
This episode picks back up right after we left Talkeetna, AK. Driving south we climb into the mountains to explore the highly anticipated Hatcher Pass. Even though we didn’t know a ton about the area, we’d heard nothing but great things about it which made us excited to get there and see it for ourselves!
Owen holding a Rainbow Trout at Summit Lake
As we drove up to the pass we passed Summit Lake. Immediately we saw fish rising so we pulled over and headed out to the water with our fly gear in hand. Turns out the lake had recently been stocked with none native Rainbow Trout. They must have been hungry, because nearly every cast we got a strike! We spent a few hours casting to our hearts content before we realized we needed to get a move on. We had a long hike ahead of us still.
MAK and one of her catches
MAK and one of her catches
It was the first time we were seeing this area in all it’s glory! I’m not sure what we expected Hatcher Pass to look like. The terrain looked like a wild mix between the Scottish Highlands and Austria. It was intensely green and lush, but as we made our way closer to our trailhead, sharp jagged peaks pressed into the clouds. After nearly a month in boreal forests, this terrain felt so exotic.
MAK heading out on the trail to Reed’s Lake
After leaving Summit Lake we pressed further into the Hatcher Pass to start our hike to Reed’s Lakes. The trail started off gently then climbed into thick vegetation as we gained elevation. The landscape was riddled with small ponds of various sizes and colors, but nothing would compare to Lower and Upper Reed’s Lake.
Owen on the trail to Reed’s Lake
Owen filming over lower Reed’s Lake
The water in these two lakes were a shade of blue we’ve never seen before! The color comes from the glacial silt or flour that comes down the mountain from nearby glaciers and get’s caught in these two bodies of water. The glacial flour is so fine that it is then suspended in the water. Then, when light shines on the flour ladened water the color blue comes from the light that is reflected back at our eyes. Wild right?!
Owen and I settled in for lunch at Lower Reed’s Lake wanting to take in the color for as long as possible. We kept talking about how weird it was to fill so much of our field of vision with that color of blue. It isn’t a color that exists in nature often, then to have so much of it that it that it fills your view, it’s overwhelming in a way that felt foreign to us… but in a good way ;)
MAK above Lower Reed’s Lake
After lunch we climbed up to the highest basin to find Upper Reed’s lake, just in time for it to start raining.
MAK looking over Upper Reed’s Lake
Owen bein silly, 35mm
Originally our plan was to hike up and over the pass on the other side of the lake to get up to the edge of a glacier, but when we arrived the rain had set in blocking visibility of the pass. Being that we had started late due to our fishing side quest and the deteriorating conditions, we decided to turn back after getting our fill of the view.
On our way down the skies parted and we saw a ton of wild life. We took our time to capture what we could of each of them. The beaver in particular was my favorite. We’d seen a lot of beavers thus far on the trip, but I was able to get the best photos and clips of this one!
MAK heading down from Reed’s Lake
View from Reed’s Lake Trail
The next day Owen and I finished our time in Hatcher Pass by touring around Independence gold mine before heading out for one last hike.
Owen hiking in the fog, 35mm
MAK hiking in the fog, 35mm
It was foggy that day which made for an otherworldly hike to the top of Skyscraper Mountain. After just a few hundred feet of climbing we were hiking in a white out of fog. It was like hiking through a dream. Though we ultimately didn’t get the panoramic views that the trail description called for, we enjoyed the unique conditions as it made for a more meditative experience.
Thank you all so much for joining us again as we pick back up with our rollout of Lost & Found! We look forward to sharing the rest of the series! See you back here next week, same time, same place!
Love, MAK
Thank you to our sponsors
These brands made it possible for us to document our travels through Alaska and turn it into this series. Without their support none of this could happen. We are forever grateful to have brands we already use and love on our side to help us create something we’re proud of!
Our work life is powered by Battle Born. They make the best lithium batteries on the market and are a crucial part of our power system that enables us to work from the road! It took an incredible amount of power to create this series, and we have Battle Born to thank for making it possible.
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Maps are your best friend when you’re on the road. On X makes it easy to find open routes and trails no matter where we are. On X allows us to access saved maps offline so we can locate ourselves in the wild when there’s no service.
Main Line Overland is the shop that built our rig, Roxanne. They are incredibly knowledgable on everything overlanding. We chose to work with them because they build thoughtful, reliable and durable vehicles that can get you anywhere you want to be!
Tires can be some of the best insurance when you are out in remote places. We love and trust our Toyo ATIII’s to get us in and out safely, no matter the terrain. They’re amazing in mud, moon dust, loose rocks, slick rock, you name it!
We’ve trusted our Jetboil cooking systems for years. Our favorite, the Flash Cooking system is lightweight, compact and perfect for any trip!
