Part 4 | Motorcycle to Alaska's Independence Mine

A favorite Alaskan motorcycle day ride is the route from Anchorage to the historic Independence Mine. This is Part 4 of the Independence Mine Ride series.

After your motorcycle adventure to Eklutna Lake, a couple miles of travel on the Glenn Highway is unavoidable. The good news is the turn to Palmer via the Old Glenn Highway is only a few miles down the road! Take this route for a more leisurely and scenic road trip through the Matanuska Valley. The Old Glenn Highway is cut along the foot of the Chugach mountains, and follows the Knik River until crossing it on a new span that recently replaced the old open-girder bridge. If you choose not to turn and cross the river, you will be treated to another top-shelf 20 mile side trip.

This side trip is the Knik River Road, which continues on along the river for another 10 miles or so of paved motorcycle goodness. The pavement ends at another bridge, over a Knik River tributary, and turns to gravel for a few more miles of fun for the more adventurous motorcyclist. The rest of us turn around and ride the 10 miles back, turning right when we meet the Old Glenn Highway and crossing the bridge over the Knik River there.

Check back to Motodometer later for Part 5 of this post.