Exit Glacier
I know you are never supposed to begin with an apology, but I know I'm going to have a hard time getting this one out. My words won't do it justice, nor will the pictures we took.

We had hesitantly signed up for this hiking trip knowing that it would be strenuous. We got fitted with helmets and crampons (little claw things that strap to your boots) and got dropped off with a guide at the base of Exit Glacier. I was feeling okay until he told us that we would start off by climbing 1400 feet in just over a mile. We were talking about skiing on the way up and I remarked that our climb was twice that of the tallest hill we ski on in Wisconsin.

The climb was tough - very steep in some places. We were well outfitted though. I'd never hiked with trekking poles before, but what a difference they make. They are basically ski poles that lets you use your arms to help you walk. It takes so much stress off of your knees and ankles. We continued to ascend to the high point of the hike. We stood on this mini peak and had this amazing 360 degree view. That spot became my new favorite spot in Alaska. The glacier lay off to one side, slowly sliding down the valley with another glacier spilling off the icefield over the top. Clockwise 90 degrees there was the lip of the icefield, another 90 degrees was the opposite side of the valley which we scoured for wildlife. And the final turn gave us a vast view looking out of the glacial valley at several other glaciers and distant mountains. I wanted to linger there forever.

We had to move on though. This was the point at which we left the marked and maintained trail and picked our way cross country through an alpine meadow. Walking up a stream a bit and then to the rock slide. "The what?" I asked my guide. "It's about 30 yards of shear hill with loose rocks that we'll just kind of slide down." This is where we donned our helmets and scratched and scooted our way down clinging to alder bushed that had a much firmer grip on the soil than did we.

And then we were there. . . Right at the glaciers edge. We cramped on the cramp-ons and took our first steps onto the ice. At first your not real sure where the ground stops and the ice begins, the edges of the glacier being to embedded with loose rock and debris. Eventually we got comfortable with out new spider man abilities and were criss crossing the glacier. I had kind of imagined that the glacier would by a solid sheet of ice that just kind of floated along, but it was nothing like that. It's covered in huge crevices, streams, waterfalls, moulons (deep round holes). It's this whole other world that's constantly shifting and changing. A stream will get redirected and break through a new place. The crevices open and close as the ice slides over rock formations beneath. There even its own ecosystem. The red algae are eaten by ice worms that are eaten by little marmots. Even the bears will make there way onto the ice. (Their cramp-ons are built-in)

And the view back down the valley was tremendous. The river pouring out and snaking along.

Going up the rock slide was a little easier than going down it, and our hike down was less strenuous than going up, but bone-jarring all the way. We stopped again at that fabulous 360 view and finished out out trip. Five hours of hiking, climbing, sliding, and cramping.

We drove all the way back to Anchorage last night and stayed in a little dive called the Caribou Inn. It wasn't very nice, but it had a desperately needed hot shower (The first since Saturday!).
We were blessed with this amazing sunset, which I hope the camera did catch. Orange and purple and blue with amazing clouds and a rainstorm in front of it. All along the Seward highway people had pulled off the road to watch it. I felt like Moses, I might die if I saw any more of God's glory. And to think, my eyes are still veiled!

On to Denali today. 4-6 hours of driving, then we'll set up our tent and board the bus up into the park tomorrow morning.

Happy Birthday to Jen. I had to sing alone and it was a Smore and not a cake, but she had a great day. We got another blessed weather day. Sunny all day long.

So after the big Exxon - Waldez oil spill on Prince William Sound, Exxon gave a bunch of money. Some of that money went to fund the Alaska Sea Life center that we visited today. Who says good can't come from a guilty conscience? We got to see a bunch of the marine wildlife up close that we'd only been able to see from a distance. We saw hundreds of Stellar sea lions in Glacier Bay, but I had no idea how big they were until we were right up next to one. They had split level aquariums so you could see the animals both in and out of the water. There is something so graceful and magnificent about that sea lion under water.

