A Wandering Knight: Alaska Day 9 - Crusing in Kenai Fjords National Park

Blue skies. We woke up and found something missing: clouds. The sun shown down and just a few puffy clouds drifted along in the dusky blue sky. It is the first time we have seen the sun in the morning this trip. The forecast promised we would see the sun all day long. Today was our day to take a cruise through the fjords of Kenai Fjords National Park. We drove into Seward to get on the Glacier Express for a 7.5 hour cruise.

<img style="width: 800px; height: auto" src="https://assets.libsyn.com/images/wanderingknight/July-17-2019-0748.jpeg" alt="Photo taken July 17 2019 at 07:48 " />&

Blue skies. We woke up and found something missing: clouds. The sun shown down and just a few puffy clouds drifted along in the dusky blue sky. It is the first time we have seen the sun in the morning this trip. The forecast promised we would see the sun all day long. Today was our day to take a cruise through the fjords of Kenai Fjords National Park. We drove into Seward to get on the Glacier Express for a 7.5 hour cruise.

Photo taken July 17 2019 at 07:48

This is a first for the trip, ho[pefully not a last, sunshine in the morning. Looking northerly towards some mountains just across the field from our guesthouse.

--July 17 2019 at 07:48. Moose Pass, AK, United States

Photo taken July 17 2019 at 12:22

Unless you have a long zoom lens you aren’t going to get good images of the animals swimming in the sea or flying through the air. This is, I think, a sea otter I was lucky enough to catch. Nothing ever got that close to our boat. I’d not be surprised if this animal was well over 100 yards away.

--July 17 2019 at 12:22. , AK, United States

We were just 3 amongst 190 passengers served by a crew of, I think, 5 people including the captain (Nicole). There was also a park ranger, Maia, on board to provide educational information about the things we would see and the places we were visiting. We pulled away from the peer at 10:00 moving across glass-smooth waters of Resurrection Bay out towards the Gulf of Alaska and then beyond. I think it is best if I just show off the best photos I took at this point. They’ll convey much more of a sense of what we saw. At least they manage that feat for larger objects. Since I did not have a long zoom lens I couldn’t really take pictures of the puffins, cormorants, gulls, and other birds that flew on by now and then. Nor could I really capture the humpback seals, Steller Sea Lions, Humback whales, or sea otters that we sometimes saw as more than small dark or light objects in the camera view.

Photo taken July 17 2019 at 12:51

If you were ever prone to think of glaciers as smooth look at the wrinkles in this ice here. I’ve no doubt the top of the glacier, if you could walk across it, is loaded with cracks, crevices, and bumps too.

--July 17 2019 at 12:51. , AK, United States

Photo taken July 17 2019 at 12:52

Holgate Glacier is about 0.5 miles wide, 400 feet tall, and extends back 5 miles to the Harding Ice Field. We are about 0.25 miles away sitting in very calm water that is a gray-green tinged color from the glacial silt that the glacier deposits. Bits of ice from the glacier drift by as we float here.

--July 17 2019 at 12:52. , AK, United States

Photo taken July 17 2019 at 13:01

I do not know what the name of these waterfalls is or if they are named at all. They’re plummeting several hundred feet down to the water and I suspect are even bigger than they appear given they’re not particularly close to us.

--July 17 2019 at 13:01. , AK, United States

Photo taken July 17 2019 at 13:09

The star in this photo is the ice both in the Holgate Glacier and the growlers that are flooating towards our position (doubt any are big enough to be Bertie bits). It doesn’t show up as well in this image but sections of the glacier are deep blue. That happens when ice is compressed forcing air out and changing the shape of the crystals. The result is longer wavelengths of light are absorbed leaving the shorter (blue) wavelengths to bounce back to our eyes. Photo by Jonathan.

