Alaska 2015 - Day 33 - Seward

Day 33 – 6-13-15 Saturday After breakfast we drove to the Kenai Fjords National Forest just outside of town. We took the hiking trail up to the Exit Glacier. The first mile of the trail through a forest of tall trees and an occasional view of the snow covered mountain was nice and easy but the next ½ mile or so was not for the faint of heart. Most of it was over solid a rock surface with loose gravel as we got away from the tree line, so we stepped very carefully. We were using our hiking sticks that I made for this trip and they are a big help keeping our balance on the rocks. We walked about as close to the glacier as people are allowed to hike. The wind was blowing rather hard and it was chilly. The view of the glacier and surrounding mountains was almost breathtaking. The end of the glacier was just below where we stopped. There were markers along the road coming to the parking lot and markers along the trail showing where the end of the glacier was years ago. It has receded a long ways over the years. The information signs indicated it started receding during the Little Ice Age and at one time was possibly all the way to the town of Seward. I guess that blows away Al Gore's theory that vehicles and cows are the cause of Global Warming.

Waterfall in Seward

Trail to Exit Glacier

Trail to Exit Glacier

Mountains around Exit Glacier

Exit Glacier

Mountains around Exit Glacier

Before we got back to the parking lot we stopped for a snack. We noticed several women heading up the trail wearing sandals. I don't know if they plan to make the entire hike but if they were they will probably regret their selection of footwear when they get to the rocky area. Not only uncomfortable but dangerous.

We finished the hike and drove down Seward Road to checkout a RV park just outside of town since we were close to it. The advertisement in The Milepost sounded like it was a really nice campground. We had read comments from some travelers that stayed there last year that made us a little skeptical of staying there. After checking it out we decided the advertisement and reality was not the same. We were glad we didn't pick that campground.

We returned to the campground to get some lunch and rest for awhile. Today is the warmest day we have had in Alaska – low 70's and lots of sunshine. Later in the afternoon a motor home pull into the site to the left of us so there now is about 3 feet of open space between outs and theirs. They had friends in two tents across the driveway from them. When it was time for us to go to bed around 10PM they were just getting wound up. They were playing music, laughing, singing, talking, etc. until sometime around 2:30AM. Other than calling 911 we didn't have a telephone number to report them or we would have. Every campground has a quiet time, usually from 10PM to 7AM. Here the quiet time is 11PM to 7AM. Most campers respect this but sometimes you find a group that thinks the rules don't apply to them.