Matanuska Glacier

Today we had to get an early start and make sure we were on the road by 7 a.m. in order to make our 9:50 a.m. appointment with our MICA Guide, whom we dubbed"Ice Hike Mike." Waking up was no problem when the Saturday-morning dumpster emptying truck came at 6 , right outside our fabulous suite upgrade! After driving around to find snacks for the car, we enjoyed our first glimpses of Alaska's beautiful scenery which was only slightly spoiled by the high overcast ceiling. We drove up the Glenn Highway by King Mountain and Moose Creek, which was running fast with clean blue-gray glacially silted water. I had initially thought the tide had some effect on the riverbed, but I discovered later the truth is in the permafrost. The water doesn't carve deep canyons here like in the dserts of Utah or Arizona because it can't seep into the frozen ground. Instead, it will take a different path each season and even divide into many strands, and is thus called a braided stream. We stopped often on the roadside to take it all in and just made the guide's hut in time. MICA Guides is located on a private property park, so we first had to enter the park and met some locals, including a lady with a bird on her shoulder, at the park "office"/snackbar/gift shop. We drove over a deathfully bumpy road and finally got to the guide hut, where we put on our cold-weather gear. For the next three hours we walked in and around Matanuska Glacier. Our guide was awesome and we all quickly hit it off and were eager to listen and learn. Some notable portions of the trip included the "glacial fat," which is a weird elasticy mud substance that we bounced on as if it were a trampolene. Rather hard to describe--it was like walking on mud that does not give and the top layer is like plastic and you're walking on the surface of a water balloon! We saw many glacial structures like moulins, crevasses, vents, and waterfalls. The waterfall provided the best-tasting natural source water (okay to drink because animals don't walk on the glacier) and H. was quick to fill a Nalgene bottle full of it for the road. We must have shown our guide that we were well equipped and sure footed enough when he said late in the trip, "Now, I don't show this spot to just anyone" and we crunched up over a ledge to overlook a deadly crevasse. It was like standing on the ledge of a building and looking down. He said "If you slip here it is over. You'll get sucked underneath this whole thing and drown in the melt flowing 300 feet below and get washed out the vents a mile away . . . if you fit." Yeah, we'll step back now nice and easy! This was an awesome experience. Seeing a glacier from the road or boat is one thing but strapping on the crampons and trekking across one is a different story. Learning to walk in the spikes took some getting used to, but by the time we had to take them off, we forgot we'd had them on. They make slick surfaces so much easier to walk on. When you don't have to second guess every foot placement, it makes for much easier traveling.

After we wrapped up there we headed back out of the park and had a picnic lunch at the park entrance gate. Ahead of us now was a scenery-packed 220-mile ride to Seward for Day #2. By the time we reached the northern outskirts of Anchorage the world must have ended behind us because at least thirty emergency vehicles went racing up the highway in the opposite direction, back toward the fairground, perhaps. (We never did see or hear what happened). It is at this moment that sadly the rain began and didn't stop for the next sixty hours; nevertheless, we were in Alaska and a little rain was expected and we were prepared for it. As we headed down the highway wipers-a-flappin', you could not help but notice that all the road signs--and I mean every single one--was shot up with bullet holes of various calibers. EVERY SINGLE SIGN. As for the signs you could actually read due to lesser holes, we learned that fireworks are very illegal and prohibited and that it is equally illegal to have a line of five cars trailing your slow ass on the Seward Highway. This was the mantra of the log-totin' mo-fo in his little Kia Sefia overflowing with split logs who ate our ass down the wet and rainy highway. We rolled into the Seward area around 7 p.m. and as I glanced up a huge bald eagle hopped from its perch, spreading its wings, and flew right over us-- gorgeous!! Settled into the Harboview Inn which likewise had no fan or air conditioning but with the rain and being so close to the bay, the air was slightly cooler, although heavy and humid. It was a big, big day and we were all still pretty beat and we opted to head over to the grocery store to fend for our dinner but after a lap around the Safeway's perimeter we opted to actually sit for a meal instead. We went down the road to eat at Ray's Waterfront about ten minutes before their kitchen closed. There are mixed reviews of this place but what I ordered was fantastic! I got a basket of little neck steamers drowned in a broth of garlic, white wine, butter, and herbs and a succulent pound of "local" king crab legs. I say "local" because as big as Alaska is from the table I sat in, had I been in New York City the crab may as well have been caught in Lake Michigan. A & H enjoyed steak and scallops, respectively. With full bellies and heavy eyes, we headed for sleep, hoping the rain would let up some since we had a full day of further adventures planned for the next day.