Kenai Fjords NP: Glacier and Wildlife Cruise

(2018 Alaska Ep 39)

As our son Phil’s trip to Alaska came to a close, we decided to take a six-hour glacier and wildlife cruise with Kenai Fjords Tours. Our cruise on the Calisto Voyager would take us southwest from Seward (RabbiTRAILS Alaska Map, pt # 44) along the Alaska coastline and Kenai Fjords National Park.

We saw wildlife even before leaving the dock – playful otters, a lonely sea lion and even some jellyfish.

We left Seward and arrived at Aialik Glacier in about 30 minutes. The ship stopped a quarter mile from the glacier. It was a magnificent view on a magnificent day!

Our ship captain told us the face of the glacier is nearly 600 foot high and about a mile wide. The glacier is noisy – with continuous cracking, occasional loud bursts that sound like cannon shots, and small ice flows that fall into the water every few minutes.

The glacier face has deep fissures and we hoped to see a large piece break free. Such calving didn’t happen during our visit, but here is a 2015 YouTube video that shows Aialik Glacier calving.

Various-sized chunks of ice floated in the water near the glacier and numerous seals sunned themselves on the larger pieces. One of the crew members explained the seals choose that location to avoid predators.

We left the glacier and spent most of the remainder of the cruise searching for wildlife around various islands just offshore.

Our boat and several others stopped to see a pod of Orca whales dive and surface. Later we saw a larger humpback whale. The captain explained humpback whales migrate to Hawaiian water during the winter.

On another island we saw a large group of barking steller sea lions. They nervously waddled from the rocks into the water when our boat approached.

The islands are home to thousands of seagulls, cute puffins and other birds. One puffin flew alongside our boat for a considerable distance before finally veering away.

We also saw a majestic bald eagle standing guard near the top of a rock face.

As the cruise came to an end, we were surprised by another flying spectacle – a kite surfer riding the brisk breezes above the ice cold waters of Resurrection Bay.

Denali NP: The Great One

(2018 Alaska Ep 38)

2018 Alaska Trip Video 0433 - 1808051513

After picking up Phil in Anchorage on Saturday, August 4, we traveled north to Denali National Park and Preserve the next morning (RabbiTRAILS Alaska Map, pt #45).

Denali National Park and Reserve is huge – at more than six million acres, it is nearly three times the size of Yellowstone. Only a small part of the park can be accessed via a 92-mile road from the park entrance to Kantishna, a historical gold mining area. The first 15 miles of the road can be driven in a private vehicle. The reminder can only be seen on a bus. We had bus tickets for the following day.

Bus riders hope to see Denali, the tallest mountain in North America. But only 30 percent of park visitors actually see the mountain. It is usually hidden by clouds.

There has been controversy about the mountain’s name. Alaska natives called the great mountain Denali long before western explorers discovered the mountain. It was officially renamed Mt. McKinley in 1917 to commemorate President William McKinley, US president from 1897 – 1901. President Obama restored the mountain to its Alaska Native name in 2015.

It was raining as we left on Monday for the eleven-hour roundtrip to Kantishna. Most of the trip is a winding dirt road. Before long the bus windows were splattered with mud. Thank goodness for frequent rest stops and the driver’s diligence to clean the windows at each stop.

Despite the drizzle during most of the day, we could see broad valleys and lower mountains. There were several heavy downpours as we crossed higher elevations and even a few brief periods of sunshine.

We saw four of the five major mammals that call Denali home: a herd of about 15 caribou (also known as reindeer), several distant dall sheep, a much closer grizzly bear, and a cow moose. Only wolves remained unseen.

During the bus ride we never saw Denali or the other tall mountains.

With rain in the forecast thru Thursday and only a week in Alaska, Phil decided to take the Alaska Railroad to Anchorage on Tuesday and to rejoin us on Friday for a glacier-wildlife cruise in Seward. More on the cruise in an upcoming blog update.

Pat and I remained in the park. We enjoyed a sled dog demonstration given by National Park Rangers. We’ll share more about sled dogs in an upcoming blog post.

On Thursday we awoke to sunshine!

The gray skies had become brilliant blue. Fresh snow dusted the tops of the lower mountains near our campground.

