Glacier Walk

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One of the exciting things about Alaska is the glaciers. Janet’s number one hope was to walk on a glacier during her Alaskan vacation. The Matanuska Glacier that we saw on our way into Anchorage has a walking trail access to the glacier. We piled everybody into the pickup again and stopped to see Uncle Dick on the way out of town. Rowan was too shy to talk, but after we got back in the truck he said, "I forgot to say hi to Uncle dick!" Then we headed out to the glacier. It was about an hour and a half ride and a mostly sunny day. When we got there, we had to pay $10 apiece, except for Rowan, and Rich didn’t want to hike. We also had to sign waivers that we were aware of the dangers on the glaciers. They must have had a good lawyer because besides various possibilities of falls and other bodily harm, we had to be aware of bears and “dangerous insects”. Okay, if you’re allergic to bees, but otherwise? Mosquitoes large enough to carry you off? What? They also had shoes you could use if your own shoes (sandals) were not appropriate.
Rich and Daisy watched us through the binoculars as we headed out. The sign said, “Glacier is 1000 feet from the parking lot”. It didn’t look like it, but it was true. The glacier was covered with dirt and rocks for quite a ways before it got white. A trail was marked with cones. Janet and I went out about a half mile and took pictures. We thought about going back, but Vivian and Seth and Rowan were far ahead going over a hill and beckoning us on. We decided, “Why not?” We were glad we did because we roamed over a couple of hills and valleys and found some beautiful blue ice and some little lakes. Seth collected smooth, flat stones for skipping stones and when we found little lakes, he skipped them 10 times! Rowan hiked the whole way! What a trooper! We all felt like intrepid explorers and waved to Rich whenever we could see the parking lot. I took pictures of Janet posing as if she were sliding down the glacier so she could put an adventure photo on her desk at school to impress the students. We got some great shots and laughed a lot. It was a long walk back and Rowan walked an hopped and jumped all the way. Takes after his dad. We were all quite excited and proud of ourselves.
We decided to eat dinner at the Long Rifle Lodge nearby. It had a bear statue on the roof holding a long rifle. Rich said it showed the right to arm bears. There were many stuffed and mounted animals inside. Rowan really enjoyed them. Our table had a fabulous view of the glacier and of the surrounding mountains. I think the food was good, too.
On the way back, we looked for moose and bear. No luck again. As we approached Anchorage, we remembered a little churchyard called Eklutna that has colorful little “spirit houses” over the graves and a Russian Orthodox church. We stopped to llook around,but we didn't stay long because of the mosquitoes.
It was quite a day!

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Comments

[Jodie]

What a long and incredible day! Awesome!