And the swimming birds. Holy Cow! Who knew that birds can swim under water. They literally fly through the water.

One of the most remarkable creatures in the Moon Jellyfish. We saw these guys in the aquiariums and in the bay as we kayaked.

Kayaking was redeemed today. We got 'taxied' over to thumb cove where we got in kayaks and paddles around the cove. Unfortunately, the dead whale that we were hoping to see had only hours before been towed out to open water. All the remained was hunks of whale blubber bobbing up and down in the water. We paddled up a salmon stream a bit and saw eagles picking at spent salmon. But again, the weather made it all so enjoyable and peaceful. We ate in town on the water.

Camping has been fun. I cooked pancakes this morning and am planning to do so again tomorrow. We ran across a blueberry patch this afternoon at the kayak take-out, so tomorrow pancakes will be blue berry.

Tomorrow we have our big glacier hike. 6 hours hiking out onto a glacier and back. Then we'll head north towards Denali. We'll camp at a campsite along the way and drive the rest in the morning. Again, who knows what access we'll find.

Jen thanks you all for your birthday wishes. Thanks for reading!

Finally, some great weather! We had a fabulous day for our drive from Anchorage to Seward. We got upgraded from a little car to big truck for free. I was pumped! That's got to be the pretty stretch of road in the country. Glaciers pouring down around every corner. A senic overlook every 5 miles. We hiked a little (.8 mile) trail up to the Burns glacier. There was amazing light behind the glacier. . the first light we've seen all trip. What a treat it was! You'll just have to see the pictures. I can't get it out.

We got set up in our campsite. Imagine a campsite with an internet terminal! Mom, Jen got you note and picked out her T-Shirt as soon as we got here. Thanks for thinking about her on her birthday.

For Jen's birthday tomorrow we are checking out the sea life center in Seward and then giving the Sea kayaking another shot. The weather is supposed to be great again tomorrow. We'll take a water taxi to thumb cove and paddle around in the cove. I don't know if it made the national news or not, but a Carnival cruise ship pulled into Seward last week with a dead Humpback whale stuck to the bow. They dumped the carcass in this cove and apparently it's drawn lots of wildlife (bears!) to feast on it.

Speaking of bears, we "saw" some today. They were injured and in the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation and refugee. A kind of glorified zoo. So we saw them, but not really in the wild. The conservation place was built on top of old Portage, which sank into Turnagain Arm in the sixties after a massize earthquake. The dead Sitka spruces still stick, killed by the rush of salt water.

My ten minutes are about up. . . Thanks for reading!

Onward past the half way mark.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we fly to Anchorage, rent a car and drive to Seward where we'll be camping for a couple days. I doubt that we'll have in internet access, but I'll post if we run across something. Thanks for following us along!

Juneau in a day. . .
Step 1 - Rent a car from rentawreck. a 92 mazda with 236,000 miles. It makes some strange noises, but it will get you around.

Step 2 - Drive to Mendenhall glacier and dodge the tour buses long enough to get a silent moment in front of the big blue ice. It's the most visited glacier in the world. Imagine it surging forward instead of retreating and watch the tour buses tumble in ice.

Step 3 - drive 9 miles past the Ferry Dock (15 miles from the end of the road) to the Shrine of St. Thereasa. Find the little lookout behind station of the cross #2 and stare into the face of God. I've never found such a place to pray. Finish the stations and walk through the prayer labrynth. By the time you get to the center, you'll be ready to listen and pray. Leave and offering there in the center.

Step 4 - Take another look at the glacier from the Chapel on the hill.

Step 5 - Watch the Salmon run up the 450 ladder at the Hatchery. Marvel at how a fish after swimming 2000 miles away smells its way back to the place it was born in order to spawn and die. Learn to tell the difference between the Chums, Sockeyes, Kings, Silvers, and Pinks.

Step 6 - Find the State Museum and take a quick walk-through. There are two great artists on display there that really capute the spirit of everything you've seen so far. A photographer and a water-color artist. Realize that Alaska has the only US soil to every have been occupied by a enemy since the war of 1812.

