Kenai Fjord National Park

A humpback whale in the Kenai Fjords National Park.

The sunny weather continued as we left Portage Valley headed south for Seward. This is the Alaska I had envisioned before our trip, lots of dramatic mountain views, lakes surrounded by pines and fast flowing rivers - all on a gloriously sunny day.

On the way to Seward. The rig is doing well, no major breakdowns.

Seward is a deep water ice free port on the south east corner of Kenai Peninsula. The town was pretty much destroyed by the 1964 earthquake and subsequent tsunamis. Now Seward’s economy is driven by fishing and tourism. It has a very cute little downtown area, just the right size to wander around in. 

We chose to stay at a campground about 5 miles out of town rather than with the other 450 RVs that stay by the water downtown. It just seemed too crowded for my taste.  Our campground was surrounded by pines and was right next to a small creek.

I am learning something important about this RVing life.  If you want to know the good places to camp, or eat or visit, just go do your laundry.  You always run into fellow travelers (almost always women) and they are more than willing to share their experiences.  It is all well and good to have the travel books and brochures (believe me, I think I have them all), but these folks will give you the true low down. Got a lead on a campground in Homer that has great views.

Took another day cruise, this time to tour the Kenai FjordNational Park. We were so fortunate with the weather – it was a gorgeous day. The park ranger was a hoot – he used to be a sixth grade teacher and he had a terrific personality.  He had those Junior Rangers all over the boat, on the main deck for some paperwork, up to the 3^rd deck to identify some fur pelts, then down to the 2^nd deck to learn how to identify scat. I don’t think there were any bored kids on that cruise. He finished up with a big presentation at the end of the cruise where each kid was personally presented with their Junior Ranger badge. In between all his Junior Ranger activities, he gave us a lot of background on the Kenai Fjord National Park and the animals that we saw. We saw several glaciers and I even got some footage of the Holgate Glacier calving.

Kenai Fjords National Park. 

Some of the hanging glaciers in the park.

Holgate Glacier.

This glacier is retreating and dumps into a lake.  The dark horizontal line is a moraine. The white "chunks" to the right are actually huge icebergs that are over 50 feet high floating around in the lake.

The scenery was breathtaking.  We saw a few wild animals, including a humpback whale. But not the quantities I was expecting.  I think I had unrealistic expectations, another one of those truth-in-advertising things that they need to put on Alaska photos. Although, I talked to a woman (another of those laundry room interactions) who on her tour bus trip into Denali, had seen over a dozen grizzlies and a wolf eating a freshly killed caribou. So it must be timing – we just aren’t on the same schedule as the critters.

Stellar sea lions.

This sea otter let the boat get very close.

Puffins on the rocks.

Seals.  These guys are very awkward on land.  They can get around only by wiggling - flippers are of no use.

There is an Alaska Sea Life Center which is an aquarium focusing on the sea life in the Arctic and a wildlife rescue center. It is right at the base of the town and has great views of the bay. They have sea lions, seals, a giant Pacific octopus (it's tentacles were at least five feet long) and lots of different ocean fish. And they have several exhibits on the impact of the EXXON VALDEZ oil spill. It is so sad that, after twenty years, most of the wildlife has not fully recovered.  And it has been discovered that even very, very small levels of oil in the water is toxic for some of the small life (like plankton). So, since the small animals aren’t there, the critters that eat them are declining, which means an impact on the whole food chain.

One of the residents of the Sea Life Center.

This critter looks like he needs a bath.

One morning, we drove out to Exit Glacier.  This is outside of Seward about 8 miles off the main road. You can walk right up the glacier by taking a mile long hike through the gravel bars.  We chose not to since the water is very cold and you would have to ford the streams several times.  But we did take a short nature walk which got us to a nice lookout.

Taking a little rest in Seward.

Next up on our itinerary – Homer.