Kenai Fjords National Park, Exit Glacier and some Sunshine

We’ve a nice half day at Exit Glacier for a hike, and a sunny day to visit Kenai Fjords National Park. Exit Glacier is retreating rapidly and it’s interesting to see the posts marking the terminus of the glacier in recorded history. It’s not a very big glacier, but it had retreated probably a mile or more since the late 1800s. We hiked the Harding Icefield trail for a few miles and saw lots of wildflowers and a couple of black bears. We met two European young women who had just gotten between a sow and her cubs, and had a scare. We’ve had no close encounters, but knowing you can at any time makes any hike or bike ride more interesting.

Exit Glacier and Harding Icefield

Claire Talking to two European young women who’d just been scared by a black bear protecting her cubs on the Harding Icefield trail.

Dall Porpoise

We seldom take tours, but after checking out the logistics of renting a kayak and gear, getting ferried to a drop off site, and then having the weather go bad on us, a very high probability this summer, we decided on a six hour tour of the National Park. The captain did a great job of getting us close, but not too close, to lots of wildlife. Being able to stay near a calving tidal glacier, hearing the crack and splash of house sized pieces of ice was quite an experience. I noticed a group of kayakers headed toward the glacier, and get turned back by a sudden change in wind direction, and I felt for them.

Aialik Glacier