Kenai

Thu September 6- We checked out of Motel 6 and packed up our rental Chrysler 200, which was quite the challenge with all our stuff. The next stop was the UPS sore to ship a large package back to Lexington- we of course had to downsize after selling our car. By one o'clock we were on the road to Seward on the Kenai (pronounce "key-nai") peninsula, south of Anchorage. Thirty miles into the drive we got a flat tire!! After driving all the way to Alaska from Massachusetts without a single problem with our car, we get a flat tire in a brand new rental car within the first hour of driving.. Some piece of metal used in road-construction ended up in our tire. As a side-note we passed a lot of road-construction and followed a lot of pilot-cars the last two months. Luckily the Chrysler came with a tire-pressure-warning-system and we were able to park at the Tesoro gas-station in Girdwood. Since our car-insurance was valid in a rental car as well (unheard of in e.g. The Netherlands), we did not buy any extra Dollar rental car insurance. LB, as a triple-A member, called for assistance, but it would take 1.5 hours for them to show up! So while waiting we got the spare wheel out of the trunk, Maurits opened the manual (since there seemed to be no wrench) and two guys from LA offered help. We now know how to change a tire! :) We drove back to Anchorage on the donut, found a tire repair shop, got the tire fixed ($35) and were back on the road to Seward. The 2 hour drive was beautiful! Great scenery! In Seward we went to the campground at Miller's landing- beautiful spot overlooking the sound.

Seward port- fresh snow on the mountains

LB cruisin'

Fri September 7- It rained most of the night and we found our tent in a big puddle of water. Fortunately the inside of our tent stayed dry! After breakfast we checked out Seward and quickly decided to go on a touristy-boat-tour of Kenai Fjords National Park. We had first thought about going on a sea-kayak trip, but it was just too cold. The cruise was a great decision... we absolutely loved it! The weather was cloudy and rainy, as you would expect in coastal Alaska, but the scenery and wildlife were amazing. Apart from the many glaciers, we saw orcas, sea-otters, humpback-whales, sea-lions, seals, bald eagles, puffins (cool looking sea-bird) and more. Especially the orca's were awesome! The cruise departed at 11am and we got back to Seward by 5pm. We had a beer at the local brew-pub and went back to the campsite. It was cold, but not raining, and since it got dark around 9pm (much earlier than a couple of weeks ago) it was very nice to have a camp-fire with marshmallows!

Orcas! (they do not pose well...)

Aialik Glacier (a 'tide-water' glacier)

Sat September 8- It drizzled in the morning, we were cold and damp, but this proved to be the turning point for some great weather ahead! We packed up the tent and moved from Miller's Landing ($25 per night) to the National Parks Campsite at Exit Glacier (free!). Exit Glacier is the most accessible glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park, meaning that you can drive to it. By the afternoon the weather had really cleared and we went for a short, easy and beautiful walk at the base of Exit Glacier. Afterwards we went back to Miller's Landing and walked along the coast of Resurrection Bay to Tonsina Point. Also an easy, but nice walk. Very interesting (and smelly) to see all the dead salmon in one of the creeks. Spawning and dying somehow keeps that species going... We once again had a beer at the local brewery and went back to the campsite for dinner (we wanted to make sure that we ate all the food that we still had). Since it was Saturday it was quite busy at the cooking shelter. Someone had started the campfire and it was fun to hang out with all the different people. If we were to go on a road-trip again we should bring an axe.. So many places have free firewood, but no kindling!

Exit Glacier (spot LB)

Tonsina Point

Sun September 9- After a cold and frosty night we woke to clear skies! We had breakfast, packed lunch and went on a day hike to Harding's Icefield. We hiked to the top of Exit Glacier (on a trail besides the glacier) to a viewpoint of a massive snow/ice-field (named after President Harding, just because he had visited Seward..) The icefield feeds all the glaciers in Kenai Fjords National Park. It was very windy, but we were able to find a sheltered spot for lunch where we had a spectacular vista! On the way back, even though there were a lot of people on the trail, we were able to bump into a black bear. What are the odds.. Back at camp we had a nice dinner in the warm evening sun.

Mountaineer Maurits

Mon September 10- Another very cold night! Brrrrrrrr! We have reached the limit of our camping gear.. But once more a crystal clear day! We were cold during breakfast, but two hours later with the sun shining down we were hiking in our t-shirts to Lost Lake. A scenic day hike north of Seward. Beautiful views of the surrounding mountains with Resurrection Bay and the Gulf of Alaska in the background. Very enjoyable! For the last time in Alaska we went back to camp; we ate our last freeze-dried camping-dinner (spaghetti bolognese), enjoyed a campfire (started by a nice couple from New Zealand) and crawled into the tent.

Maurits on the Harding Icefield

Huge icefield, notice the small people

Tue September 11- Happy 2nd anniversary!! Our last Alaskan tent-night was a cold one. After a warm oatmeal breakfast we packed up the tent and drove to a coffee-shop in Seward. It started to drizzle and it was great to be inside, drink coffee and eat a cinnamon roll. We recieved phone calls from the home-front (very nice), relaxed and did some internet. Around noon we drove North to Girdwood where we checked in to the Hidden Creek B&B (Shelley & Peter's treat for our anniversary - thank you!) After a shower we went out to a great Alaskan sea-food dinner at Jack Sprat (halibut and 'the deadliest catch').

Going down

Wed September 12- A true rest-day today! We had a lovely breakfast in the B&B with excellent french toast and banana-pecan-maple-syrup. Yummmmmmmy! Other than that we relaxed, sat in the hot-tub (rainy day today), had another nice dinner at the 'Muskee' Inn and saw a movie. Great!

Movie of the icefield

Thu September 13- Another excellent breakfast at the Hidden Creek! A great place! The owners Michelle and Ron where very nice and took our left-over camp-fuel, bear-spray and giant cooler that we could not bring to Hawaii. Before driving back to Anchorage we went for a 2 hour hike at the Alyeska Ski-Resort. We hiked up the mountain (nice views, little bit of sun) and took the tram (cable car) down. On the tram-ride down we saw our last bear, a small black bear in a berry-field. We still cannot believe that we saw so many bears! In Anchorage we did some last minute shopping, including a new sleeping bag and pad for Maurits. We stayed at Jewel Lake B&B (fine, reasonable rate) and had dinner (and beer) at the Glacier Brew-Pub.

Lost Lake

Fri September 14- Our last day in Alaska! Final packing and sorting of our gear for the rest of our trip; questions like "Shall I bring 10 or 7 pairs of underwear?" were answered. We shipped two more packages back to Lexington. One package with chairs, pillows, ice-axes and tarp-poles we built with Home Depot ship-wrap and tape; we were pretty proud of ourselves! For the second time we were impressed by the spelling-skills of the UPS-store-employee; chamberline, chamberlaine, chamberlain.. We got some groceries with lunch and snacks for a long domestic flight to Maui, checked into a different hotel (Hilton Garden Inn - cheaper - budget conscious) and drank our last bottle of wine.

Mountains surrounding Lost Lake

 

 

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