Adventures in Alaska: Kenai Fjords National Park

26 July – Kenai Fjords

What a different landscape!! Today we took the 4 hour boat ride out of Seward to the Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge, at the base of the Pedersen Glacier – the only lodge inside Kenai Fjords National Park. We’ll be here for the next two days, exploring the ecoystem surrounding this coastal habitat, and hopefully seeing some very different plants and animals.
Kenai Fjords contains the many fjords created by the Harding Ice Field, a 700 square mile area of ice that has caused dozens of glaciers to push through into the sea. The geology of this area is what caused the formation of the ice field – the Pacific tectonic plate subducted under the North American plate millions of years ago, creating such mountain ranges such as the Alaskan, Brooks and this Chugach Range. The proximity to the ocean allows for a weather pattern that produces vast amounts of precipitation; in some years, the Harding Ice Field gets over 100 inches of snow. The pressure caused by the accumulation of this much weight is what created the ice field, and like a tube of toothpaste being squeezed, the ice is getting pushed out through the mountain channels in the form of glaciers.

A fjord is any bay created by a glacier and filled in with water – it’s a remarkable ecosystem that is uniquely suited for an abundance of wildlife. At times during their creation, the glacier pauses and sediment from the glacier is deposited at a certain spot; this means some bays such as Aialit Bay where the Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge is located has dramatic depth changes because of undersea shelves – at points the depth goes from 700 meters to 35 meters, then back down to 700 meters. Upwelling from currents makes for strange pockets where sometimes hunks of ice accumulate.

Additionally, minerals carried by glaciers feeds these coasts, and the nutrient rich water is ideal for algae, jellyfish, plankton, and small fish. This in turn drives up the larger marine mammal and sea bird populations.

As we drove out of Seward harbor, we first saw a small group of sea otters. They just stared curiously, but were unafraid even when we drifted to within 25 feet of them. It interesting that they were the first animal we saw, since the establishment of Seward and the very first arrival of Russian traders in this area was driven by the desire for sea otter pelts. Otters have some of the warmest, softest hair in the world – they can have up to 1 million individual hairs per square inch (in comparison, humans might have around 100,000 hairs on their entire head).

We stopped to see Spire Cove which look like fingers sticking out from the sea. They're leftover from the time when glaciers retreated from the bay, carving out the many inlets and leaving interesting formations. From there, we saw several sea birds, including cormorants and horned puffins. Puffins are funny looking birds – easiest to describe as flying potatoes. They flap furiously to keep in the air, but amazingly they “fly” just as well underwater while trying to catch fish.

As we continued out of Resurrection Bay, we were surprised by a pod of about 7 orca. They started a few hundred yards away from us, but as they came closer they suddenly started to breach. Our captain Shawn said in the 10 years he’d been here, he had never seen a male breaching so we got lucky. About three of them jumped out of the water two or three times each – it was a great show.

Our next stop was to the Holgate Glacier, to see the incredibly blue ice. As we drew close, we could feel the cool air coming off the top, known a katabatic wind. A few small pieces came off but we didn’t see or hear any of the major calving.

Near Holgate, we saw a strange cloudy area in the water; getting closer, we realized it was a smack of jellyfish (love that it’s called a smack!) – moon jellies. There were thousands in the grouping, all clustered together feeding on whatever was in the water at that point.

We got to the lodge right by Pedersen Glacier soon after 2pm and walked the half mile to the lodge. From here we can see lower Pedersen Lagoon, and across from that, Pedersen Glacier on the lagoon's far side. After checking into our room (Puffin), we went on a canoe ride into the lagoon. It was drizzling, but the lodge provided us with wading boots and waterproof pants. The lagoon itself is really calm brackish water – fed on one side by a small channel into the bay for salt water, and by a stream of glacial melt on the other bringing in fresh water.

We saw several more marbled murrelets and pigeon guillemots (some of which took off flying by running across the water and furiously flapping before taking off – reminding me of a B-52 bomber in their lumbering gravity-defying way – showing us their bright red feet). We also saw several harbor seals and two sea otters.

We made it back to the lodge in time for happy hour, where they were serving “glacieritas” – margaritas served over glacier ice that had been harvested by one of the naturalists. (I had a soda water over glacier ice. Refreshing!). The group is very friendly, many of whom were interested in our project, which was nice to hear!

