Goodness... Alaska Part 3 (the saga continues)

OK - Part 3 -

The next day we decide to attempt the Harding Icefield hike (7 or so miles long and climbs 3000 feet - pretty brutal sounding) It overlooks Exit Glacier and the icefield that feeds that glacier (among others) just outside of Seward. It was pretty cloudy and sprinkling/ raining, but this was our only chance to to the hike. We headed up the trail and on the way, see a sow black bear and her 2 cubs. I was a bit nervous, but the momma bear didn't seem to mind.

Here is the mama bear shaking off today's rain. The 2 cubs were so cute - Running and playing.

Bear berry - How appropriate.

Lupine after (during) the rain.

We were a bit disappointed that we wouldn't be able to see much from the (almost) top, then the clouds broke and I was able to snap a few photos.

Exit Glacier from above.

Looking back down the valley that the glacier has made as it has retreated since the last ice age.

When the clouds broke, they also revealed 2 more bears above us - Ambling in our general direction.

Then a mountain goat appears walking swiftly towards us. The bears were right behind it - and getting closer - Soooo, we and some other hikers that we hooked up with headed down out of the path of the bears.

On our way back down the hill we already had a bit of "Bearanoia", and then we stumbled across a lone black bear cub in a tree - right on the trail. We had no idea where momma bear was, but we swiftly walked by making a lot of noise...

He was munching on the buds in the aspen tree.

Back at the base of the Exit Glacier (yes, we made it safely).

That night we had another great IPA - from Chinook Brewery - and some fish and chips from the Breeze Inn - and checked into a hotel for a much needed shower and some rest.

The next day we drove to Whittier (where they say - there's not much sh**ier than a day in Whittier - and "they" are right!!!!) to catch the ferry to Cordova. What a scary little town. It made me think of LOST - Dharma Initiative central. There is basically one building that houses all of the people in the town - a huge apartment building. There's also an old run down concrete barracks-type building that used to house a bunch of troops in WWII, I think. All the windows are broken out and very creepy. There's really not much else to the town - I couldn't wait to get out of there!

View from the ferry from Whittier to Cordova

We arrived in Cordova and made our way down the Copper River Road. It is a 48 mile long gravel road through an incredible river delta. In its time it was an engineering marvel - there are tons of bridges over the smaller channels and at the end of the road is the Million Dollar Bridge - part of which collapsed in the 1964 earthquake. You've probably seen pictures of the Copper River area on TV - It's where 100% of the Western Sandpipers migrate through - The footage usually shows a ginormous (new word in the Webster's dictionary 2007) swirling mass of birds over a broad gravelly river.

Copper River
Two bull moose hanging out on the side of the road.

Neat outhouse in our campground near the base of the Sheridan Glacier.

These pics should link together. At the end of the Copper River road is the Child's Glacier. It is a huge glacier that calves right into the Copper River. In 1992 or 93 there was chunk that broke off and caused a tremendous wave that swept across the river to the viewing area. Several people were swept away but lived to tell their story.

This was Andy's favorite part of the trip. We stayed here for about 3 hours, just watching huge chunks calve.

Look to the right of the large hole (towards the top) and we saw a man's face!

I'll try to post a short video of some of the calving...

The next day, we took the ferry from Cordova to Valdez across the infamous Prince William Sound. We saw a ton of sea otters, but didn't get any good pics.

View from the ferry of the Bligh Reef Marker. This is a newly added navigational aide, after the Exxon Valdez ran into the reef here in the Prince William Sound. If you click on the pic you may be able to see that it is a tripod type buoy - staked right into the reef. You can see it appears to be quite a ways off of shore.

We didn't spend much time in Valdez -Just headed inland towards Anchorage on the Richardson Highway - Stunning scenery - But a bit cloudy.

The clouds broke a bit for this pic. In Alaska they call it a cloud failure.

This is the Matanusaka Glacier along the road from Valdez to Anchorage. It is 27 miles long!

We got back to Anchorage and flew back to Portland at 1:00AM early Sunday morning, arriving in PDX at about 6:00AM. It was good to be back home in our own bed with our own stuff. We missed our house for sure, but I'd head right back to Alaska in a heartbeat. This trip took a lot of planning, but for my husband and me, I don't think the cruise ship route was the way to go. We were mildly surprised that there were hardly any other tourists that were our age (except on the camper bus in Denali, and a few other spots). I really think more young people should go and see Alaska, because once you're old (like 99% of the cruise ship tourists) you can't really get OUT and see the wildness of this incredible state. So, everyone, start your planning! (For us, the Moon Guide Book was our Alaskan Bible).