--July 17 2019 at 13:09. , AK, United States

The glaciers are, in many way, the stars of the tour. It is a pleasure to see the animals but it is hard to see them and sometimes you only get a glimpse of one if you are lucky. THe glaciers are impossible to miss. The only thing we could not really sense about them, and only because we were not close enough, was the no doubt cool air flowing off their faces. But you can’t miss seeing a wall of ice 400 feet tall and a half a mile wide when you look at the Holgate Glacier. The Aialik Glacier is about as tall and even wider at a good mile. Of course, you can’t tell from the boat’s-eye view that the Holgate flows back 5 miles and Aialik over 8 miles. You can see the wrinkles in the ice, grooves that must be deeper than you think given the size of the ice wall and the fact that we float about a quarter of a mile away. Ice caves can be seen and must be equally huge. Floating in front of the glacier are recently calved bits of ice from tiny chunks called growlers of less than 3 feet; Bergie bits that run from 3 to 16 feet; and then icebergs which are 16 feet and up in size. I’m not sure I saw any icebergs floating by but everything else was. Now and then a huge cracking sound would be heard. Once, and for some lucky to be looking in the right direction, a huge block fell into the water - certainly an iceberg. About one second later a truly staggering boom rolled over us and in time an almost as big echo bounced back from somewhere off fjords walls.

Photo taken July 17 2019 at 13:56

The Aialik Glacier is a mile wide, over 300 feet tall (maybe 400), and extends back at least 8 miles to the Harding Ice Field.

--July 17 2019 at 13:56. , AK, United States

Photo taken July 17 2019 at 14:17

We are leaving the Aialik Glacier behind. YOu can clearly see it, its face anyway, in full glory now.

--July 17 2019 at 14:17. , AK, United States

We should not forget what the glaciers have left behind and are leaving behind. The fjords cliff walls tower hundreds of feet into the air and plunge several hundred feet below the surface of the light gray-green waters. The glaciers have been carving out these U-shaped fjords for millennia. Today the silt laden water is placid as we float in the center of the fjord watching the glacier and hoping to spot an occasional animal like a harbor seal basking on an ice floe or a seabird wheeling through the air.

Photo taken July 17 2019 at 15:25

The shore of one of the Chiswell Islands. They are lush and we saw quite a few birds of various species as we moved through the islands.

--July 17 2019 at 15:25. , AK, United States

Photo taken July 17 2019 at 15:28

For all I can tell these birds could be nothing more than gulls in the water but I prefer to hope that they were Horned PUffins get ready to dive deep for fish.

--July 17 2019 at 15:28. , AK, United States

Photo taken July 17 2019 at 15:34

The Chiswell Islands are in the Alaska Managements National wildlife REfuge. I’ve no idea how many islands exists but in the little area we ventured their were certainly quite a few some with just the tiniest gaps of water between them.

--July 17 2019 at 15:34. , AK, United States

There is more in the the area besides the national park. A vast wildlife refuge managed by the US Forest lies adjacent to the park. It is a vast area dotted with innumerable islands and islets. We had a chance to sail through the Chiswell Islands. We gathered from Nicole, the captain, that not all cruises get to do this. I am guessing when the weather is questionable they skip the islands. On these rocky sheer-sided islands you can see Sitka spruce and mountain hemlock (I think) but I am not at all sure any deciduous trees are growing. I imagine the underbrush is quite thick. Horned and Tuffted Puffins, Common Murres, gulls, and other birds are here. Some people saw more Steller Sea Lions. I bet sea otters were about too. These are islands that are thriving in this frequently harsh and rather wet environment.

Photo taken July 17 2019 at 15:48

A Humpback Whale surfaces, spouts, spends a couple moments at the surface perhaps showing its back and maybe slapping the water with a tail fluke, all within a few seconds. I am pretty sure I never saw any of the whales but Mom and Dad did. Mom was fortunate enough to snap this picture of a Humpback Whale as we returned to Seward. Photo by Judy.

