Views of Tumbling Glaciers and Towering Rocks - Kenai Fjords Cruise

Seward, Alaska (65 degrees, blue skies on and off)

We are now in Seward Alaska spending time taking in the pretty coastal scenery. It's been a fun five days hiking and touring around. The highlight for all of us was a nine hour boat trip. 

Cloudy skies at first as we left shore

The Harding Ice field high above us feeds over 36 glaciers. The boat trip took us by many of them and it was stunning. This is our second boat trip and the rugged coastline and soaring peaks of the mountains were so beautiful. It started off rather chilly and cloudy but quickly turned into a pretty blue sky day. We were very lucky to have such great weather. 

Quickly turned into a blue sky day

We signed up for the Northwestern Fjord Tour which took us out eventually to three tidewater glaciers.  We saw lots of sea life and birds along the way.

Steller Sea Lions

Horned Puffins

Common Mures and Tufted Puffins

Common Mures

Parakeet Auklet

It's really a thrill to see humpback whales. We saw a lot of them and even a pod of Orca's

Otters floating on small icebergs

After traveling for a few hours and poking around islands we came to the Northwestern Fjord. It is a spectacular area where three tidewater glaciers (glaciers which flow directly into the sea) spread out before you. It's breathtaking. The captain turned off the engines and we listened to the icebergs creaking, popping and calving. A huge piece came tumbling down and a waterfall of ice poured out for at least five minutes. It was really something to see. 

Ice Waterfall

Ice waterfall

Jan and me enjoying the day

Leaving the fjord

We really enjoyed this cruise and highly recommend it. The scenery is just spectacular. We would have preferred a smaller boat like the Lulu Belle. However, the Northwestern Fjord is incredible.

Campground Review:  Stoney Creek RV Park, 4 stars, creek side sites are the best, full hook ups, 30 amp, level gravel sites with grass (creek side only)  WiFi did not work,good Verizon signal, good location, busy campground

Tip:  Alaska Sea Life Center is worth a stop while visiting Seward. It's a huge research center and aquarium funded by the Valdez oil spill. Be sure to check out the puffin and water bird exhibit to get up close views of some great sea birds.

Tip:  Sewart's Brewing Company - great place for lunch. Brews are great. I tried a flight of four which were all great. Good food too.

Happy Trails!

McCarthy Road Adventure to Kennecott Mine

Copper Center, Alaska (52 degrees, grey skies)

Kennecott Mill

Cooper River

Visiting the Kennecott Mines National Historical Landmark had been recommend to us by many people who had traveled to Alaska. It's accessed by traveling a rugged 59 mile road from  Chitna to McCarthy. 

Fish Wheel

The road had recently been graded and wasn't as rough as we had imagined. It's important  to take your time and hope you don't pick up a rail spike. This road at one time was the rail line  which led to the mine. It was very scenic and located within the largest but least visited National Park (Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve).

Walking bridge to shuttle

The road ends at a parking lot and from there you walk across a bridge and catch a shuttle van to McCarthy. It's a small, dirt road town with just a few full time residents who want to keep it that way. There is a bridge you can drive over to the town but it requires a key to open the gate and costs about $1200 annually for access. The van was free. Works for us.

"Bergie Bits" flowing down river broken off from glacier

Downtown McCarthy

Kennecott in the distance

Tip: After walking around the small town we had a delicious and surprising reasonable lunch at Roadside Potatohead.

From here we took another van  for $5 each to the Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark.  The mine is not located here nor can it be accessed. However, you can tour the restored buildings and visitor center. The park also offers a guided tour of the mill for $28/person. We did not take this tour due to there being 14 flights of uneven stairs in a dark building. Some of our friends did and enjoyed it. 

We strolled around the many buildings and restored area. The construction of this mine was a massive undertaking. A railroad had to be built spanning rivers, mountains, and even a glacier from the coast to this remote area. It was completed in only four years. Everything had to be transported including miners, food  and equipment. The railroad was used to bring all supplies in and take the copper ore out. Families were not allowed to live here. At the height of the operation over 800 people lived here.  This was a an extremely profitable mine and over the 27 years of operation $200 million was extracted. It closed in 1938.

We did have a brief encounter with a black bear as we were hiking around the mill. Due to so many people being around we did not have our bear spray. Suddenly around the corner of the trail John spotted the bear not very far away from us. We immediately backed up and I reminded John not to turn his back on him. He started to follow us.  Gulp!  We both yelled out "Hey Bear" and clapped our hands and stomped our feet. Luckily for us he shot up and over the hill out of site.  Took me a little while to regroup but all was well. Note to self...always bring your bear spray.

We enjoyed the day very much and were glad we made the trip out here to see it. Saw a female moose on the way back. Life is good!

There is a glacier field you can hike out to (2 miles each direction) and take guided tours or go on your own across the glacier. We did not have enough time but it sure sounded interesting. 

Root Glacier

Campground Review:  Kenny Lake RV Park and Mercantile, 2 stars, gravel, pull through sites, electric only, dump on site, WiFi did not work, difficult entrance to access sites, primitive sites looked much better, $45/night, too over priced for what you received. Good sandwich and coffee shop on premises. We would stay in Chitna next time