Monday |
found us heading north of Anchorage, through the town of |
Palmer and then some 60 miles north of that. We followed the |
Matanuska River to its source, past still ice-locked lakes, |
up winding roads, and across a huge valley, to the base of |
the Matanuska Glacier. |
I took the picture used for the background in the above banner |
across the valley from the glacier ! |
The Matanuska Glacier
|
Once there, we hiked up over a low rise and then down to the |
valley floor, where the glacier melt started the river. Even |
though we were standing on a huge field of ice, with icy water |
swiftly rushing past us, I was not cold. The dry air of Alaska's |
glacier fields seems to just drain the cold right along with |
moisture from the air. On our way down, we saw where moose |
had eaten newly budding tender branches & bush shoots to |
the
ground........moose are on my list, more on that later.
|
Slammin' on the brakes !
|
We hiked back up to the car, got back to the highway, then |
drove another mile north, for lunch. (I need to get the names |
of
all these neat places we stopped at to eat!)
|
The trail down to the glacier... |
|
Ice-locked lake, fed by the Matanuska River. |
Afternoon |
found us heading back down the mountain, to Wasilla, |
home to my web partner, and the Iditarod Trail Headquarters |
and Museum. Mark had told me it wouldn't take 15 minutes |
to
see the entire museum, and he was very close !
|
I guess I was just expecting for Doug Swingley, (this year's |
race winner) to walk up, introduce himself & offer to take me |
for a
sled dog ride, LOL*
|
From there, it was back to Mark's house, and a tour of his |
grounds. On the walk back to his garden, we noticed several |
piles of moose sh....cr.....err, droppings. HE claims to have |
moose in his own backyard ! More on moose later......grrrrrr.. |
those
critters are on my list !
|
Mother dug up a baggie from the car, and asked Mark to |
gather her some sh.....err, droppings. For a souvenir? to |
spray paint gold for Christmas decorations? Not sure, but |
that baggie of sh.....err, droppings graced the dash of the |
rental
car for the rest of the trip, LOL*
|
From Wasilla, it was on the road again, back through |
Anchorage, and 40 more miles south, along the Turnagain |
Arm and the tracks of the Alaska Railroad, to Girdwood and |
Aleyska Ski Lodge & Resort.....in preparation for Tuesday's |
cruise of Prince William Sound ! |
Turnagin Arm
Alaska Railroad tracks |
|
Aleyska -- View from our room |
Join
us on our journey !
|
|
By Day | By Location |
Sunday | Matanuska Glacier |
Monday | Portage Glacier |
Tuesday | Big Game Alaska |
Wednesday | Whittier |
Thursday | Prince William Sound |
Friday | Kenai Peninsula |
Trapper Creek | |
Alaska Facts | |
Denali | Chugach Range |
Approximate Driving Distances | |
COOL Alaska links | |
AWARDS |
The Matanuska Glacier |
is the largest road-accessible glacier. Measuring roughly |
27 miles long, and 4 miles wide, it is one of the very few in |
Alaska that you can actually walk up to and hike on. |
A young New Hampshire man fell to his death there last year. |
It is presumed he fell down one of the many abyss' or |
sinkholes there, as his body was never found. |
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