While in Seward, we were staying at an RV park just a few miles from the only accessible road to the Kenai Fjords National Park. We had flown over a glacier but could not pass up the opportunity to hike up to Exit glacier to get a bit more up close and personal. And, it allowed for the girls to work on their Junior Ranger Program. We learned so much during hike through the trees up to the glacier. We learned how old the glaciers were and how quickly they were retreating (there were date markers all along the trail, which was quite telling and disturbing). We learned how much snow falls each year on the ice field (up to 100 feet a year) and why it was in the mid-seventies on the lower trail but when we got up close there were winds and air temps in the fifties (the temperature of the ice changes the air temperature). Our hike made for a very good afternoon.
The following day we took a six hour boat tour into the park. The boat ride was a commercial operation but there was a Park Ranger on board who provided even more educational information for us. We learned about the original peoples of the land, the history of Seward and how glaciers impact the ecosystem of the world's oceans. We all need be concerned with their rapid melting.
We also saw some wildlife that was the stuff of National Geographic. Sea otters, harbor seals, sea lions (who were sparring on a remote stretch of rock way out into the ocean), countless birds including the cute puffin, a pair of eagle and then the show stopper, a family of five orca. And all around us, for six hours were breathtaking peaks, water as clear as glass and at other times as turquoise as that in the Caribbean. I don't think I would ever tire of a place like that. It was beyond beautiful. Words like exquisite, breathtaking, splendid; they just don't cut the endless raw beauty.
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| The crew fished out some glacier ice to make margaritas. They were kind enough to give us a cup of ice to chew on. |
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| We saw hundreds of jellyfish. |
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