Day 18 – Farewell, Alaska – We’re Going to Moose You – June 18, 2019

We slept in this morning, grabbed some great pastry and sourdough pancakes at the Bake Shop in Girdwood, then got on AK Highway 1.

Our first stop was Bird Point. No birds, but we did some pointing. We also saw the tide rushing out from Turnagain Arm. The bore tide schedule was not in our favor, so we did not get a chance to see the tide rushing back in later this evening.

The next stop was Potter Marsh Bird Sanctuary. The modern origins of this spot are directly related to the building of the Alaska Railway. It seems the leftover soil and other detritus from constructing the rail bed was all pushed into the marshy area that is now Potter Marsh. Over the course of several years, many streams have run through there creating perfect conditions for a wildlife marsh. The State of Alaska has set up several raised boardwalks over the marsh. This lets people look directly down onto the flora and fauna that thrive there.

As soon as we walked out onto the boardwalk, we saw two very young moose calves learning to forage in the wetlands.

Their mother was also in attendance.

And so, our Alaska adventure ends.

Next: I'm standing at a charging kiosk in the Anchorage Airport finishing up this last post. Now we wait for our red eye flight home.

Day 17 – Exit Glacier, The Hills Are Alive, Alyeska Ski Resort

The rain stopped this morning. Although there was no real sunshine, things seemed brighter and warmer. I know the mosquitoes liked it, since they were ready to greet us as soon as we stepped outside. We packed up and drove up the road a couple of miles to do some hiking near Exit Glacier, which is within the Kenai Fjords National Park.

When we entered the park boundary, we started to see signs stating ‘1897’, 1917’, and so on. We figured out that these markers showed where the terminus of Exit Glacier had been in those years. It’s hard to believe that just over one hundred years ago, the paths we were walking on through the lush forest were covered by hundreds of feet of ice.

And this was a long time ago, too!

 

Karen and I hiked up to an overlook to see where the glacier stands as of today.

Later, I hiked up along the glacial stream to the nose of the glacier, where water was roaring out of an ice cave. The temperature there was quite a bit cooler, due to the ‘katabatic’ wind that flowed down from the upper reaches of the glacier, bringing with it dense cool air.

After our morning hike, we swung by the Seward Safeway and got some picnic lunch supplies. Our trip north up the Seward Highway was much more clear than when we’d driven down south through the rain a few days ago.

We found a great place to have lunch beside the highway.

We thought we heard Julie Andrews singing off in the distance when we stopped for some photos.

In the late afternoon, we rolled into the Alyeska Ski Resort and checked into the Hotel Alyeska. There was still plenty of daylight, so I took a little walk up to the tramway near the top of the mountain. The trail is relatively short – just over three miles – but it gains about 2000’ of vertical elevation in that distance. Up on the mountain, there are great views of Turnagain Arm.

The payoff for a motivated hiker is that you get to ride the tram down from the mountain at no charge.

Tonight is our last night in Alaska (although we’ll be flying all night tomorrow), so we topped off our dinner with the resort’s signature dessert, Baked Alyeska.

Next: Anchorage, then red-eye flight home

Day 16 – Cool Hand Fluke – June 16, 2019

It was a cold and stormy morning – and we still went out for our third boat trip in as many days. This time, it was the Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise. A ‘cool’ six hour ride down through Resurrection Bay, out into the Gulf of Alaska, and then back into the relative calm of Aialik Bay kept our teeth chattering for most of the day.

We took a short walk along the Seward waterfront before we checked in for the boat tour.

Once on the water, we passed an otter gazing up in amazement at the tourists leaning over the edge of the boat. It seemed to be wondering why we were heading out into the spring squalls.

Right around Callisto Head, we saw the telltale spouting of a humpback whale.

We even got a fluke shot, sort of…

Our captain got word that Aialik Glacier was socked in with sea ice, so we diverted to the nearby Holgate Glacier. On the way up Holgate Arm, we passed several waterfalls, among them was Bridalveil Falls (seems to be a default name for many falls in Alaska).

Through the rain and mist, we finally saw Holgate Glacier. We floated in the bay for about 20 minutes, watching pieces of the glacier fall into the water. At this point, my hands stopped working and the screen on the phone became unresponsive in the cold and wet conditions.

On the return trip, we went out again into the Gulf of Alaska. Out beyond No Name Island, we stopped and watched a playful pod of orcas. They were literally flying through the air (out of camera range) and crashing back into the water. Our captain, who said she's been sailing these waters for nearly forty years, told us she's never seen so many orca breachings in one place at one time. In lieu of a wildlife photo, here’s what a ‘Pano’ shot looks like when the boat is heaving to and fro, and when the photographer is trying not to fall overboard.

As we traveled north back up Resurrection Bay, we passed Mount Marathon. It’s the site of an annual July 4th endurance foot race that has runners climbing from the streets of downtown Seward (sea level) one and a half miles up to the top of Mount Marathon (nearly 3000 feet elevation), and then back down into Seward. It is billed as the most difficult 5K race on the planet. You can see the trail going up the ridge line in the center of the photo.

We also saw a lone Aliner trailer camped on the shores of the bay. They’re braver than us.

Back in Seward, we thawed out with some seafood chowder and called it a day.

Next: Alyeska Ski Resort

Day 15 – The Sound and the Ferry – June 15, 2019

It seems the farther south we travel, the colder it gets. Believe it or not, our warmest days so far were when we went rafting north of the arctic circle. We awoke to another beautiful coastal Alaska spring morning – a steady rain and temperature in the low 40’s.

Today was a travel day. We checked in for the Valdez to Whittier auto ferry at 6:00AM and had a relaxing light breakfast in the car while waiting in line to board. All was quiet and serene, except for the sound of the ancient VW camper idling ahead of us, with its exhaust gently wafting into our air vents.

As we pulled away from the dock, the mountains were partially hidden by the fog and the rain.

We rode on the 235 foot long ferry, ‘Aurora’. The trip from Valdez to Whittier is 77 nautical miles (90 statute miles) through Prince William Sound, a distance we covered in a leisurely 5 hours and 45 minutes.

The first thing we saw as we came in close to Whittier, was a bright neon glow off in the misty distance. Through the binoculars, we could see the hazy outline of a hulking structure with a huge digital screen display on top. After several minutes, we were near enough to see that it was a Princess Cruise ship docked in the harbor. It dwarfed everything else, including all the buildings, in the area. Coming into the harbor, it reminded me of the sensation you get when you drive across the desert and start to get close to Las Vegas. First you see the glow, and then you see the skyline way off on the horizon.

We squeezed our way down to the auto deck and somehow found our car packed in between all the campers and RV’s. It was still raining and even a little more windy when we drove off the ferry.

Our wait for the Whittier tunnel was only about 30 minutes. 

Before long, we were at the Portage Visitor Center just in time for Karen to visit the pelt display. Although there were some initial  barriers, she was able to 'break on through to the otter side'.

It continued raining steadily all the way down the Seward Highway. Also, we are now noticing a lot more traffic than we’ve seen anywhere else on this trip. The scenery, however, continues to dazzle us.

 

Next: Kenai Fjords National Park Boat Tour