Step 6 - Pick your way through Juneau up the ravine to the Last Chance gold mine museum. Think about the power required to turn on the giant motor that runs the compressors. Feel the 44 degree air rush up from a mine entrance. Get pretty wet trying to take a picture of the inside of the mine through the steel grate. The rain is a little anoying but it's created magnificent waterfalls in the last change canyon.

Step 7 - By now, you've long missed lunch, so move right on in to supper. Drive downtown and eat along the water watching the cruise boats re-load. Force yourself to keep eating fish and remember that the beef is fresh and the fish in frozen in Illinois.

Step 8 - The sky has cleared a bit since this morning, so drive back by the Mendenhall Glacier. You'll pretty much have it to yourself now. After dark, it's a little creepy up there to turn around just before to sky goes dark.

kayaks, rain, and pain
Day three glacier bay, more pain than gain. We got soaked through on our kayaking adventure. The sun peaked out a bit just before we started but as we got about half way across Bartlet cove, a pretty bad squall came up and pushed across. We grounded the kayaks and sought shelter in the forest. We putter around a bit in the cove, coming pretty close to a harbor porpuse at one point. Had smoked slamon that ourguide had brought and returned tired wet and cold.

As we flew out of Gustavus in our 7 seat Piper, I spotted a humpback swimming just beyond the airport. That was a treat to see from so far up. I was proud to be able to spot it too.

We've got a nice room in Juneau the next two nights, and a bathroom where we can flush the paper (unlike in Gustavus). We're renting a car tomorrow and doign a whirlwind of Juneau. Mendenhall Glacier, state museum downtown and the shrine of St. Threasa.

Warm and cozy in Juneau
Well as you can probably tell, we weren't able to find any more internet access in Gustavus. What a strange little town. I think there is only about 300 people in town. Jen had one stranger ask her how her whale watching tour had been. We'd never met the lady before. I was convinced the town had a secrect meeting every night to talk about us.

Putting up with Gustavus was well worth it in the end. Our Glacier Bay tour was knock-your-socks off amazing. I swear my heart stopped twelve times in 5 hours. Here is the wildlife tally for Day two:
2 wolves
1 brown bear
a couple hundred Stellar sea lions on South Marble Island.
Harbor Seals
Sea Otters
about 8 Bald eagles
Puffin (the yellow head spike one, not the horned one)
Our breaching humback friend made another appearance, bursting out of the water about a hundred yards in front of us.
Moutian goats

And the glaciers, holy cow. Margorie, even in the really flat light we had, shining, almost glowing it's baby blue. and MASSIVE. It dwarfed the cruise liner that shared the bay with us.

Romans 1:21 talks about how creation declares God glory and how even those who have not heard, are without excuse because God's been revealed to them in creation. I started to wonder what my picture of God would be if all I knew about him was what I observed that he created. Today I definetaly would have gotten a sense of his enormity, and the deep truth how in the same action, He both gives and takes away. The glaciers destroy everything in their paths and leave behind a rich, abundant ground that is fully restored in a single mans lifetime. Death and rebirth, it's a cycle going on before our eyes in Glacier Bay and it is a declaration from God about himself.

In Gustavus . . Spent the afternoon on a whale-watching boat. Incredible! There was a pod of about 12 humpbacks that we followed around for nearly 3 hours. We saw one breach over a dozen times! Tomorrow we have an all day cruise up into glacier bay. I'll write more when we get more substantial access to the internet. I though you probably wanted to hear that we hadn't found any bears on our last day in Sitka. The youth hostel we stayed in last night was a real trip. more later. . . .

Sheetka Day two (that's the way the Tlinket say it)
We are starting off downtown Sitka. Russian's Bishop's house. Lutheran Pipe Organ. Russian Orthodox church. This afternoon we're considering hiking the Gaven Hill trail in search of bears. Apparently this may there was a freak frost that killed nearly every berry blossom in South-east. That's made the bears extra hungry and they've been spotted in town several times. So we should be safe up in the hills where there are no berries.

