Thrillin' to Chillin'!

We safely made it off of Kodiak and into Anchorage this morning. We met back up with the bike that we had in a storage bay. We went through all of our belongings and packed up a bunch of items we were done with and took them to UPS to ship home. This will not only lighten our load for heading back home but it also make it easier to maneuver things about in the bike and trailer.

When we arrived in Alaska, we went through Tok to Fairbanks to Anchorage. We will essentially be taking the hypotenuse of the triangle from Anchorage to Tok. This is not only about 100 fewer miles but it had some scenery we really wanted to see.

All of the rivers we passed were really flowing hard.

We were tempted to race to our destination for the evening but we knew better. We shall only pass this way but once. We still took our time and we were not disappointed. We loved this beautiful, serene reflecting lake.

It is a bit unnerving to have a sign indicating: “Landslide Area Do Not Stop”. I really had no intentions of stopping. Seeing where part of the hill has previously let loose and knowing it’s just a matter of time before this part lets go also. The sheer cliff on our side of the road didn’t help to calm our uneasiness. I have a plan if we encounter a bull moose in the road; I'm pretty sure we can safely pass under his legs; encountering a boulder rolling down a steep hillside...?

And then we round a curve and there it is: Matanuska Glacier, incredibly close to the highway standing loud and proud. With each new curve it got closer and closer.

 

I then followed a road sign down a dirt road in order to get closer yet. The dirt road ended up being 3 miles long and traversed 2 bridges over a raging river.

The view upon our arrival was incredible.

And then we headed out on a ¾ mile trek over a pathway.

Until we were standing on the glacier!

This glacier is huge. Notice the individual standing on the glacier. The glacier dwarfs them and I didn’t capture the whole glacier.

And yes, we had to touch it to verify it really is ice. It is!

And of course I had to lie down on the ice.

Notice mid photo off to the left; there is a group standing looking at the glacier. Even the dirt in the foreground is part of the glacier. Also, the glacier wraps around behind what you can see. The glacier is 26 miles long and 4 miles wide.

Indeed this was a very cool day. Did you hear me: We walked on a glacier!!!

Till Tomorrow!