When we got up this morning, it was just about the maximum low tide for today. Looking out of our back window, first toward the left then toward the right, you can see how much of the shore is exposed. The water covers up a lot of things, like pipes and logs as well as rocks and gravel. The black spot just off shore is another log. A couple days ago, there was a lower tide that uncovered it enough to see that it was a log. Some of the boat traffic can be seen in the second picture.
We see that there is another cruise ship in port today. There has been a different one each day that we have been here. In the close up, you can see a long blue pipe running from the tower and along the dock. Yesterday, on our cruise, we were told that it is a conveyor for loading coal, that has been brought to port from the mines via train, onto ships to be taken elsewhere.
We packed a lunch and took an excursion to Exit Glacier, not far from here. It can be seen to the left of the sign that marks the entrance to Kenai Fjords National Park as well as in a little closer view.
There is a trail that leads to the glacier. At one time, you could get right up next to the glacier, but it has melted year after year and is now not so close to the view point. We decided to take the trail and here is what we saw. All along the trail there are posts with years marked on them, showing where the glacier would have terminated at the time. A sign shows where the glacier terminated at various years, starting with 1815 when it extended just about to the foot of the hills. By 1951, it had retreated to just about the edge of the lake that is circled with trees now. You can just see the place where the river leaves the lake, in the NOW picture at the right. This is not a deep lake, in fact it is mostly moraine, or the gravel sediment deposited by the glacial melt, as is the trail that we are walking on. There are water rivulets running through the moraine as the glacier is continually melting. Imagine this valley completely filled with ice many hundreds of feet thick. Also, notice that the snow is no longer heavy on top of the mountains in the background.
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A photo of the glacier, below, and the Harding Icefield above, to the left. The icefield is melting and causing many waterfalls down the side of the mountain. The picture on the right shows some of the trail leading to the look out point by the side of the glacier. The sign at the bottom right says that , if you would have stood at this spot in 1998, you would have been able to touch the glacier. That is how much it has melted since then.
We made it up the trail, as seen behind Earl. This is the closest that we can get to the glacier, today.
You can see the moraine (black) and melting running water that sometimes pools in the ice. Here is a closer look at the Harding Icefield and the waterfalls coming from it.
We saw people at the base of the glacier (zoomed way in), even though there a multitude of signs warning of the danger of doing that because it is unpredictable as to when a chunk of ice may calve off. The river running from the base of the glacier is pretty gray. That is because it contains a lot of "glacial flour" or finely ground rock suspended in the water.
On our way out of the park, we stopped for a photo op. You can see how the river sort of splits and winds its way through the moraine. They call it a braided river, when it does that.
Here is the sign for the day. We were exploring the area near the docks and saw this one. I think it is trying to tell us that the railroad bed is elevated and long wheelbased vehicles should be careful that they don’t become high centered and get stuck on the tracks. By the time we got back to the trailer, the tide had come back in. Everything that was exposed along the shore was now covered back up and small waves were lapping the rocks near our parking place.
Meanwhile, out in Resurrection Bay, the sea gulls were having a grand time feasting on something, probably fish pieces that had been washed off the fishing boats, after they came into the harbor, and were now traveling with the current out to the bay. The white line is all sea gulls with more flying above. And, our friendly resident otter was doing his otter thing just off shore.
Earl, ever observant, saw this eagle perched on the pilings not far from us. You can see the sea gulls (white dots) in the background. Suddenly, he/she started squawking. Was he calling a friend?
Sure enough, another eagle came and landed on the next piling. Then they both began squawking.
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Finally, there was peace. All of the eagle pictures were taken between 9:55 PM and 10:05 PM. It is still quite light at that time here.
We’re going to miss this place, when we move on tomorrow.
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