Palmer Creek Road

Climbing from sea level in Hope, Alaska up through a narrow forested road, passing by a small campground, and culminating at the end of an alpine valley is Palmer Creek Road. This trail is rich with a history of gold mining with old mine ruins to explore. There were three primary mines that operated in the valley. The Downey mine is to the east of the wooden bridge around the 2500' level. The Hershey/Hirshey mine is around 2900' to the east of the gated end of the road. The Swetman Mill, a 0.6-mile hike, and Swetman/Lucky Strike Mine, a 1.75-mile hike, still have mining artifacts and ruins south of the road's end. Most of these hiking trails have shallow water crossings. These mines were active from 1911 to 1939 but have not been reopened since. In recent years, mining claims have still been active in the valley at a smaller scale.