Seward - Fjords National Park Cruise

Alaska has hosted a glacier-favoring mixture of climate and topography for the last 12.5 million years. During the Pleistocene age, when the climate was 3 to 9 degrees Fahrenheit colder than it is today, an ice sheet covered a large expanse of the earth, including the islands of southeastern Alaska. Today there are still over 100,000 glaciers in Alaska, although ice covers only 5 percent of the state. http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/forest_facts/resources/geology/icefields.htm

One of the best examples of these national treasures is in southeastern Alaska. The Fjord's National Park is a "must do" on anyone's list for Alaska. Unfortunately, we were greeted with nasty weather and rough seas on our first "cruise" into the Park. We booked the evening trip with "Fjord's Tours" because we'd get both of us on (including a salmon-bake dinner) for the price of one...a great deal!

As it turned out we got a rough ride, poor visability and a large dinner for one (Kim was too seasick to eat). In spite of being on this beautiful eighty-six foot catamaran, the Aialik Explorer, the heavy winds and seas took it's toll on quite a few passengers.

Heading out into Resurrection Bay from the Seward Municipal Harbor, we had a nice view of their spacious campground which rund almost the entire length of the Harbor. We were lucky to get one of the last slots on the far end, giving us a great view of the many craft that moved in & out each day.

Other local residents were in the Harbor, enjoying those same views from the "bottom up" like this Sea Otter playing tag with one of the many gulls.

Reaching the end of the Bay, Fox Island is off to our left (yes, they actually raised foxes in this area during the "fur era") now a favorite fishing spot for the early run of Silver Salmon. From the number of boats out in this rough weather, they must be in!

Further down the Peninsula just past the entry to Bear Glacier, we spot a few Humpback Whales, but in spite of several attempts to get close enouygh for good pictures, the huge creatures spend most of their time underwater making sounding dives.....perhaps they are don't care for the heavy seas either!

The only residents that don't seem to mind the turmoil are the feathered ones. As we cruise along, we pass countless numbers of gulls, Artic Terns, Puffins & Murres....

We start to approach the open seas and the Aialik Cape and spot a number of Stellar Sea Lions resting on the small rocky islands just shy of the turn into rougher seas. (I didn't get any pictures of us rounding the Cape. The seas out here were ten feet or so, requiring both hands just to keep ones balance on the rear deck.)

Once around the corner things smooth out dramatically, and our first views of the splendid blue ice appear in the distance.

As we get closer, we start to see large chunks of ice floating in the bay against that beautiful background of crystal-blue ice towering some six hundred feet above the waterline. Aialik Glacier is a "tidal glacier" terminating in deep water. See the video of the face at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jl0zvouw2Fg

The result is a constant "calving" of large chunks of ice into the sea, creating lots of noise and turmoil near it's face. The resulting icebergs are another source of beauty in this otherwise blue-brown milky soup that our hull sits in. Watch a big one come off! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RcoaqjkwuE

Captain Terry spent extra time at the Glacier, making several passes back & forth. The large front deck of the Explorer proved to be a great platform for watching the spectacle. But soon it was time to head back to Resurrection Bay.

I must say that it felt pretty good to shuck our sea legs after the long rough ride back. And this is the site that Kim was waiting to see...our trailer sitting on stable ground back in the Harbor, no more shaking, rocking & rolling for this evening!

But the story really isn't over quite yet. After spending another day in Seward, we moved on back to Homer to take advantage of what seemed like an improvement in the weather. And is was! We enjoyed another couple of weeks there, which you'll read about in other posts, and then decided to use our other coupon to take a second shot at the Fjords tour. So, before we left Homer, we booked again, this time with the "Renown", an even larger catamaran based at Seward also. Unfortunately, within the three days it took to work our way back, the weather had turned again to those famalier "Kenai Peninsula blues". This time, Kim took dramamine just to make sure things would go better.

When we entered the main cabin on the Renown, we were surprised at how much larger it was, so this in itself suggested a better ride!

The trip out of the harbor proved similar to that on the Explorer, the major difference was that the fishing boats after the Silvers had moved well into the Bay, suggesting that the run was now well underway.

As we entered the gulf and I gazed out the cabin window, I realized that we were faced with lighter seas, but more rain! Pulling into Aialik Bay, in addition to seeing the Glacier again, we notice a couple of brave souls out here in much smaller "tour boats"!

Although it was still cloudy, the sky opened a bit as we pulled close. The glacier appeared brighter on this trip, and Kim now was enjoying the view,

so in spite of the rainey weather as we pulled away from another day at Aialik Glacier, I must say that the trip was worth doing again!

Seward - Exit Glacier Hikes UPDATED!

Among several activities that Sean had scheduled for he & Leo was a hike on Exit Glacier. Exit lies just northwest of the town of Seward, and is the easiest "exit point" if one were hiking across the Harding Icefield from west to east, hence the name. It is a National Park, and like many others caters to solo or group adventures, as well as guided hikes.

Kim & I took the opportunity to scout the lower part of the glacier, from several of the numerous foottrails. This is an easy days hike and if you're in the area you simply must do it as a minimum. On the drive out we were captivated by the row after row of bright-blooming Fireweed, the Alaska state flower.

