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!