HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!
Boondocking–
We knew we would be hiking to Exit Glacier today so we decided to boondock somewhere near the trail last night. Found a likely spot and as soon as we drove up we saw an eagle out hunting on the riverbed. We don’t have a very expensive camera but we took some snaps to add to our memories. We boondocked at N 60.15968 degrees and W 149.44525 degrees in a large pull-out right next to the Resurrection River in Seward, Alaska. This is a beautiful area and lots of folks boondock all up and down this road (Exit Glacier Road) and we can get on the Internet here so we will probably stay here again tonight.
Hike to Exit Glacier–
Went on a Ranger led hike up to Exit Glacier. The first part of the hike is flat and wheelchair friendly, then it starts to climb. We stayed with the Ranger group for half the hike. Went our own way as we wanted to actually touch the glacier so we hiked up the “out wash plain” (river bed) jumping over and fording some small streams to get to the foot of the glacier. We didn’t walk on the glacier itself as we were warned there were numerous crevasses with an occasionally very thin ice covering over a crevasse. Falling into a crevasse didn’t appeal to us so we stayed off the glacier. It was a beautiful, sunny day today, kind of shirtsleeve weather. When you get near the glacier is when you feel the temperature change as the wind comes at you off the glacier. We enjoyed the day. Being pretty much townies, our exposure to glaciers has been nil so this was an experience, no doubt.
Some information we picked up from the rangers: 1) 4th of July weekend in Seward is “party weekend” and folks come from all over Alaska to Seward to celebrate. So that week-end might be avoided by those of you who would not be coming here to party. 2) Resurrection River has frequently flooded and the month of July is a month of concern according to the Rangers. They did not say it would flood in July because there could be flooding anytime or no flooding but they did say that flooding on Exit Glacier Road could happen and July was the month they worry about it most. Seward has a history of flooding. See (http://www.sewardbearcreekfloodservicearea.org/Seward%20Flood%20History%20Complete.pdf )
