Drifting up Turnagain Arm

Enjoyed a breakfast of bacon, mash potatoe "pancake" (leftover from lunch the day before), and sweet roll, with coffee. We really are the poster family for "roughing it"!

Today we headed south on the Seward Highway, which runs right along the edge of a large bay, or inlet off of the Cook Inlet... the geography up here is a little complicated! This is normally a stunning drive, and it was still nice, but we are heading towards the Kenai peninsula which has a substantial wildfire that is being "managed", which means they are letting it burn itself out. Meanwhile depending upon the wind direction you can end up in some pretty hazy views. We will be coming back this way so am hoping we have better luck on the return trip!

First stop was Potters Marsh, just a large marshy area with a long wood boardwalk to allow access. A nice walk, but not many birds or wildlife. Still boardwalks are always comfortable, and the weather was great.

Back in the car and headed up to Beluga Point to see if there were any beluga, which feed on salmon in the inlet. No beluga. But we did see the Alaska Railroad train run by!

Stopped at Bird Point to find more salmon fishing happening at Bird Creek. Lots of activity, and you could see the salmon jumping randomly across this wide creek. Lots of fishing going on!

Then as we drove further down the road we saw some folkes off of the side of the road with cameras. Well we all know what that means... animals! Fortunately there was a wide spot for Tom to pull off. Sure enough a mother Dall sheep and her baby were munching grass up the side of the hill. Very visible. The little guy seemed very aware of us, but mom was busy eating and was not bothered by the cameras at all. Much higher up we could see a few more on top of the mountain.

For lunch we headed up to Alyeska Ski Resort so we could take the tram to the top of the mountain to get a view of the inlet and the hanging glaciers that are visible in many of the mountains around, approximately seven! Walked around and then took the tram down. You "get" to take the tram down for free if you walk the 2.2 mile, 2,000 ft. ascending trail to the top. We chose to take the tram both ways!

Last stop, quick peak at Portage Glacier and the visitor center there. We will start there tomorrow and do a little more glacier viewing. Ended day at the campground just down the road from the visitor center, and have a very nice spot in the trees, glaciers above! Thank you God for the gift of this trip!Read more