The Seward Highway - July 14 & 15

An iconic and gorgeous highway running south from Anchorage, there was much to explore as we motored along The Seward Highway which follows the Cook Inlet on the Gulf of Alaska, so we took our time and enjoyed…

…Potter Marsh Wildlife Refuge where we watched the largest bald eagle I’ve ever seen as he soared and then bathed in the marsh…




…the snow-be speckled and waterfall laden Chugach Mountains…



…and the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center which rescues orphaned wild animals.  Here we saw elk, moose, bears, caribou, the once near extinct Wood Bison, Sitka deer, and wolves.  Was a spectacular wildlife viewing experience even despite the rain. 











Taking a detour, we drove through the one-way railroad tunnel into the tiny seaport of Whittier on Prince William Sound.  We’d hoped to hike a couple of miles to Porter Glacier, but the cold driving rain obscured the view, so we opted not to hike, instead stopping for incredible fudge at the Moose Pass Trading Post. 




Seward on the Kenai Peninsula where we have come to explore Kenai Fjords National Park is notoriously socked in with rain.  Hope it clears up before our kayak trip Thursday. 





 At 10:58pm last night, we were awakened by an emergency alert on our phones, a tsunami warning. A huge 7.4 quake occurred off the coast of one on the Aleutian Islands 55 miles from where we are in Seward, putting us in the “red” danger zone. As we are camped 15 feet from the water on Resurrection Bay, we got in the truck and drove upland. After sitting there for an hour, it was decided that Seward is not nearly as threatened because it’s on the east side of the Kenai peninsula (Homer on the west side would take the hit), so we felt safe returning back to our trailer.
So far we’ve survived becoming dinner for the bears, death by mosquito, or washed out to sea by tsunami.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lassen Volcanic Nat’l Park, Northern California, Sept 12-14, 2023

Image
Fall has most decidedly arrived at this, the last national park of our 2-yr USA Tour here in the high elevations of Lassen Volcanic National Park. It’s rather quite nice to have arrived after the summer crush has gone. It’s cool and quiet and pretty as can be, and I was quite a bit more pleased with this park that I had imagined. My only regret is that I have only a handful of nights left on what has been one epic 2-yr adventure. I am saddened to see it come to an end; I will truly miss traveling and living in my adorable Bambi. Lassen boasts 10,500 ft Lassen Peak which represents one of four distinct types of volcanoes present in the world, and all four of them are on display within this one park.  We camped at the north end near Manzanita Lake where the nights are chilly at 42 degrees and the night sky is unspeakably full of billions of stars alongside a brilliant Milky Way. We hiked the Bumbpass Hell Trail to a 16-acre area of steam vents (fumeroles), colorful boiling ...
Read more

The Enchantments, the mother of all day hikes - Aug 13, 2023

Image
 When Elder Ben Jensen, a junior missionary from Vachon Island, WA, whom we met in Thailand, told me of  "the best hike ever" through The Enchantments, it immediately went onto my bucket list.  We'd have done this hike last year while in the Chelan area, but alas our truck died and we spent 3 weeks getting another one.  Finally however the timing worked out and we hiked The Enchantments yesterday.  It was a doozy of a hike.  Never have I been more beat up and broken by a hike than by this one. Distance:  19.5 miles Difficulty:  Extremely strenuous Total elevation gain:  5500 feet Total elevation loss:  7000 feet Length of time:  14 grueling hours 0430:  Out of bed 0515:  Leave truck at trail end, catch shuttle to trail head.                                                    0545:  Beg...
Read more

Olympics Nat’l Park, Hurricane Ridge MOUNTAINS, Aug 18, 2023

Image
 Aaron is saving his mush toes hoping they heal in time for next weeks 4-day backpack. He couldn’t have been less interested in the 2 short but challenging hikes I’d planned for today, so he graciously and selflessly waiting for me all morning.  Todays ecosystem adventure was up to and along the  dry popular Hurricane Ridge area high in the core mountain range of The Olympics.  The Day Lodge built in the 1950’s along Hurricane Ridge was undergoing extensive renovations when it burned to the ground this May. The road up to Hurricane has been closed to traffic for the past 3 days while debris was brought down. When the road reopened this morning at 0700, I was in the front of a long line of approx 200 cars heading to this popular area. Short and extremely steep, the trail up Hurricane Ridge to Hurricane Hill rewarded me with 360-degree views of the Olympic Range, Mt Angeles, and stellar Mt Olympus. The other direction far below at sea level one can see the Straits of J...
Read more