Animals, glaciers, and trains.

Thursday, August 11, 2016
Anchorage, Alaska, United States
We enjoyed a leisure morning with a nice breakfast at the resort followed by some time to rest and prepare for the days adventures.

Our guide for the morning, Erin, picked us up at 11am and took us to a nearby animal preserve to see many of the animals that Alaska is home to . These animals were injured, domesticated or orphaned and are now available for tourists, breeding and other uses. This location is where a herd of Woodland Bison were adapted before being reintroduced into Alaska. The preserve maintains a breeding group of Woodland Bison to support the wild ones. Bears, black tail deer, elk, caribou, wolves, porcupine, and moose are all available for viewing in the preserve.

After the preserve we headed to the Alaskan Railroad terminal at Portage for a quick lunch before we boarded a scenic train ride. The train ride took us deep into the wilderness, past numerous mountains, glaciers, cascades and rivers. The train ride is great in that it takes you to amazing places, the downside is photos taken through the windows look terrible due to distortion and reflections. Even so the railroad is a great way to see Alaska.

The train made a 30 minute stop at the Grandview whistle stop where we could get off the train and take a short walk to a viewing area . Along the way we found wild blueberries and many different flowers. Some of the plants were holding tiny pools of water between their petals that looked like little diamonds. Back on the train to the Stewart Glacier stop. We get off the train and are met by our afternoon guide Justin. He loads us into a van and we drive a short distance to the shore of Stewart Glacier Lake.

Icebergs float all around the lake. White and blue, in different shapes and sizes. Across the lake is the Stewart Glacierts and Deadmans Glacier above that. We put on our life jackets, rain gear and push the big canoe into the water. At this point it looks like a 1/2 mile across the lake, but it is really 1.8 miles! We paddle and paddle, take a photo break and then paddle some more. Rain is coming and going - mostly coming. Once we reach the shore near the glacier we unload and hike across the recently uncovered ground. The ground has lots of different rocks and patches of glacial silt quicksand where you might loose a boot and need a hand to get out of . We climb carefully onto the glacier as it is slippery. The ice is covered with small stone chips and silt. The rocks and silt make the glaciers look gray. The silt and stones are picked up by the glacier as the glacier crushed parts of the mountains with its force.

After exploring the glacier and taking some pictures we load back into the canoe and begin our paddle back. We paddle through the icebergs as the rain begins falling a bit harder. Back on shore it is dinner time and our guide has a Salmon Bake ready for us. We visit with two other people who joined us on this adventure while guide Justin prepares our dinner on a portable BBQ. The tour company has a large canopy setup with picnic tables underneath. We enjoy hot cider and hot chocolate while we wait for dinner. In no time dinner is ready. Fresh salmon, potatoes salad, green salad, bread and cheesecake bites for dessert.

Time to pack up to meet the train that will take us home tonight. We help Justin pack up the van and head the short ride to the train tracks. About 10 minutes and the train arrives. The drop and pickup prices si quick to keep the trains on time. We load the gear and are off towards Girdwood, seeing eagles and moose along the way.

Back in Girdwood Erin met us at the train and drove us back to our hotel. We visit the resort pool and hot tub to warm up after a long day in the cold and rain. Another full and fun day, now we are all ready for bed. Just a couple more days in Alaska. What will we do tomorrow?

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