Checking Early Fall Colors in Hatcher Pass

 My camera decided to pitch a fit as I was going down the hill, so stopped near Idita-Park to tinker with it and took this shot afterward.

 This tree is just so darn cool in the midst of all the greens and even yellows of fall.

 And, yes, even tho' the sun was shining when I headed out, it was still wet, wet, wet.

 The usual pull-over at the viewing platform as packed, so snapped this on up the road just a bit of the Little Su River.

 This is where there's been a rock/landslide that created a new pile of rocks in the river.

 The colors were real vivid yet in most places but you can see that they're starting to change.

 It's not obvious from this pix, but I'm looking almost straight down a pretty steep drop at the water below, which someone has spanned with an ol' ladder.

 More early colors.

 The rocks here and there alongside the road always provide an interesting contrast with the rest of the scenery.

 I wonder if I've ever gone all the way up to the Lodge area and not stopped just below it to snap a "First Look" at the Lodge, the bigger building left, and the mine complex, the white buildings on beyond it?

 This is what it looked like out the passenger window of the car where I took the photo above.

 "A River Runs Through It...."

 Looking back down and toward the Valley, the road showing the route I've just driven.

 Since the Fireweed in my backyard is essentially gone, I was surprised to find so much of it hanging in there way up near the mine.

 Beautiful, isn't it, as the leaves begin to turn red as it dies away for the winter?

 Lodge area, with the small ski chalets

 From the parking lot looking up Willow-Fishhook

 More of the mine area

 The building with the red roof is now the gift shop/museum, once the mine manager's family's home.

Hello, Mat-Su Valley

 Didn't really see much snow on the tops of the mountains so was a bit surprised to see such a big white patch about halfway down the slope.

 Shots from my "point the camera in the general right direction and click away" while driving bit. And, no, I'm not looking through or even at the camera, so I'm not a road hazard. Just done this enough that a split second's glance tells me if I'm aiming in the right general direction, then just shrug and click.

 Erosion under the vegetation at the top of a bank alongside the road.

 Long view and then a contrasted closer look at the colors and growth on the side of the mountainside.

 Artsy moment? Weeds blowing in the wind?

 I have dozens and dozens of almost this identical shot but can rarely resist taking one more when I'm passing the bridge near the viewing area for the Little Su.

 Contrasted up but shows some of the variety of color on the mountain sides.

 Oh, well, definitely an artsy moment. I think this is the shot that killed my sinuses cos it was blowing like crazy along the river by then. Took about a dozen shots of this dang tough fireweed and only a couple turned out in focus, let along in the right general spot.

 Mat-Su Valley below