--July 17 2019 at 15:48. , AK, United States

After the cruise and an adequate dinner we zipped over to the Exit Glacier. While I would have liked to go all the way to the Glacier Overlook, adding about 1.2 miles to a mile long hike, we ended up not doing that. We were tired, the bugs were out, and Mom and Dad did not want to go the last bit on the totally accessible trail. Oh well. We did see the glacier at a distance but never quite got to the edge of the moraine which could have been interesting to see if it matched my admittedly vague memories from 17 years ago. We are all a bit sleepy now. Even though it was has a sedentary day it was still a long one.
Photo taken July 17 2019 at 19:28

The REssurection River flows by as we look out towards the Exit Glacier. We are strolling along a totally accessible loop that is about 1 mile long. If you take the spur trail to the Glacier Overlook you’ll add 1.2 miles to your hike but it is all accessible trail. We were ready for the day to end and the bugs were annoying us so we did not go out to the overlook. I am a bit sad that we did not as it would have been interesting to see if I remembered it from 17 years ago.

--July 17 2019 at 19:28. Seward, AK, United States

lt;/p>

This is a first for the trip, ho[pefully not a last, sunshine in the morning. Looking northerly towards some mountains just across the field from our guesthouse.

--July 17 2019 at 07:48. Moose Pass, AK, United States

</blockquote>

Unless you have a long zoom lens you aren’t going to get good images of the animals swimming in the sea or flying through the air. This is, I think, a sea otter I was lucky enough to catch. Nothing ever got that close to our boat. I’d not be surprised if this animal was well over 100 yards away.

--July 17 2019 at 12:22. , AK, United States

</blockquote>

We were just 3 amongst 190 passengers served by a crew of, I think, 5 people including the captain (Nicole). There was also a park ranger, Maia, on board to provide educational information about the things we would see and the places we were visiting. We pulled away from the peer at 10:00 moving across glass-smooth waters of Resurrection Bay out towards the Gulf of Alaska and then beyond. I think it is best if I just show off the best photos I took at this point. They’ll convey much more of a sense of what we saw. At least they manage that feat for larger objects. Since I did not have a long zoom lens I couldn’t really take pictures of the puffins, cormorants, gulls, and other birds that flew on by now and then. Nor could I really capture the humpback seals, Steller Sea Lions, Humback whales, or sea otters that we sometimes saw as more than small dark or light objects in the camera view.

If you were ever prone to think of glaciers as smooth look at the wrinkles in this ice here. I’ve no doubt the top of the glacier, if you could walk across it, is loaded with cracks, crevices, and bumps too.

--July 17 2019 at 12:51. , AK, United States

</blockquote>

Holgate Glacier is about 0.5 miles wide, 400 feet tall, and extends back 5 miles to the Harding Ice Field. We are about 0.25 miles away sitting in very calm water that is a gray-green tinged color from the glacial silt that the glacier deposits. Bits of ice from the glacier drift by as we float here.

--July 17 2019 at 12:52. , AK, United States

</blockquote>

I do not know what the name of these waterfalls is or if they are named at all. They’re plummeting several hundred feet down to the water and I suspect are even bigger than they appear given they’re not particularly close to us.

--July 17 2019 at 13:01. , AK, United States

</blockquote>

The star in this photo is the ice both in the Holgate Glacier and the growlers that are flooating towards our position (doubt any are big enough to be Bertie bits). It doesn’t show up as well in this image but sections of the glacier are deep blue. That happens when ice is compressed forcing air out and changing the shape of the crystals. The result is longer wavelengths of light are absorbed leaving the shorter (blue) wavelengths to bounce back to our eyes. Photo by Jonathan.

--July 17 2019 at 13:09. , AK, United States

</blockquote>

The glaciers are, in many way, the stars of the tour. It is a pleasure to see the animals but it is hard to see them and sometimes you only get a glimpse of one if you are lucky. THe glaciers are impossible to miss. The only thing we could not really sense about them, and only because we were not close enough, was the no doubt cool air flowing off their faces. But you can’t miss seeing a wall of ice 400 feet tall and a half a mile wide when you look at the Holgate Glacier. The Aialik Glacier is about as tall and even wider at a good mile. Of course, you can’t tell from the boat’s-eye view that the Holgate flows back 5 miles and Aialik over 8 miles. You can see the wrinkles in the ice, grooves that must be deeper than you think given the size of the ice wall and the fact that we float about a quarter of a mile away. Ice caves can be seen and must be equally huge. Floating in front of the glacier are recently calved bits of ice from tiny chunks called growlers of less than 3 feet; Bergie bits that run from 3 to 16 feet; and then icebergs which are 16 feet and up in size. I’m not sure I saw any icebergs floating by but everything else was. Now and then a huge cracking sound would be heard. Once, and for some lucky to be looking in the right direction, a huge block fell into the water - certainly an iceberg. About one second later a truly staggering boom rolled over us and in time an almost as big echo bounced back from somewhere off fjords walls.