Sheldon Jackson. Presbyterian Missionary who came here and didn't just convert, but embraced and preserved the native culture. The college and the museum we saw yesterday both bear his name. Rows and rows of native artifacts and art and current generations of artists and culture preserved because Sheldon Jackson came to preach, but also to listen. There's a place and a time that I think the church had it right for a bit. The Presbyterians ran out of money and sold the college to the state. So now the state preserves this rich culture.

Day One.

Ann, our host gave us great suggestions today about how to go to see everything we wanted to see. We walked first to the National Historic Park where we watched a video about how the three major people groups have shape the area: The native Tlinket people, the Russian settlers, and the Americans have all made there lasting imprint on the area. The feds are actually funding quite the operations there. They have studios that support native artists. Especially prominent are the dozens of totem poles in the park. We took a hike through there grounds to see them all.

We crossed the Indian river and saw the thousands of Salmon swimming up the river. This sight was the highlight for me today. What a treat to arrive just as the "humpys" are running. The waters were thick with them. Mostly the salmon were swimming just enough to keep themselves stationary. Further up the river we saw a kind of bottle neck where the river was shallower and moved more swiftly with fish piled on top of each other below.

From the park we walked up to the Raptor Center. I'd only heard the word "Raptor" from Jurassic Park, but apparently a raptor is any bird of prey. The center accepts injured bird from throughout southeast Alaska and nurses them back to health. Those that regain their ability to fly are released back into the wild, and those whose injuries are too severe to fly again get placed in zoos throughout the country. Bloomington, Peoria, and Chicago all has bald Eagles that were rehabilitated at this center. They have a new "flight training center" where tourist can see the eagles through one way tinted glass. They don't want birds that are to be released into the wild to grow accustomed to human interaction.

From there we stopped at a museum and a fish hatchery both on the campus of the university and ate seafood in the Bayview restaurant downtown. Our B&B has a hot tub on the porch that we will enjoy tonight before gearing up for our second day in Sitka.

Until then. . . .

Off we go day one. . .
Our host, Ann gave us an optimized route to see all the highlights in Sitka. We're taking her advise and heading out. National Historical park first, then the raptor center. . .

Sitka Arrival
After nearly 10 hours of travel, we've made our way to Sitka. Two bodies but only one bag. Jen's pack won't arrive until 2pm tomorrow.

We chased the sunset from Seattle to Juneau. A two hour flight with the same pink and purple sky the entire way. After the stop in Juneau, the plane headed back to Sitka.

Our lodging at Ann Gaven's B&B is nice. It basically these folk's house with extra rooms that they rent out. There apparently are some anthropologist from Syracuse staying here also. I hope they don't try to study us.

Heading out. . .
Well here is the last you'll here from us before we leave. After packing and cramming into backpacks, we are set to go. Here is a quick packing list:
4 pairs underwear
2 pair pants
5 shirts
1 coat
sleeping bag
thermarest
pillow

I started to freak out about how few clothes I have. I've done this before, but that was a while ago and there weren't any girls around. She'll just have to get used to the smell I guess. Surely there are laundry mats in Alaska though.

I hope I don't die of thirst before we land. I'm still awfully ticked about this no-liquids-on-a-plane stuff. Just because some dorky British guys had a dopey idea. There have been explosive liquid combinations for hundreds of years. Why is it suddenly a threat? I guess you need president who passed high school chemistry to prevent my right-to-drink from being snatched away.

Weather - yuck. The weather forecast still stinks. 50 / 60 % chance of rain every day. One person from Denali said there there is already snow at the higher elevations. I guess that's just the way it is in August in Alaska. We've got rain gear, so we'll enjoy whatever comes our way!

