Adventures in Alaska (part 1)

View flying into Anchorage

 After two and a half hours of driving our first stop was Princess Mt. McKinley Wilderness Lodge. The lodge is 40 miles away from Mt. McKinley and overlooks the Chulitna River.

We got up early to start our 5 mile hike around Byers Lake (Denali State Park).

This fireweed plant was pretty cool. Something that looks like cotton starts to grow on it in the fall. The saying goes, "when fireweed turns to cotton, the summer is forgotten..."

Here's the first bridge, now off to the suspension bridge...

 

Talkeetna Mountain Range

This was a weird spotted salmon we saw swimming in the lake.

 

Bush and bunch berries...

Half way point!

We made it to the suspension bridge...1 more mile to go!

5 hours later...we are back at the lodge!

Unfortunately, it was cloudy the two days we were there so weren't able to see

Mt. McKinley but the views were breathtaking.

This was the closest thing to a bear that we saw while in Denali.

On our way to the Matanuska Glacier, we made a pit stop at Palmer to see some of the world's largest produce. Palmer grows some of the largest produce in the world because of all the sunlight they get in the summer. 

 

The magnificent Matanuska Glacier located between the Chugach and Talkeetna Mountains.

Trekking on the Matanuska Glacier



Boots...check! Crampons...check! We are ready for some glacier trekking!



View from inside a crevasse

Filling up our water bottles with icy cold glacier water. It was really good...although it did have a bit of an earthy taste. 

Beautiful sunset at 9:00 pm (Beluga Point)

Day hike overlooking Portage Glacier

Whittier, AK
The start of our fjord day cruise

Fjords cruise around Prince William Sound

We spotted sea otters and harbor seals soaking up the sun

 

 

Ghost Forest - The 1964 earthquake caused the land to sink as much as 10 feet.

These trees are dead but the saltwater helped preserve them.

Ice calving

It was an amazing experience to be out on the quiet water and hear the crackling of ice...

 

Coming back into the harbor we saw a bald eagle...

We thought these were bald eagles but looking at the pictures, 

we are not quite sure what they are.

 

Final thought before part 2...taken from the Noisy Goose Cafe (Palmer, AK)