2018 Alaska Trip 3291 - 1808091145 — Early snowfall on the lower mountains near our campground

As we drove toward Anchorage we could see the distant tall mountains.

We even saw Denali and are now members of the 30 percent club!

2018 Alaska Trip 3329 - 1808091515 — Denali and the tall mountains

2018 Alaska Trip 3351 - 1808091609 — Denali, the Great One!

We head to Fairbanks after the cruise and saying goodbye to Phil. If the weather is clear, we hope to visit Denali again to see more of the amazing park and mountains.

Yellowstone NP: Final Blog

(2018 Alaska Ep 20)

By all accounts, Yellowstone is a great place to spend a day, a week or even longer. It is unequaled in its scenery, thermal features, animals and much more.

We’ve compiled a list of our faves and not-so-faves. The not-so-faves are not complaints, but reminders that Yellowstone is wild and remote and lacks some of the comforts of home. These require some forethought and planning when visiting.

Faves

(Pat) Wildlife
(Ed) Great campgrounds (and hotels) throughout the park that allow visitors to be closer to the other faves.
(Pat) Solitude – gives an undistracted chance to recognize and enjoy God’s amazing creation.
(Ed) Snow-covered mountains and beautiful views throughout the park.
(Pat) Hiking and biking trails that give an opportunity to exercise and to see things not seen from the main areas of the park.
(Ed) The foresight of leaders 240+ years ago to create the park, and the National Park Service who maintain and manage the park and many others like it.
(Pat) Geysers and other thermal features found only in a few places in the world.
(Ed) Roads and facilities – in good shape overall considering the harshness of winter and heavy use by visitors.

Not-So-Faves

(Pat) Crowds and traffic – we were in Yellowstone during Memorial Day weekend. The park is busy through early September.
(Ed) Weather – some facilities and parts of the park are closed/inaccessible until mid-June. In addition, weather can quickly change, from sunny and cool to rainy/snowy and bitter cold.
(Pat) Prices – gas, groceries, dining, souvenirs and camping fees are all much higher.
(Ed) Drivers and pedestrians – you have to be continually watchful for drivers/persons excited to see wildlife who forget/ignore rules of the road and overall safety.
(Ed) Connectivity – only a few areas have cell phone service. Service is limited to voice calls only, data/Internet access is very slow or nonexistent (at least for Verizon).

The faves FAR OUTWEIGH the not-so-faves. We look forward to visiting Yellowstone again one day.

Perhaps the sign when leaving Roosevelt Lodge says it best…

Yellowstone NP: Heels and Wheels

(2018 Alaska Ep 19)

Heels

There are great day hikes throughout Yellowstone. We enjoyed a couple.

After a visit to Lamar Valley in the northeast corner of Yellowstone where we saw lots of buffalo and a group of big horn sheep, we decided on the Lost Lake Hike.

From Roosevelt Lodge, we followed a series of switchbacks as the trail climbed more than 400 feet to the top of a mountain. A short ways further we found Lost Lake, a quiet lake in the cradle of several surrounding mountains.

The trail continued along a creek to the parking lot for a petrified tree. This was a bonus as we didn’t associate petrified trees with Yellowstone.

From there, a very steep 300-foot climb led to a mountaintop meadow. The view of the distant mountains was spectacular.

Hikes don’t always yield the expected.

We hiked the Elephant Back trail later in the week for a grand view of Yellowstone Lake and the distant mountains.

The trail was muddy and as we neared the top, we discovered it was covered with deep snow! We were unable to continue. When it started to rain, we put on ponchos and trudged back to the parking lot, muddy, cold and tired.

We caught a glimpse of the lake and mountains part way up the trail. A more interesting find was a small pine tree growing on the top of a rock. This reminded us of the perseverance and faith needed when facing day hikes in the rain, long trips to Alaska and the challenges of life. Praise God for His presence and steadfastness in every situation!

Wheels

We learned about and rode several bike trails added to Yellowstone in recent years.

Our first ride took us 2.5 miles to Lone Star Geyser.

A few short sections of the trail were still covered with snow and we had to walk our bikes through them.

We parked our bikes when we arrived at the geyser and to our delight, Lone Star geyser began to erupt!

A couple days later we rode four miles down another road to the backside of one of the largest and most beautiful thermal springs in Yellowstone, Grand Prismatic Spring. We parked our bikes and followed a short trail to an overlook with a phenomenal view of the spring.