Itenerary

Sunday, August 20:
AA flight 23 to Seattle
AA flight 79 to Sitka, AK
Arrive in Sitka

Lodging: Ann's Gavan Hill B&B

Monday, August 21:

Activities:
- Russian Bishop’s House
- Sheldon Jackson Museum
- Alaska Raptor Center

Tuesday, August 22:

Activities:
- Sitka’s National Historical Park
- Tide Pooling in Halibut Pt. State Recreation Area
- Hiking in the Starrigavan Recreation Area OR hiking – Indian River Trail (p. 145)

Lodging: Hostelling International – Sitka

Wednesday, August 23:

Alaska Airlines Flight 72 Departs Sitka, AK
Alaska Airlines Flight 72 Arrives in Juneau, AK
Air excursions flight to Gustavus
Whale Watching in Gustavus

Lodging: Good River B & B

Thursday, August 24:
Glacier Bay Cruise

Lodging: Good River B & B

Friday, August 25:
Guided Kayak Day Paddle
Air Excursions flight to Juneau

Lodging: Best Western Grandma’s Feather Bed – Juneau

Saturday, August 26:

- Options
o Mt. Roberts Tramway & Mt. Roberts Hike (155)
o Walking Tour (156)
o Alaska State Museum (p. 154)
o Mendenhall Glacier & Glacier Loop Trail (162)
o The Last Chance mining Museum & Historic Park (155)

Lodging: Best Western Grandma’s Feather Bed – Juneau

Sunday, Aug. 27:

AA flight 73 from Juneau to Anchorage

Activities:
- Scenic Drive to Seward (246)
o McHugh Creek & hike to McHugh Pt.
o Beluga Pt. for Bore Tides
o Bird Point
o Portage Glacier
o Stop in Girdwood
§ Crow Creek Mine (251)
§ Mt. Alyeska Tram (251)
§ Hiking on the Winner Creek Trail (252)
o Miles 79 + beyond (262)

Lodging: Miller’s Landing Campground

Monday, August 28:

Activities:
- Either Sea Kayaking in Resurrection Bay OR a cruise into Kenai Fjords National Park
- Hiking the Caines Head State Recreation Area

Lodging: Miller’s Landing Campground

Tuesday, August 29:

Morning: Alaska Sea Life Center

11:30 – 5:15 p.m: Ice Hike with Exit Glacier Guides

Lodging:
- Camping in one of the many Forest Service Campgrounds on the Seward Highway (p. 268)

Wednesday, Aug. 30:

Activities:
- Drive to Denali National Park, stopping along the way to hike
- 11 a.m: Check in @ Savage River Campground in Denali
- Explore the Denali Park Visitor Center (358)
- Hiking @ Save River OR to the Mt. Healy overlook (356)

Lodging: Savage River Campground in Denali

Thursday, Aug. 31:

6:30 a.m: Denali Shuttle to Fish Creek

Lodging: Savage River Campground in Denali

Friday, Sep. 1:

Activities:
- Horseback Ride through Denali Saddle Safaris
- Return drive to Anchorage
o Possible stop @ Hatcher Pass & the independence Mine State Historical Park (255)

Lodging: Bear Foot Inn

Saturday, Sep. 2:

Activities for Saturday & Sunday:
- Walking Tour of Downtown Anchorage (228)
- Anchorage Museum of History & Art (232)
- Alaska Botanical Gardens (234)
- Alaska Native Heritage Center (234)
- Earthquake Park (235)
- Hiking on the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail (238)
- Hiking in Kincaid Park (238)
- Hiking in the Flattop Mt. & the Glen Alps Trailhead (238)

Lodging: Bear Foot Inn


Sunday, Sep. 3:

9:49 p.m: AA flight 130 from Anchorage to ORD

Monday, Sep. 4:

6:45 a.m: Arrive @ O’Hare

Welcome! This blog will chronicle our 2 week journey to Alaska Aug 21 - Sept 3, 2006. I'm not sure what kind of internet access we'll run across, but incase we do, we'll post here!