Friday, May 29, 2009

Alaska's Midnight Sun and Glaciers

Alaska's spring has been beautiful this year with sunny days and temps in the mid-60's. One Sunday a few weeks ago I saw FIVE moose in one day...2 at Hatcher Pass, 2 at Portage and 1 at Potters Marsh....these are all locations outside of the city but I have never seen so many wild animals in one day..... Bears are out too but they tend to be attracted to homes on the outskirts of the city that leave their garbage in unsecured areas and attract bears.

So the sun rises now about 4:30/5:00am and does not set until around 11pm. It never really gets completely dark. The days will be getting longer until the summer solstice on June 21; the longest day of the year.....this is why they call this the Land of the Midnight Sun. Check out this pic I took the other morning when my flight got into Alaska at 1am!

A couple of weekends ago my one of my best friends was up for a visit and we drove north to see Matanuska Glacier. We hiked a short trail to get great views of the glacier but we did not get to the trail that leads directly to it. It was still a beautiful view and a great drive. Here are a couple of pics of the Matanuska Glacier Hike and the Glacier itself.

We stopped by Hatcher Pass, my favorite spot, and I was surprised how much snow was still at the top of the mountain in Mid-May. Of course this is not anywhere near as much snow as there was back in March. Here a couple pics of me at Willow Creek(bottom of Hatcher Pass) and the Hatcher Pass Lodge at the top of the mountain.

The next day we drove down south toward Seward to see Exit Glacier. The trail we took this time led us right up to the rock field at the bottom of the glacier. We crossed the rock field to get to the toe of the glacier. Exit actually comes down the side of the mountain and Harding Ice Field is at the top of the glacier, but that was a 7-8 mile hike and there were notices up that a brown bear was active in the area soooo.....I was content just to touch the "toe" of the glacier! Here are a few pics of the rock and silt at the bottom of the glacier and Exit Glacier itself.