[this is a bit of a retrospective post, sharing one part of our April trip to Alaska]
Touted as "the largest glacier accessible by car in Alaska," Matanuska Glacier was the destination we chose for the last full day we spent in Alaska (waaay back in April!). Ashley and Vaimana, our sister and brother-in-law and lovely hosts during our stay, had to work that day, so Sean and I made a day of it. Ashley so graciously lent us her car and carpooled to base with her hubby. The glacier was located an hour or two away from Eagle River, where they live, and it turned out to be such a rewarding excursion. I'm so glad we went! Such a unique landmark of the area, and not a geographical feature either of us has ever visited (or seen) before. I'm pretty sure there aren't any glaciers in Colorado.... or Hawaii or California, for that matter!
Here we are at a viewpoint along the way, before we actually arrived at the glacier
Touted as "the largest glacier accessible by car in Alaska," Matanuska Glacier was the destination we chose for the last full day we spent in Alaska (waaay back in April!). Ashley and Vaimana, our sister and brother-in-law and lovely hosts during our stay, had to work that day, so Sean and I made a day of it. Ashley so graciously lent us her car and carpooled to base with her hubby. The glacier was located an hour or two away from Eagle River, where they live, and it turned out to be such a rewarding excursion. I'm so glad we went! Such a unique landmark of the area, and not a geographical feature either of us has ever visited (or seen) before. I'm pretty sure there aren't any glaciers in Colorado.... or Hawaii or California, for that matter!
Here we are at a viewpoint along the way, before we actually arrived at the glacier
here's a group of people....
and here's some perspective: see the little people in the left corner? Front and center, with all the crinkly outcroppings, is THE GLACIER. :)
Gorgeous! I think we took this photo not far from where we parked (there's a bumpy road a few miles past the gift shop that leads to the "trailhead").
It was a pretty awesome day. We had a great talk in the car, I remember, and it was an interesting experience once we arrived at the little guest house/ gift shop. We discovered, after the proprietor looked us up and down and asked if that's what we were planning on wearing, that we weren't exactly dressed for the activity, me in casual canvas flats, denim capris, and a light sweater; Sean in shorts and tennis shoes. Turns out the "path" to get to the glacier was an indistinct trail marked by cones (you couldn't even call it a trail some of the time; there was no visible path), and the landscape reminded me not a little of Sam and Frodo's trek to Mordor, complete with black mud and barren wastelands. :) It wasn't that bad, but because of the seasonal change-- lots of stuff melting-- the ground was pretty unstable at times. There were alternating areas of mud, icy slush, rocks, gravel, ice slabs, hard-packed path, crunchy ice, mini rivers to cross, you name it. Thankfully.... before we set out, the guy at the gift shop let me borrow some galoshes, and even socks! I would NOT have made it very far without them, at least without making a mess of my clothes and shoes.
See the path laid out by the cones? Yeah, neither did we. It was kind of like a scavenger hunt, or a clue-caper. Where's the next cone???
Awesome day, not too cold, beautifully unique scenery, and spent-- of course-- with my very best friend. :)
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