9/27/08: Seward, Exit Glacier.
Saturday Sept 27, 2008. Headed for Seward today.

Didn't know it when I started out, but another large piece of ice was pulling on me.....

Stopped occasionally to take in the scenery. Some of it I saw Four times.

Fall here is amazing.


This little lake is "infested" with Northern Pike. A very nasty non-native predatory species that slaughters Salmon and everything else. It's open season all year and there are no take limits. I've been invited to go ice fishing for these later in the year.




Just another vista on the way to Seward....


The rivers are beautiful. Most of them in this part of Alaska are a milky white/blue which is caused by the volume of "Glacier Flour" in the water. Glacier Flour is powdery fine silt that has been ground from the rocks by the glacier and has then washed down by the glacier melt.



I kept expecting (hoping) to see a big ole' bear go lumbering across.

Never happened.

Maybe some day, guess I better be careful what I hope for.

Just outside of the Seward city limits is a road that heads West for about 5 miles. At the end of that road, plus an easy .5 mile 0.0' Elev. change (flat) hike, is "Exit Glacier".

It looks kinda small from here.



"Exit Glacier" is so named because it makes its "Exit" from a gigantic ice field.

How big is gigantic?

Think of something about a third the size of California....
This may not look all that big so let me put it into perspective.

See those two or three itty bitty black spots along the bottom of the glacier?

Those are people.

Along the bottom of the ice, about half way across, (directly below the half moon / crescent shaped shadow) there is a "cavity" under the ice.

Remember that cavity.

Side view. The picture after the next was taken from the rocks about half way up on the left. This one was just too steep to get on without the proper gear.

And yes I drank from this one too.

This is the "cavity" that I described a couple of pictures back. Now you can get an idea how big this thing is.

About 50 feet back from this edge of the glacier, (back behind me) there is a huge crevice where the leading edge of the glacier (the edge I'm holding up) is cracking off......
So finally, we have proof that I've actually touched one of these.






This gravel field was probably around 3 miles by 5 miles. There is no shortage of road base and aggregate in Alaska, not all, but many of the rivers have at least one gravel pit. They dig it out and nature fills it up again.
Hard to describe even with a picture. The water is grey, the rocks are grey, the cliff is grey. It was just bizarre and surreal.


Waterfalls cover the sides of the valley. Dozens and dozens.

I Walked out across the gravel field. There were large patches of totally black wet sand. Not a footprint to be seen.

These scenery pics are probably starting to look all the same to you. I took nearly 75 pictures today, all unique and beautiful in they're own right. These are just a few. I suppose it's one of those things you have to experience.


The "bowl" at the top of this mountain still contains the remnants of a glacier.

There are dozens of these all around here.






This river and gravel field are fed from several of the valleys around Exit Glacier.


I could not decide if this was a rock slide or a dry river bed. In any case it was sort of interesting.
Back down on the valley floor. The vegetation grows pretty wild right up to the edge of the river, where the high water flows in spring tear it away and turn it into drift wood.



This huge bowl was carved out by a glacier.

I think the elevation is around 3,500 feet.



Different valley, another glacier bowl.
I actually made it to Seward. This, obviously, is the harbour. I thinks it's actually bigger than the town.

Seward sits on a beautiful fjord, there were about a dozen large (120 footers) Fjord tour boats here, all tied down and done for the season. (I can only imagine what it must be like here during tourist season to support so many of these things.)




A local residents idea of, well, I don't really know what the idea is, but it caught my attention.



You have to investigate the side streets to find the really "unusual" stuff.

Other than the Sea Life Center, and the usual souvenir shops, there's not a whole lot to do in Seward. Except of course they do have fishing charters.



I'll have to save that for next spring though.
Just your typical fjord view from the North end of Seward.

This is actually from the "point". The farthest South you can go in Seward.



An interesting road too, fjord on one side, straight up cliff on the other.



Avalanche danger signs every 100 ft. Tsunami warning signs in between those.



The potential for exciting things to happen in Seward is limitless.....
Lots of really cool used stuff for sale here.

The tide was out.....

Look closely at the propeller.

See anything "out of balance".

The prop is solid bronze $$$$$! Some enterprising soul used a HACKSAW to cut through one of the blades. This thing is close to Five feet in diameter. They started on another blade and gave up about half way through.... I suppose you could torch off shaft, but then you'd need a crane to pull it out.

Well, that's it for today's adventure. I'm trying to enjoy the fall weather as much as possible. It was 27 degrees this morning when I got in the truck. Had (thin) ice on the windshield the last few mornings. The sun has been out most of the week, and by about 2:00 the temp goes up to 47 or so. I still run around in short sleeve shirts, but the jacket is always in the truck just in case.

It get to fly home this Friday morning at 12:35 AM. I'm really looking forward to seeing Kim and the girls, it's been a month. Kim's has taken over finishing the house for us, makes for a full day. I'm excited to see it, from the sounds of things she's doing a great job and it's coming out beautifully.

Since I won't have an "Alaskan" adventure this weekend, I'll fill in next week by posting some shots of the Airbase, my office, Anchorage etc. so until then... Oh yeah, I really enjoy your comments as well as the emails I get from so many of you, so thanks for that! Dan.