Early start today to visit and explore the east side of the Kenai Peninsula and the town of Seward, Alaska.

If we thought the view was beautiful before, the early morning views were almost breathtaking.  The water on the lakes was so still, it was a perfect mirror of the mountains.  The whole area looks like a Bob Ross painting with thousands of happy trees and snowy mountain tops.

We are headed out for a combo trip of kayaking and hiking through Adventure 60 North.  To start, we are kayaking in Tonsina Point off the coast of Seward, Alaska.  Mike has decided that kayaking may not be the best way to spend a morning with his bruised ribs, so he skipped the kayaking portion and headed into Seward to scope out the town and grab breakfast.

The boys and I geared up and headed out to Tonsina Point. The beach was beautiful – Not a soul in sight other than us.  Thankfully we could wear rain pants from the Adventure 60 North so our pants didn’t get wet from the kayak seats.  We got on our spray skirt on – they fit over the kayak seat like a fitted sheet.  As cold as the water is you really do t want any splashing on you.

And then we were off.  It was amazing being on the water.  In the kayak, you could feel every wave and movement of the water but not really so it felt surreal.  Our guide, Blaine, was great.  This was his second season working in Alaska for the summer months – he moves to New Mexico and teaches skiing in Winter months.  He explained so much to us about the local plant and animal life as well as the history of Tonsima Point and Seward. 

We saw sea stars – a fatter and more aggressive form of starfish.  The seastars are the top of the food chain for crustaceans.

We saw 3 bald eagles including a massive nest, and a little baby otter who was just floating along on his back doing baby otter stuff.  We thought we saw a big ol’ seal, but it turned out to be a massive wood log just floating along… based on the amount of bird poop on it, it was basically a traveling perch for birds 😂 and we saved a bumble bee who ran out of steam while crossing the bay. We also stopped for a snack in the coolest place we’ve ever had cheese-its and goldfish 😀

It was a great way to start the day!

We headed back to the shop, changed out of our rain gear, and met up with Mike. The second part of our combo trip was a hike into the Kenai Fjords National Park with Blaine.  Honestly, we have never had a guide through a hike, and the only tour service we ever used in a National Park was the horrible Pink Jeep Tour in the Grand Canyon, so I was a bit skeptical.  So much so, that we decided to drive our own car to the National Park, just in case we wanted to stay longer or see something beyond what Blaine showed us.  I could not have been more wrong about Blaine.  He knew all kinds of stuff that we would never have learned on our own. He knew all the best turn offs/overlooks, plus, it was like having a photographer!

All along the trails were these signs with years marked.  Each marked where the glacier was that year.  Some years showed significant change and some didn’t. I can say, our hike to see the glacier would have been a lot shorter in 1917 😊

These hills/mounds are called moraines.  They were all along the trails and were hills created as the glacier moved along bringing rocks, soils, trees and whatever was in its path.

We are making our way to the Exit Glacier.  On top of the Mountain is the Harding Icefield. Several glaciers come off this icefield, although only the Exit Glacier is in an area that can be reached by hiking. Interesting note that it is named the Exit Glacier because it is the way an exploration party was able to “exit” the Icefield.  Unlike most National Parks, the Kenai Fjord National Park has one main visitors center and one main trail. 

Hiking with Blaine was like have a constant plaque with you 😁 Of course, he could have been making it all up and we would no way of knowing 😂

All the info just walking along with you… For example, this skunk cabbage, a favorite of bears 🐻

This looks like spinach but eventually grows beautiful flowers called pink pyrola.

This is glacier flour left over when the glacier grinds rocks into the fine powder.

We made our way up to the Exit Glacier Overlook. All along the way Blaine told us about the katabatic wind we would feel as we got closer to the glacier. Honestly we were all thinking it would be a slightly cooler breeze – WRONG! Imagine standing in front of an industrial fan that was blowing air out of your freezer! It was crazy! No breeze, no breeze, slightly cooler breeze, gale force freezer air!

We found (thanks to Blaine) moose scat and moose hair, which is hollow in the middle.

The glacier was amazing to see. The edges are blue because it’s pure ice. The gray shows sediment that has been picked up along the way. We talked a little about the blue color of the ice. It has to do with the wavelengths of blue versus other colors. One way Blaine explained it was if you went deep into the ocean carrying a bright red apple, the first few feet, the apple would be red. As you went down, the red wavelengths couldn’t go through the deep water or ice so eventually the red apple would appear blue. There was also a great display in the visitors center on this.

We walked down into the overflow area… but only so far! The overflow is where the run off comes in summer months. The overflow becomes dangerous when water filled holes in the glacier break loose and massive flashfloods fill the overflow area. Signs mark where it’s unsafe to go closer… giving yourself enough space to avoid a flash flood. Absolutely one of the coolest places we’ve ever had lunch!

We completed the hike, circling back to the visitors center. Had to get a photo with this erratic rock… basically a rock that the glacier moved somewhere that just doesn’t match anything else around it. Erratic rocks can have rounds edges, which means they rolled with the glacier and were smoothed out like a rock tumbler, or they can have jagged edges meaning the glacier rolled over them.

Between the 4 mile hike, the temperatures that reached 78° today, the kayaking, and the early morning wake up, we decided to head into the town of Seward and do a little exploring before grabbing an early dinner. Seward was a cute town, think of it like Asheville on a harbor.

Blaine told us about a great place for dinner, The Cookery, but he said to be there between 5-6pm. The Cookery didn’t take reservations and was that good. He wasn’t kidding. We got there right at 5, and there was a line! Thankfully, they were just opening so we walked right in. The food was clearly just caught and delicious!

The drive home was just as gorgeous, and it was crazy to see how much more green we could see today versus just a couple of days ago!

A quick stop at Three Bears for some ice cream, and we finished off a pretty great day with ice cream and a movie.

Tomorrow, we leave the Kenai Peninsula and head north toward Denali with an overnight stop in Talkeetna.