I was woken up by the wind at about 5 am, with the tent
shaking and straining at the guy ropes.
Looked out, and they had been right, it was fine – But that wind was
super icy blowing up the Resurrection Bay – What is the good of “fine” weather if the wind is so strong and cold that you
need to stay out of it ? !!!! After a
while of lying their thinking about things, I decided to go for a walk, so I
rugged up (or rather “I didn’t take any of my night clothes off” !!) and set
off beside the Bay. It was actually
quite pleasant, but sitting around at a table to eat my breakfast wouldn’t be
much fun. Once again I ended up trying
to boil the billy for a cup of tea inside the tent, and eating my cereal and
yoghurt inside too. Not too
promising. One of the local Seward
attractions is a glacier that comes right down to the road, just 11 or so miles
out of town. So I got myself sorted out,
made a couple of sandwiches for the hike, and set off to the Exit Glacier. By
the time I got there the wind was dropping and the day was turning out to be
beautiful.
After spending some time in the Ranger’s Station /
Information Centre at the park entrance. I set off up the trail. It is not a long walk, but really is
interesting. Lots of bear and moose warnings to keep you on your toes, and lots
of moose scat around just to make sure you realise they are not far away ! I
first of all walked up to the side of the glacier, which is about a 40 minute
walk, and en route there bumped into some of the motorhomers that I had met at
the camp site in Valdez – so had a chat with them. They are off down to Homer
tomorrow as well, so I may well see them down there. There aren’t too many
places in the word where you can just stroll up to a glacier, and this one is
one of about 40 or more that flow down from the vast Harding Ice Field on the
top of the mountain. However it is
retreating quite quickly, and it is interested to see the year markers along
the trail showing where the glacier ended in 1878, 1921, 1956, 1964, and so on –
And I can assure you the older ones are a long way away from where it ends
today.
After I had climbed up to the side of the glacier, I then
went down the moraines to the side, down into the river bed, and walked back up
to the foot of the glacier, zig sagging across the many ice-melt streams that
were coming out from the base of the glacier.
Fascinating to see it all up close, and read the many instructional
signs telling of how the glacial process works.
After a couple of hours hike, I found a nice quiet rock in the sun to
the side of the riverbed (the wind off the glacier was very cold) and sat down
and ate my picnic, and thought about life.
What better place to do it than in the middle of a glacial field in
Alaska ? I don’t think I found any deep
answers, but I did enjoy sitting in the warm sunshine with my thoughts !!
After I had wandered back to the car, I drove back to town, and decided to visit the Alaska Sea Life Centre which Is located only about a mile round the coast from my campsite. So I parked by the tent, and then walked round to the centre, and despite it being a bit full of screaming kids, it was actually pretty good. And there were enough “boring” exhibits to keep the kids away, so the rest of it could be enjoyed in peace ! In particular I really enjoyed the puffins and other birds that were in an excellent exhibit, while sea lions and others could be viewed from both above and under water, which made it interesting. Many of the animals in this Research Centre are in fact being rehabilitated after being brought in injured or lost, so it is not a zoo so much as a rehabilitation centre that is open to the public, and is a major training and education centre for Alaska wildlife. A most enjoyable afternoon. On the way home I passed the local police station, so I popped in to see if they had any stickers for my growing collection – and Lieutenant Louis Tiner couldn’t have been more helpful. He not only gave me a badge and some stickers, but also gave me a medallion with the badges of all the five Kenai Peninsula Police Forces on it – So I now have 3 medallions, 5 stickers, and two badges !! And he then took me into the offices and showed me all the badges they had collected over the years – Hundreds of them from all over the world ! And yes, there was one for Queensland, but I didn’t see a Surfer’s Paradise one – So I told him I would see if I could find him one when I got back !!
After that I set off for an early shower – As the campsite
is a city facility, it does not have the fancy facilities of private campsites,
but I am impressed by what they do have.
And while you have to pay $2 for a shower, they are hot and clean, which
is the main point. And by going early I
avoided the 6 o’ clock rush when everyone comes back from their day’s
activities, and had the whole facility to myself.
Then it was time to do a few TLC things to Elsie. A couple of things had broken / come unstuck
and I needed to fix them, so I got on with them, as well as trying to clean her
a bit – These roadworks that you have to go through here are watered to keep
the dust down, and they get VERY messy when driving on them – The car becomes
covered with mud in about 100 yards.
While doing the
cleaning, several people came over to say hi – A German from Cologne, a young
Brit couple from Portsmouth, 3 Swiss who had just climbed Mt McKinley and
looked disgustingly tanned and fit and young, and a few local lads who all seem
to be saving up to leave Alaska !! But
it is good to meet them all and have a chat – I will miss that when I go back
to touring in a “normal” car, although a lot of the contact is up to you when
all is said and done !!
I then went over to a central bbq area near the camp site
where I saw some power plugs and thought I could charge phones and pooter while
I did my bblog – Unfortunately the power sockets weren’t working so I didn’t do
the charging, but did get some of my blog written !
Now back to heat some stew for my supper, and then turn in
and hope that the weather tomorrow is as good as today, as I set off on the
lengthy drive down to Homer.
