Harding Ice Fields Trail

Saturday: (07/16) English muffins with PBJ for breakfast. I headed back out to Exit Glacier for a hike. I hiked the trail up to the Harding ice Field. The key word is 'up". It's a 4.3 mile, almost entirely up trail that provides an excellent view of the Harding Ice Field below. There are lots of steps and snow on the trail. It has an elevation gain of 2300 feet. Usually a trail like this takes some time to got up but half the time to return because it's down. This trail was pretty hard coming down because of the snow and rocks. it took almost 7 hours to go up and come back. The view was spectacular and the hike was worth well it. When I got home Lou and Dawn were enjoying dinner already. Roast pork, baked potatoes and a fruit salad. Lou and Dawn spent most of the day at home except for a walk around town. Lou was busy cooking.

Below are the photos of the hike. i need to polish this post later.


A nice trail. The stones above went through a very muddy spot like the stones in a Japanese garden.


Some hairly berries and more flowers.


Really nice flowers.


Flowers along the trail.


A view of the top of Exit Glacier with some flowers by the trail.


A couple more views of the top of Exit Glacier.


More views of the trail.


More views of the trail.


More views of the trail.


The trail proceeds through this snow field.


Me at the top with the ice fields behind.


More views of the Exit Glacier.


A couple of birds were bouncing around at the top. This one seems like a baby.


A good view of Harding Ice Field. White as far as I could see and beyond.


A view of Exit Glaciar from the top. There wasn't much growing for much of the hike but there were a few flowers at the end of the trail.


The road out to the trailhead was flooded today. Must be a lot more melt today. When we were out a couple of days ago it was only to the edge of the road. now it's a foot deep at the right.

Kenai National Park

Friday: (07/15) We had toast with peanut butter and jelly for breakfast. We walked over to the marina and took the Kenai Fiords boat tour. Nice tour. Yesterday the winds blew hard all day. Today the sun was shining, there were no clouds, the sea was calm and no winds. Couldn't have been a better day for the cruise. The roar of the glaciers when blocks of ice falls is interesting. The boat wasn't at all crowded. Lunch was chicken wraps. The tour stops off ant Fox island on the return trip for a Prime Rib and salmon dinner.

Below are the photos of the trip. i need to polish this post later.


Our boat was the Glacier Explorer. It came from the empty slip.


A look at our campground. Our spot is on the far right above left. We had a great day for our voyage.


A whale of a tail. A hump back whale's tail.


A whale snort and splash.


A bald eagle in a tree. There were quite a few but never close enough or still enough for me to get a picture.



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A sample of glacial ice. Dawn and Lou looking at the ice.


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We stopped for dinner at a lodge on Fox Island.


There are lots of stones on the beach all ideal for rock skipping. it was odd see all the old folk like us out throwing stones.

Seward, Alaska

Thursday: (07/14) We got up at 06:30 and left Bertha Creek Campground and were on the road shortly after 07:00. We wanted to get down to Seward and grab a nice beach campsite downtown. We found a nice vacant site with a great view of the harbor and inlet. The wind really picked up just as we arrived. Gale force winds really rocked the RV after we parked. I fixed pancakes and sausage for breakfast after we settled in to our site. After breakfast Dawn and I walked down to the library. I uploaded some recent pictures and worked on the blog.

Lunch was Lou's Chinese chicken salad. After lunch we went over and did our laundry. Seward doesn't have much in the way of laundromats. Just five washers and dryers. We filled the place with our loads. For dinner we went to the Breeze Inn Restaurant for fish and chips.
(GPS: 60.11259864, -149.43716379)

Exit Glacier In Seward

Wednesday: (07/13) We got up earlier today. Granola with yogurt and honey for breakfast.. We headed off toward Seward.


We explored several campgrounds on the way. The one above was right by Kenai Lake.


Along the way we stopped in Moose Pass. and saw this water wheel grinder. The sign next to it says "If you have an axe to grind, do it here."




There were several nice ponds.Most are loaded with these yellow lilies.

When we arrived in Seward, we collected more information at the Visitor Center then headed out to the Kenai Fiords National Park to the Exit Glacier.


This glacier is pretty bi but one of the smaller on the Harding Ice Field which covers a good part of the Kenai Peninsula. It doesn't have a sharp edge. It just melts away at its end.


Here we are at the edge off the Exit Glacier. The Exit Glacier is the only place in the Kenai Fiords National Park that can be driven to. We hiked the mile or so to the glacier edge and looked around. It is a small part of a  big block of ice, the Harding Ice Fields.


We looked around downtown. Sweet Darlings candy shop makes their own salt water taffy. The machine that wraps the candy is a marvel. Seward is also the mile zero of the original Iditarod trail. The current race doesn't start here. it starts up by Wasilla.

 We decided to move down to the beach campground tomorrow. Lunch was sandwiches. Dinner was Lou's Mexican cornbread. When we got home we packed up the screen tent and I cleaned the windows to be ready to depart early tomorrow.