Alaska: Day 3 - Kenai Fjords Tour

Today was the Kenai Fjords Tour! We took the National Park Cruise (the yellow dotted line):



They took us around Resurrection Bay, around the Aialik Peninsula, passed by the Harris Peninsula, stopped at Fox Island for a tasty buffet dinner, and then dropped us off back in Seward. It was an amazing tour, so yes, I took a ton of pictures (something along the lines of 265...), but I will spare you and try and limit myself. (If you can't tell by now, yes, I love my pictures. Even if I am too lazy to type, there will always be pictures.)

It was an overcast and ridiculously foggy morning. We were a little bummed, since it meant that we probably couldn't see as much scenery as we would have preferred. Also, it makes it ridiculously cold.



Pre-boarding the Alaskan Explorer!! *insert dramatic music here*





One of the first things we see is the cutest sea otter playing around in the water.



Big fat torpedo of a seal.



Mike really enjoying his hot tea (hey, it was cold).



Brother!



Fighting (playing?) sea lions!







Lazy sea lions...





Lots of sea gulls!



Wild puffins!! :D



Fog.



Seagulls on a little ice cube.



Jay at the helm.



We came upon the glacier!



We watched the glacier crash into the ocean! It was so amazing... you start hearing a really loud cracking sound that reverberates in the air, and suddenly, you'll see a huge chunk of ice come crashing down into the ocean with a rumbling thunder-like roar. Very awesome.





Just me 'n a glacier. :)



Mike holding a piece of the glacier!



T'was a cold piece of ice.



Scenery



We saw a whale!



Okay, kind of. There really wasn't much whale-watching going on. Lots of whale-looking, though. We saw probably 2 or 3 whales, and none of them very close. Alas, this is the only picture that you can kind of tell that we saw a whale. It's there! I swear! Look a little closer. It's just the dorsal fin going up a little. Very unsatisfying, I know.

So many sea gulls! And baby sea gulls that blend into the rock really well.



Really awesome rock formations.





So many sea lions! You can watch a live video feed of these sea lions on TV when you're channel surfing in Alaska. ...To be honest, it gets kind of boring to watch...



Although we didn't have many whales, we did have porpoises!! They were so much fun, and they kept on playing at the front of the boat. The tour guides told us to cheer them on, so a group of us were at the front of the boat with our cameras whistling, cheering, and yelling. Apparently porpoises really love it. They stayed with the boat for so long--up to at least 30 knots (~35 mph), if I remember correctly.









Then we stopped by Fox Island for a grilled salmon buffet dinner.









My brother really really liked the croutons, apparently.



Apparently Fox Island is also known for its skipping stones beach, as most of the rocks on the beach are flat and very skip-able. We skipped a few after dinner.





And that was that.

Things that we saw that I was not able to get pictures of: a school of sea otters playing in the water, bald eagle in a sea of sea gulls upon entering the harbor.

Tomorrow is ice climbing!!

Alaska: Day 2 - Hiking Harding Ice Trail

On our first full day in Seward, the entire group hitched a quick 15-minute ride to the near-by Exit Glacier, park of the Kenai Fjords National Park. There, you will find not only Exit Glacier, but the Harding Ice Trail.

The Harding Ice Trail is a pretty ridiculous hike (well, more like climb). It's only 3.7 miles one-way, but don't let that fool you. For each mile is an elevation change of about 1,000 feet, so for 3.7 miles, it would be an elevation change of about 3,500 feet. So, instead of taking 3-4 hours to hike the whole thing, we spent about 5 hours on the trail and only reached about 2-2.5 miles. Part of the reason is because we wanted to make sure that we had a ride back. The other is because the rest of the trail was covered in ice and snow, and we did not want to rush up and down without trekking poles or anything of the like. Still, it was a good hike, and you could just see the edge of the ice field from where we were, and had an amazing view of Exit Glacier.

View from the beginning of the trail.



Pretty flowers.



It was so green!



There were little waterfalls everywhere, even on the trail itself. It made me so excited. :)



Mike, my parents in the back.



View of where the glacier used to be from along the trail. (We couldn't have been more than a mile along the trail, and we were already so high!)





A really cool little waterfall/stream! It goes under this snow tunnel along the mountain, so you can't even tell where it begins.



Close-up:



Exit Glacier!



I'm shiny.



They don't look so happy.



More pretty flowers.









More water! (Yes, waterfalls and streams and rivers make me happy.)





There was more ice and snow along the way. Apparently they were having a late winter and an early fall, so none of the snow was melting away. Usually, they don't have any ice or snow along the trail in July and August.



I know they're struggling, but it's kind of cute.



Ice!! This is about where we stopped ("Top of the Hill")...



You can see the edge of the Harding Ice Field from there.



View on the other side:







The rest of the trail up.



Mike and I wanted to travel a little further while the others took a break at the Top of the Hill.





Those tiny little dots/lines are where we left them.



Edge of the Harding Ice Field.



The clouds were gorgeous.



There was a black bear!! Yes, that is really a bear. We weren't very close to it, but yes, it was there! See?? The shadow is very bear-shaped-like... kind of...



On the way back down, we saw marmots! Oh so many cute (and fat) marmots.





Then this really big one came up on a rock, and started whistling between its teeth. Apparently they are also known as "whistling pigs." My goodness, they are loud.







Silly brother.



Awesome sign.



I'm guessing that it was a sign to warn people against going to the edge to try and look at the waterfall. ...I took a look anyway.



People on the ice! That is going to be us in a couple of days. :)



Salmonberries! None of the salmonberries were ripe, but the reason that they're called salmonberries is because, when they ripen, they turn into a reddish-pink color, much like the insides of a salmon. They supposedly taste like raspberries... I really wanted to try one fresh! Oh well.



Beautiful colors.





That's all. All in all it was a good hike. Strenuous, for sure, and with views and scenery that are worth the trek (then again, I may be biased, because I like strenuous hikes/climbs). It was a good hike for me, at least. Since my parents were there, we had to take it a little easier, and were able to take breathers and water breaks pretty frequently. I want to make it to the top of the trail, though, some day.

Tomorrow, we go on a glacier cruise with the Kenai Fjords Tour group.