We had lots of rain here in Alaska, so the splash of bright yellow sunshine on a patch of aspen and birch was a pretty sight for us as we drove south from Anchorage onto the Kenai Peninsula.
We stopped periodically to walk a trail and this one had huge leaves on a Devil's Claw plant along the path.
I found the texture of the wood in this old log pleasant to look at.
We stopped at Indian Valley Meats to see if they had any interesting products we could afford to try. They are the largest processors for game meat and fish around. You can drop off your animal or bins of freshly caught fish and they will cut them up and vacuum pack them for you or for shipment home.
The outhouse at Indian Valley Meats made me smile, too.
A display inside shows the different kinds of salmon around here. We are in the the salmon spawning season in Alaska. Each of the salmon has two names: King/Chinook, Silver/Coho, Red/Sockeye, Chum/Dog, Pink/Humpy. It can be quite confusing until you understand which is which as folks use both terms a lot.
We stopped at Beluga Point to try to see whales or the bore tide that comes in from the ocean. The water gets squeezed up as it makes its way into the end of the Turnagain Arm of the Cook Inlet and it can create a tide that has up to a 6' wave at its front. Crazies try to surf it for miles, but God help you if you fall in. The Beluga whale is the only white whale and this is what their head would look like if you spotted one coming up for air. We spotted some Dahl sheep on the hills across the road from here, too.
Looking across the arm of the Turnagain Bay inlet, you can see a distant glacier.
The train runs along the inlet, too, and this station is still considered a 'whistle stop' where the train only stops if someone wants to get on or off here and they are notified.
A bumper sticker on a truck in the parking lot at the train depot. There are lots of signs warning of falling rocks around these mountain roads.
A glacier in the distance
We made it to the Kenai Peninsula. We spent the night near this sign while deciding which way to go next.
We decided to head out to Whittier. These glaciers are receding fast, but still pretty to look at.
Look how deep that ice is.
A nice view of the glacier on a clear day. The thick ice always looks a pretty pale aqua blue.
We're glad we're seeing these glaciers now as they are melting fast.
You must go through a tunnel to get to Whittier ($13 RT). The one-lane tunnel is shared by vehicles and the train, so you must wait your turn to use the tunnel. Vehicles were allowed to drive one way on the hour, then they allow the traffic to go the other way on the half-hour. All vehicles must wait when the train goes through. This is the entrance to the tunnel as we proceed through towards Whittier.
It's 2.5 miles long, hand cut out of the mountain rock.
The glacier on the Whittier side of the tunnel.
We stopped at Cove Creek and watched the salmon trying to spawn upstream where this water comes in from the ocean inlet. Those dark slashes are all fish.
This is Cove Creek. We didn't see any salmon above the waterfall, but it was still early.
At the end of the road, we found some berry bushes. Sweet treats.
One of the spawning salmon. He is now dead and the seagulls are starting to peck him apart. The gulls will actually stand on the salmon in the shallow water and start to peck at their eyes while they are still swimming upstream.
Jason along the shore in Whittier.
An old log building along the dock at Whittier.
The town is all about the port. Boats, fishing and cruise ships are the only reason this place exists. This boat motor has a customized Igloo cooler as a cover. Not sure if it is for waterproofing, for insulation, or just for fun, but it's a cute idea.
The Buckner Building. Built in 1949,by the government to be an all-inclusive building for the military here during the Cold War era after WWII, it was meant to be 'City in a Building', with a dormitory, grocery, bowling alley, power plant, hospital,
320-seat movie theater, pool and gymnasium, six-cell jail, barbershop, bakery and commissary, church, radio station, bakery, postal exchange, photography laboratory, cafeteria and kitchen, officers’ lounge, library and rifle range. The stairwells of the six stories were also meant to be bomb-proof. It never really got used; it took too long to build and cost too much and was abandoned, left to crumble and be a graffiti target.Our view of the glacier from the end of the road where we camped.
Our campsite overlooking Prince William Sound. Eagles perched in the trees around us one afternoon.
Looking over the rocks down to the Emerald Cove below us.
Glacier close up zoom view.
We hiked up Horsetail Falls Trail and found more berries up there. The golden raspberries were huge here. They are a mild, natural variant of the regular red ones.
YOLO parked near the end of the road above Whittier.
Looking back at Jason and the van above Whittier. Gravel pits make good parking for us.
A tourist day-cruise ship makes its way up Prince William Sound into Whittier. There were no large cruise ships in port when we were here, so the crowds were down.
View looking down on Prince William Sound from our camp site. Can't beat the views.
Enjoying some of the local berries I picked in pancakes. Yummy.
Greenish tinge to the water in this light made it look so pretty.
View of the glacier while we are waiting to go back through the tunnel.
The water is colored a pretty aqua but still looks so clear.
Unusual growth of a tree on a trail. Jason spotted a moose as it bolted away from him at the end of this trail.
These are watermelon berries. They hang under the leaves and are easy to miss. They taste like watermelon and are a nice nibbly snack if you find them on a trail.
The blueberries (or huckleberries?) stain my hands. The red and yellow raspberries don't seem to leak such staining juice.
View of Portage Lake from the visitor center before you get to the tunnel to Whittier. We hit the visitor center on the way back out. Portage Lake is named after the place where early pioneers had to pack (portage) all their stuff over the mountain. There was no tunnel back then.
Zoomed in view of the Byron Glacier.
We hiked up the Byron Glacier Trail towards the glacier. This waterfall was across the valley from the trail.
Our view of the waterfall and glacier.
Devil's Claw is a prominent weed along the trails here. The leaves are huge and the berries are poisonous so nobody messes with this plant. It's still pretty. So many red berries, but we know not to eat these.
The ice field at the bottom of the Byron Glacier. You can walk on it and under it in the ice cave you see. Those tiny black dots are other people on the ice.
Funky melted openings in the ice under the ice field. Meltwaters create strange shapes in the ice.
Karen trying to get a selfie in front of the melts at the entrance to the ice cave.
Jason at the ice cave entrance.
A cool blue melt in the ceiling.
Looking back out from the inside of the ice cave. Lots of dripping water here.
Karen and Jason in the ice cave at Byron Glacier.
Looking up at a weird melting pattern above the entrance to the ice cave.
Another tourist in a smaller ice cove.
More cool ice melt patterns in the glacial ice.
People traipsing across the ice field at Byron Glacier, near Whittier.
The deep blue ice on the edge of the actual glacier farther up the mountain. People couldn't go up on the actual glacier here.
Stopped at a trail along a creek and the salmon were swimming upstream here, too. They spawn, turn red, and die. A few dead ones lay on the bottom of this creek as other spawners swim past them.
Jason taking pics of the spawning salmon in the rain.
The Solomon Fish Hatchery. It was closed while they were collecting salmon eggs.
A large metal sculpture in front of the fish hatchery.
We saw lots of these colorful mushrooms around Alaska. You can't eat these, though.
The little town of Moose Pass is famous for this wooden waterwheel that turns the grindstone in the foreground. It's been maintained by three generations of the original builder.
Moose Pass is a peaceful little town. If you have an axe to grind, DO IT HERE. The sign at the grindstone.
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