Bob's Alaska Thoughts

There were many avalanche warning signs; there were even some gates to stop traffic along the highway should dangerous snow conditions be present.  It had been a very snowy winter, and much of it was still in slowly melting piles.

Day five started with an early walk through a damp, misty, 36 degree morning in Girdwood.  Piles of melting snow and muddy meadows and small trees still bent from the long winter; the tired end of a snowy winter.

          The gray drizzle turned into steady rain with cold, often snow laden, winds; not a great day for a cruise.  Low clouds became a fog enshrouded environment; poor visibility, uncomfortable, but a bit like Brigadoon-a somewhat magical place seemingly arising from nowhere from within the mist.  We were left to wonder what unexpected vision lay above the steep walls that surrounded us.  

 From our large catamaran (the Klondike), it was advertised we would see 26 glaciers and a variety of wildlife.  We saw eagles, loons, a black-legged kittiwake rookery, sheep, otters and a lot of ice.  The sound sported small icebergs and a large amount of freshly formed ice floe.  The catamaran could not maneuver into many of the fjords, so we saw but four small glaciers and one very large one.

The Hammonds Glacier was rather spectacular and the weather did clear enough to see the blue coloration in the massive and rugged ice face. 

  Streaks of black volcanic dust evidenced an eruption nearby long ago. 

 After a rather lengthy docking, we drove in the cloudy evening to Moose Flats; we thought about continuing to Seward, but fatigue was setting in.  The mountains sat very close to the road here and there were many spectacular vistas; I could only imagine the view from the railway that had separated from the road.