Glacier Hike

Aidan finds himself a new pair of ears at the ranger station at Kenai Fjords National Park.

In the ranger station, a topographic map of the Kenai Peninsula and its many fjords and glaciers,  extending from the large Harding Ice Field. We hiked the glacier near the green valley on the far right of the map.

Aidan ponders rock.

Off we go on one of the well-groomed trails inside the park.

Well, not totally well-groomed. This is evidence a moose is nearby. You don't want to mess with a moose. They are apparently as dangerous as bears.

You can see the toe of the glacier in the distance. It once extended miles down toward the sea. This river bed was originally solid glacier.

As we get closer, we can see the striations made from the moving ice picking up rocks on it's journey down the slope.

Lots of deep blue ice, formed from compression.

A photo-op on a bridge. Cliff and Jeri are seasoned hikers, and easy travel companions.

 We want to remember this special trip with Aidan and our beloved Maui friends.

Aidan runs ahead of us to the glacier's edge.

The ice has been making its way down this slope for at least a century.

Ropes to prevent disaster.

I zoomed in on an icy edge.

I guess he's had enough. Time for a rest on a rocky ledge.

Looking down the wide valley to where the glacier used to extend.

Back through the woods; a boy's delight.

Aidan shows his frozen hand. He almost won the "how long can you keep your hand in the frozen water?" contest. Jeri beat him by a milli-second.

Oh, and he picked up some fellow hikers on the way down. Ice worms?

At the river bed, we skip stones across the water. The most perfect skipping stones ever.

The ripples show where the rock skipped. Cliff got one to skip 6 times. Joe did one better.

Aidan didn't want to leave. Muddy, but happy, he can rest in the knowledge of another glacier conquered.