On the way back, we rode close enough to a group of buffalo to hear them grunting and snorting! Fortunately we passed by safely.

Yellowstone NP: Animals, Oh My!

(2018 Alaska Ep 18)

Yellowstone never disappoints with an amazing diversity of wildlife. And the reaction of visitors to the wildlife is sometimes more interesting than the wildlife itself.

More than our previous visits to Yellowstone, buffalo could be seen throughout the park – singles on hillsides, groups of a few walking down the road, larger groups grazing in the meadows and so on. In fact, unless there was a danger to traffic or walkers/hikers, it seemed the reaction of most persons to the buffalo was pretty much ho-hum.

The buffalo were everywhere, or at least the telltale signs of buffalo were everywhere. One buffalo below seems to be viewing a hot spring near Mud Volcano (below). When we were camping at Madison, a fellow camper stopped by to remark the biggest buffalo he had seen spent the day in our campsite. Wish I had a picture of that to share.

We didn’t see moose or wolves during our visit, but we did see a coyote and several big horn sheep.

What created the most excitement were bears.

Anytime cars were stopped in the middle of the road, people were crossing with cameras and binoculars with no heed to oncoming traffic and waving at their family members to do the same, a bear had been sighted.

Fortunately, both bears we saw were a long distance away and no danger to anyone. We only had to worry about the crazy drivers…

Yellowstone NP: Thermal Features

(2018 Alaska Ep 17)

People come to Yellowstone to view fascinating geothermal features. Although these features are located throughout the park, many of the features are located close together in areas called basins – these are the areas most park visitors frequent.

There are various types of thermal features – fumaroles (steam vents), geysers, hot springs, mudpots and travertine terraces (the link above has details about each).

What would a visit to Yellowstone be without seeing Old Faithful! Contrary to what you might think, Old Faithful doesn’t erupt hourly – it is more like every 90 minutes.

The rangers have gotten pretty good at predicting the time of the next eruption. Although we missed one eruption when it occurred 10 minutes early, we enjoyed an eruption later in the day that occurred exactly when predicted!

What this photo doesn’t show is the wide boardwalk along one side of Old Faithful that includes benches and standing areas for hundreds of people. Behind that is Old Faithful Lodge, stores, restaurants, a gas station, huge parking areas and more. Everyone wants to see this iconic piece of Yellowstone.

We saw another geyser erupt while driving Firehole Lake Drive, a couple miles from Old Faithful. It was starting to rain, but White Dome Geyser didn’t disappoint.

You may have seen recent news about another Yellowstone geyser that has erupted eight times this year after infrequent eruptions in recent years. Steamboat Geyser’s eruptions are much larger than Old Faithful. Unfortunately we weren’t there when it erupted – we missed it by three days.

Another interesting thermal feature several miles away from Old Faithful is the Mud Volcano. This feature is pretty tame now, but in the past it eruptions were a lot more vigorous, like a volcano!

You can hike a short trail from the viewing area to see several interesting hot springs and the impressive Dragon’s Mouth fumarole. This feature sounds (and smells) like a dragon’s mouth!There are MANY more thermal features in Yellowstone – 10,000 by one estimate. We are blessed to have such a place to visit. Even without the amazing scenery and wildlife, the thermal features make a visit to Yellowstone a must!

(we’ll share some additional photos in upcoming Yellowstone blog posts)

Yellowstone NP: Amazing Scenery

(2018 Alaska Ep 16)

At practically every turn Yellowstone offers inspiring beauty.

We arrived on a sunny Friday afternoon after driving west from Cody. After entering the park from the eastern entrance (park map), we were reminded that parts of the park were still emerging from winter. Throughout our week in Yellowstone, the remnants of the past winter’s snowfall were just about everywhere and temperatures were chilly – most days in the 50s/60s and nights in the 30s. Rather cool for us Floridians!

Soon we were passing by Yellowstone Lake and looked back to see the snow covered mountains we has just driven through.

Yellowstone River flows out of Yellowstone Lake. Several miles downstream it cascades over Yellowstone Falls and continues through the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. The falls are impressive – the 308-foot drop of lower Yellowstone Falls is nearly twice that of Niagara Falls!

