Monday, January 25, 2016

Alaska: Seward

After we spent a couple days in Anchorage, we drove down the Kenai Peninsula to Seward. We stayed at an AMAZING B&B called Bell in the Woods. If you go to Seward, STAY AT BELL IN THE WOODS. We stopped over at a couple glaciers on the way down - the first one I forgot the name, but the second one (a very popular destination) was Exit Glacier.

No Name Glacier

First view of Exit Glacier. We are going to hike all the way up on the right side - see where there is green to the right? We are going up and over that side. 


We got up to the right side and BAM! SNOW! Like, a lot of it. We kept going (of course) and continued up the REALLY STEEP side of he mountain. In the picture above, you can see a cluster of white goats in the middle. They were much better equipped for the terrain than we were. 

The views were pretty stunning

Panorama of the glacier from about 70% of the way to the top

We found some sticks to help with the ascent. Its tough going up though because you take a step and slide half way down because the snow gives way under your weight. Very tiring. 

But we just kept going. Can you even tell how steep it is? It was crazy tough. 

Lots and lots of snow

Taking a moment to appreciate the view behind us

And we are still not at the top yet. See the little ant people? I made this one bigger so you can appreciate just how far we trudged through the snow. 

And we are up

Happy! 

We stayed up there and had lunch, but had to make our way down. Going down was the BEST part! It took us like 20 minutes going down because you can kinda sit on your tush and slide down. So fun. 

One more nice panorama

In spite of all the snow up top, it was warm and green as we were going down. 

The next day we went on a mountain biking trip. We were able to ride up and over a ridge thanks to the generosity of our hosts who offered to come get us at the end. Just one week before we arrived there was too much snow to pass through. It was nice enough when we went though. 

Too many mosquitoes to take shots before we got up to the ridge, so here we are, beginning to see the tops of the mountains around us. 

View behind us as we keep going - this is not the lake we stop at later. 

This is the lake we stop at. Gorgeous. Still some ice floating in the water. 


Where we came from and where we are headed

And we are on the descent. Jer is on the right practically flying down

The way down was beautiful because there weren't a lot of trees, so we could see the surrounding mountains the whole time. 


This part reminded me a bit of Kauai - green lush mountains that are SUPER STEEP with waterfalls cascading down the sides

Back in Seward we saw a bald eagle!
 

Stay tuned for the adventures in the Arctic Circle! 





Getting Caught up: Alaska June 2015

I'm not a great blogger. In fact, I don't really care to keep up on a journal or to write out my thoughts for most things, so when Jeremy asked me to take over the blog I thought, "OK, this won't be so bad... typing is much faster than writing and most of our blog posts are pictures, so it won't be so hard to keep up to date on it." Giving myself a little credit, I did keep up with it for a little while, but then...  I see now that it has been about 6 months since I blogged. At least I get to start up again with one of the best trips we have ever gone on - ALASKA. I won't fit it all into one post, but we began our trip in Anchorage. We spent a few nights in Seward before flying up to Fairbanks for our excursion into the Arctic Circle. Without further ado, here are the best pictures from the trip.

Anchorage hiking

Our first moose sighting








Getting a closer look - but not too close. These animals are HUGE! 

Our first view of Mt. McKinley, a couple hundred miles away










It was a bit of a scramble getting up to the top


                                      
We made it! 



Day 2 hiking in the area north of Anchorage


The two lakes in this picture have different sources - one is a glacier and the other is rain water - which is why they are different colors. 

Stay tuned for more!