South to Seward

We are at an equal distance from home by road miles as were were at Denali. Tomorrow we head back toward Anchorage, after David fords a fast glacier stream to "touch a glacier". We tried at Mendenhall Glacier and hiked a long way to fail due to a wrong turn, late in the day, and mosquitoes that tried to carry us home for dinner. We visited the Exit Glacier today and we talked to park rangers about the best way for us to touch a glacier or walk on one, and of all the options, it seems that buying hip boots and crossing the melting ice stream to get to the bottom of Exit Glacier is the fastest, easiest, way to touch a glacier of all the many glaciers which are hard to get to. Mendenhall was dangerous at the bottom due to breaking off into a lake. Exit Glacier is no longer calving and is easy to walk up to once one crosses the ice cold stream. David bought hip boots today to try it in the morning. I am not obsessed with touching a glacier like he is, but he wants to toss me the boots once across for me to freeze like him. Then he wants photos so we will risk my camera to get across, as his is too good for such a risk.
Why the name Exit Glacier ? Harding Ice Field is over 300 sq miles in total, but if you count its 40 glaciers that it supports, then it is over 1000 square miles. When scientists were studying the Harding Ice Field, most of the glaciers it provides for are too dangerous to climb or leave from, but one glacier was short and compact which made it a safe exit. Therefore the name of Exit Glacier is still on it.

As time runs down on the Alaska portion of this adventure, I realize just how much priorities have changed for both of us, and in some ways merged. David's goal was to go to Alaska and see as much on the way there as he could. My goal was to see Mt McKinley and to go salmon fishing. Now salmon fishing is off the list for several reasons. One, fresh salmon tastes about like the frozen salmon we get at home. Two, if we caught a salmon, what would we do with it? We couldn't carry it all the way home frozen, nor did we really want to clean one even if it is similar to cleaning a trout. We wouldn't want to eat it all at once, and most of all, the most popular way to catch them is to snag them. When they "run" they don't chase bait, they just keep going. When the "fishermen" see salmon they throw a line with a large triple hook over them and when they snag one, they pull until it is in, as to let any slack will let it get away. To us this is a way to get food or fish to eat, but not a sporting way to do it. Therefore we will not snag salmon on this trip, but again try to fish for trout when we get home again. That will keep us from having to clean and eat a fish in a very short period of time. We could hire a guide to maybe do it differently for about 250 each, but we would still have to deal with any fish caught. Maybe on a future trip here or in the lower 48, but no salmon on this trip other than what we had for dinner tonight! The king crab was good also, but not worth the price it brings even here. Snow crab is just as good if harder to get to.

Overall this country is wild and fresh, but harsh to live in year round. Summers are exciting and full of adventure. Winters are hard, long, and dark. The northern lights (aurora borealis) is better seen in the states in the summer time as it gets dark there, here the only time to see it is in the winter when it is almost always dark.