Our first view of the moraine area re-enforced just how mighty & powerful the forces of the glaciers are. This particular area was covered in ice only tens years ago. Whether global warming, or just a series of warmer than normal summers, Exit is receding at a very rapid rate.

As we hike along up toward the face of the glacier, we pause to enjoy more of Nature's pathside surprises....

The face is an awesome spectacle that no photo can truly convey, but here's my best shot from still quite a distance away.

A little closer and Kim notices clear evidence of the cuts that the ice has left in the rocks.

We finally get to within almost touching distance (the Park forbids closer encroachment due to the instability of the ice...it is moving under tremendous pressure all the time...), so we take the last few minutes to listen, look and marvel at the forces at work.

We met Sean & Leo early one morning to do some guided "ice hiking" on the Glacier surface. Leo was anxious to get started, trying on the helmet & backapck as soon as we got there.

A short shuttle and we were at Exit G Park, on the 2+ mile climbing hike up to a safe entry point that our guides use for getting onto the ice.

It wasn't long before we get a differnet and much more dramatic view of the emense size of Exit than can be had from down below...ice stretching both directions as far as we can see!

As we hike down towards the huge expanse, large cracks & crevices appear, staring in wonder at the beautiful deep blue colors revealed within this massive ice cube...

Dawning the helmets & crampons was a bit confusing & frustrating...they fold together in a way that tends to tangle, but before long we get them all on and checked and we're off to explore the monolith first hand.

We recieve countless warnings about being careful around the crevices, most of them a bottomless pit flowing into a freezing river far below the surface!

Looking across the expanse at our group heading "home", one realizes the insignificance of man when compared to the immense forces of Nature.... What a wondrous day we have all had!

"NEW" Resurrection Bay Paddle

We finally got the opportunity to do some sea kayaking while along the southern coast of the Kenai Peninsula. We met our Louisiana friends Leo and Sean Bourgeois while we were visiting Seward. Earlier, they had planned a day trip with a kayak outfitter along the shores of the fjords. The outfitter only accepted people in their own tandem kayaks so we left our boats behind.

The day started off dead calm - though it was cool and foggy. We were told to expect the winds to blow out of the north later in the day. We were told to keep an eye on the skies.

After suiting up in kayak gear, our guide gave us a quick paddling lesson. We left Lowell Point south of Seward in high anticipation of the day.

The scenery was spectacular as we paddled down the shore past land rising sharply from water. Tall conifers with an occasional bald eagle perched on their branches hung onto the sides of rocky cliffs. The emerald green water held sea otters swimming on their backs and strange looking sea birds like the puffins or murrelets.

Our destination at Caines Point was a park reachable only by boat or at low tide by hiking along a beach trail. As we neared the destination beach, a beautiful waterfall emptying into the water came into view.

Caines Head State Recreation Area is the site of an abandoned World War II fort. Early in World War II the territory of Alaska was attacked and occupied by Imperial Japanese ground forces. Caines Head and other Resurrection Bay vantages became strategic spots for defending the Port of Seward. The port was the southern terminus of the Alaska Railroad, a critical supply line for the war effort and for Alaskans.

The beach where we landed is marked by the remains of an Army dock built in 1941. The pier survived the 1964 Good Friday earthquake and tsunami, but the land in this area dropped five feet. The deck of the old pier was eventually destroyed by waves.

We stopped to admire the beauty surrounding us before grabbing our lunch to hike up to our picnic spot.

We hiked up a trail that seemed more like a creek than a trail. The walk through the temperate rainforest was beautiful. Moss hung off branches and clung to the north sides of trees. Emerald ferns covered the ground.

We stopped to eat lunch at a small inland lake.

Lunch, which was provided by the outfitter consisted of a lighter far of snack foods. All served pleasantly on a checkered tablecloth.

There was no perceptible wind change while we were gone but by the time we returned to our launch site, the waves had kicked up quite a bit.

Our trip leader made a call to the office via radio and the decision was made to pack up and get out while we could. With some instruction on getting out in the surf and what to do once we got out there, we made our way out into the waves.

We paddled hard for about 20 minutes. It seemed longer. I was really glad that we were in a tandem kayak. I was concentrating hard on paddling. It seemed to me that we were making slow progress back to Seward. Just as I was starting to get really tired our guide signaled us to head towards the shore.

We beached with no problems. I was taken completely surprised when I saw that we landed on the same beach we pushed off from! We had made absolutely no progress the whole time we were out there paddling. I was concentrating so hard on paddling that I had no idea we weren’t going anywhere. Our guide again radioed into the home base. A decision was made to call a water taxi to come rescue us.

While waiting for our rescue we watched other groups around us getting their own rescues.

We watched as our rescue boat ran as close as he could to shore and let down a ramp on the front of the boat. We loaded up all the kayaks and tied them down and headed into the small cabin for a protected ride back.

As you can see we're all smiling. There wasn't a happier group to be in that boat!

And for a look at what our ride back was like - just how bad the waves were - take a look at this short video clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2n4AUAQogM&feature=channel_page