2018 Alaska Trip 1287 - 1805291434 — View from Artist’s Point

We tested our endurance by walking down a trail to the brink of the lower falls – the drop was equal to a 60-story building. We were rewarded with a different perspective of the falls that made the hike back up the trail worth it!

Yellowstone has stunning mountain vistas…

…and broad valleys where wildlife abounds.

Hopefully this gives you an idea of the scenery we enjoyed during our visit.

You might be wondering about the Yellowstone fires that burned almost 800,000 acres or more than 1/3 of the park in 1988. Pat and I were amazed at the recovery of the burned areas – thick new stands of lodgepole pines and other trees are more than 20 feet tall in many areas. The forest is well on its way to recovery after 30 years!

2018 Alaska Trip 1145 - 1805261232 — New forest growth near Old Faithful

Of course, there is much more to Yellowstone than scenery. We’ll cover thermal features and animals in upcoming blog posts, as well as some of the hiking and biking we enjoyed.

Yellowstone NP

(2018 Alaska Ep 15)

(Sorry for the delay in blog posts. There is no (free) wifi in Yellowstone and cell service is voice only in very limited areas)

We’ve just returned from a great week in Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone was established as America’s first national park in 1872, and is widely held to be the world’s first national park.

Yellowstone is treasured by Americans and visited by persons from all over the world. We met persons from numerous US states and from Canada, Japan, China and India. They were as awestruck with the scenery, thermal features and animals as we were!

This is our fifth visit to Yellowstone since we were married 38 years ago.

2018 Alaska Trip 1398 - 1805311906 — Cooking dinner after a busy day touring Yellowstone…Dutch oven chili with cornbread.

This time we stayed in three different campgrounds in the park (RabbiTRAILS Alaska Map pts #20-22). This allowed us to spend less time driving to/from hotels and campgrounds outside the park and more time in the park seeing Yellowstone.

Watch for upcoming blog posts about Yellowstone scenery, thermal features, animals, hiking and biking, and our list of things we like and don’t like about Yellowstone.

Until then…

Petroglyphs NM: Antient Art or Graffiti?

(2018 Alaska Ep 13)

A fascinating part of our travels has been to visit several locations with petroglyphs. Some 400-700 (or perhaps more) years ago, people chipped away the thin desert varnish on rock faces to reveal the lighter gray rock underneath – this left lasting marks we wonder about and enjoy today.

The marks certainly had cultural significance – they give clues about what was on the minds of the people at that time. Some say they have religious significance as well.

We visited Petroglyph National Monument in Albuquerque (RabbiTRAILS Alaska Map pt #13). The sprawl of the city now encircles the monument. Hundreds of petroglyphs can be viewed in three main areas. We endured a very warm couple mile hike to one – Piedras Marcadas Canyon. It was worth it!

A few days later we visited another site within Dinosaur National Monument (Map pt #17). Actually there is a lot to do there besides dinosaur stuff.

There were a number of lizards on one rock face. We wondered how the large lizard was etched, considering it is nearly 15 feet above the ledge below.

Finally, when we were in Thermopolis (Map pt #18), we saw a modern petroglyph. Perhaps today’s graffiti will be studied and valued hundreds of years from now!

Lots of Sand But No Beach

(2018 Alaska Ep 9)

We headed west from Blanco on May 1.

Our next stop was Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico.

The drive was a bit too far for one day, so we spent the night at a west Texas state park known for its large sand dunes. They don’t call then dunes however – at Monahans State Park they are known as sandhillls.

One theory is the Monahans Sandhills were formed by remnants of the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico that eroded in the Pecos River. The sand was eventually blown by the wind into the area.

The sandhills are located atop the Permian Basin, one of the largest oil-producing areas in the world.

We visited some world class dunes in New Mexico also. Outside of Alamogordo is White Sands National Monument. The dunes are indeed brilliant white.

White Sands is the largest gypsum dunes on earth (275 square miles), the dunes are clearly visible from space and they are constantly moving – some as many as 32 feet year!

A couple interesting facts:

The White Sands dunes, created from eroding mountains to the west, are only about 10,000 years old.

In many areas, the water table is just a few feet below the dunes.

A dune selfie…hats and sunglasses are essential equipment at White Sands!