Take a Hike!

Yesterday (April 29th) Dad, Mark, Keith (both vendors), and I took a hike to the Mendenhall Glacier. The huge amount of snow made the journey much more difficult. We took a path that led off the main road. We thought it would lead back to the main route, but we were wrong. It led through a crazy trail to a rocky mountain face that we climbed and then right on the other side was the glacier. It was absolutely amazing and so much fun! We all got to actually touch the glacier. Definitely the highlight of the trip! =)

Dad and I, we finally got a picture together!

Ok, these pics aren't in order, but this is a closeup of part of the glacier.

I made it!!

It's kinda hard to see, but the white fluffy things are mountain goats! There were seven of them, one more thing to add to our wild life list.


Dad and I trying to figure out how to get across a raging river, it looked easy until we got into this position!

The inside of a glacier cave. The ice was crazy blue. We aren't sure if the ice is actually blue or if its just the shadows and light that make it appear blue. Anybody know?

Some sweet river pics!

Dad hiking in the snowy forest.
The glacier from a distance.

Ok, the rest of the pics are from our drive from Fairbanks back to Anchorage.

Ok, first isn't that a cool pic? Second, see the tallest two mountains in the distance to the left? Well, we're pretty sure that is Mount McKinley (a.k.a. Denali) the tallest mountain in North America.

Another animal group to add to our wildlife list... CARIBOU! We saw eleven of them (split between two groups) while we were driving.

Some pretty mountains.... there are a lot of them in Alaska!

So we came from the nicest hotel in Alaska called the Captain Cook, to this old cabin without running water, a record player, and animal fur hanging everywhere called Trapper Johns! It was really cool!

I let Dad have the bed with the dead wolf hanging over it!

This is my bed and the door led to a little wash up station with a bowl and pitcher and a creepy "hair dryer" that looked like it would set my hair on fire!

More pretty mountains... I think I'll stop labeling these.

Our final animal count is: 14 moose, 11 caribou, 7 mountain goats, and around 30 eagles. (We only count the wild ones, not the ones we saw at the refuge and we also don't count the dead halibut we ate, the stuffed animals we saw, the animal skins we saw, and the everyday ravens and seagulls. Just wanting to be clear.)

Well, we leave for Seattle tonight, and will be home tomorrow (late).