The Aialik Glacier is a mile wide, over 300 feet tall (maybe 400), and extends back at least 8 miles to the Harding Ice Field.

--July 17 2019 at 13:56. , AK, United States

</blockquote>

We are leaving the Aialik Glacier behind. YOu can clearly see it, its face anyway, in full glory now.

--July 17 2019 at 14:17. , AK, United States

</blockquote>

We should not forget what the glaciers have left behind and are leaving behind. The fjords cliff walls tower hundreds of feet into the air and plunge several hundred feet below the surface of the light gray-green waters. The glaciers have been carving out these U-shaped fjords for millennia. Today the silt laden water is placid as we float in the center of the fjord watching the glacier and hoping to spot an occasional animal like a harbor seal basking on an ice floe or a seabird wheeling through the air.

The shore of one of the Chiswell Islands. They are lush and we saw quite a few birds of various species as we moved through the islands.

--July 17 2019 at 15:25. , AK, United States

</blockquote>

For all I can tell these birds could be nothing more than gulls in the water but I prefer to hope that they were Horned PUffins get ready to dive deep for fish.

--July 17 2019 at 15:28. , AK, United States

</blockquote>

The Chiswell Islands are in the Alaska Managements National wildlife REfuge. I’ve no idea how many islands exists but in the little area we ventured their were certainly quite a few some with just the tiniest gaps of water between them.

--July 17 2019 at 15:34. , AK, United States

</blockquote>

There is more in the the area besides the national park. A vast wildlife refuge managed by the US Forest lies adjacent to the park. It is a vast area dotted with innumerable islands and islets. We had a chance to sail through the Chiswell Islands. We gathered from Nicole, the captain, that not all cruises get to do this. I am guessing when the weather is questionable they skip the islands. On these rocky sheer-sided islands you can see Sitka spruce and mountain hemlock (I think) but I am not at all sure any deciduous trees are growing. I imagine the underbrush is quite thick. Horned and Tuffted Puffins, Common Murres, gulls, and other birds are here. Some people saw more Steller Sea Lions. I bet sea otters were about too. These are islands that are thriving in this frequently harsh and rather wet environment.

A Humpback Whale surfaces, spouts, spends a couple moments at the surface perhaps showing its back and maybe slapping the water with a tail fluke, all within a few seconds. I am pretty sure I never saw any of the whales but Mom and Dad did. Mom was fortunate enough to snap this picture of a Humpback Whale as we returned to Seward. Photo by Judy.

--July 17 2019 at 15:48. , AK, United States

</blockquote>

After the cruise and an adequate dinner we zipped over to the Exit Glacier. While I would have liked to go all the way to the Glacier Overlook, adding about 1.2 miles to a mile long hike, we ended up not doing that. We were tired, the bugs were out, and Mom and Dad did not want to go the last bit on the totally accessible trail. Oh well. We did see the glacier at a distance but never quite got to the edge of the moraine which could have been interesting to see if it matched my admittedly vague memories from 17 years ago. We are all a bit sleepy now. Even though it was has a sedentary day it was still a long one.

The REssurection River flows by as we look out towards the Exit Glacier. We are strolling along a totally accessible loop that is about 1 mile long. If you take the spur trail to the Glacier Overlook you’ll add 1.2 miles to your hike but it is all accessible trail. We were ready for the day to end and the bugs were annoying us so we did not go out to the overlook. I am a bit sad that we did not as it would have been interesting to see if I remembered it from 17 years ago.

--July 17 2019 at 19:28. Seward, AK, United States

</blockquote>

A Wandering Knight

Friday, July 19, 2019

Alaska Day 9 - Crusing in Kenai Fjords National Park

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