27 July – Kenai Fjords

It was a wet, wonderful, active day today in Kenai Fjords! We had breakfast here at the lodge, with the wide picture window looking out into Pedersen Lagoon. On clear days, you can see the glacier in the distance but that morning was drizzly and a bit foggy. Even so, it's a beautiful view - we even saw a young black bear walking past the window!

We did the Pederson Glacier hike for the morning activity –  we took the kayak across Pederson Lagoon (after stopping to see a sea otter with her baby) and hiked about a mile through the rainforest (and rain) to Upper Pederson Lagoon.

Not much view of the glacier from
Upper Pedersen Lagoon

It was really cloudy/foggy and we couldn’t see the glacier at all. The weather in this part of Alaska is normally very wet (we’re in a rainforest), and they usually get rain 200 days each year. But they had recently been going through a dry spell (and a heat wave), which is really not a good sign for the health of this ecosystem. So we were actually glad that it was a drizzly, cloudy morning.

But it was interesting to see the different types of vegetation that changed as we got closer to the glacier – it has receded almost 1500 feet in the past 100 years so the areas closer to the glacier are really mossy, gravel/rock-strewn, and have no larger trees or brambles. Our guide, Benny, is a bird expert, and he gave us some interesting insight to being out here in the Alaskan backcountry. He thinks of ‘wilderness’ as being more a state of mind than a place, which then makes it easier to understand wilderness if you don’t have the ability to actually go there and experience it for yourself.

We went back to the lodge for lunch, dropping our wet things off in the drying room (a room heated by the residuals from the generators and kept at around 100 degrees – which easily dries all our wet items in just an hour or two. Genius!).
In the afternoon, we went on the Addison Lake hike –which was great for seeing the different types of salmon which come up to spawn. Guide Grace took us along with George and Susan (the couple from Florida that we met on the boat ride over). We canoed across the lower lagoon and hiked about an hour across to Addison Lake, where we dragged another canoe into the water. It is just about the time of year for spawning, which means they have been using all their energy to get ready (thus turning basically into zombie fish which will soon die).
Salmon are interesting because they are born in freshwater, swim into the ocean to live for 2-6 years, then swim upstream against the current to return to the lakes and ponds where they were born in order to lay their eggs. In their ocean stage, salmon all look fairly uniform – a silvery color. When they are ready to reproduce, their colors and bodies change; the males get their distinctive hooked mouths, they change to their bright red-orange-green colors, and the bodies of some species build up muscle to help them make it up the rivers to their lake birthplaces. Once they spawn, they die, and their bodies return to the pond to feed the multitude of organisms that thrive there – including their babies. In Addison Lake, we saw Chum, King, and Sockeye salmon.

We also saw a black bear in the distance, a harbor seal, a bald eagle, and a family of swans in the lake. On the way back to the lodge, we decided to do some audio recording which means we had a “quiet paddle” and for a few minutes even stopped paddling and just sat silently listening to nature. It was really cool to hear the rain pattering on the lake, the cries of the sea birds who were excited about a chum ball dropped by one of the boats, and the occasional splash from different diving birds, seals, otters, or fish. To the side we could hear the running of several small waterfalls feeding down into the lake. It was definitely something special and helped us notice things we most likely wouldn’t otherwise have noticed.

28 July – Kenai Fjords to Cooper Landing

This morning we woke up to sunny skies and a clear view of Pedersen Glacier. We went on the Slate Island kayak tour – after an early breakfast, we split up from the main group and had a tour with guide Randy, Jeff (an employee of Alaska Wilderness) and his girlfriend Jen. It was nice having a semi-private tour – we talked to several of the guides who were all so supportive of our project and willing to help us out.

Randy took us out 2 miles to Slate Island, where we were able to kayak partway into a couple caves.

Slate Island sea cave

Because we went first up the eastern side of the island, we got a wonderful view of Aialik Glacier right when we reached the end of the island.

The first peek of Aialik Glacier

There was a small gap between the main island and a smaller outcropping, and we could just see the first peek of the glacier between the gap. Randy maneuvered us through the narrow gap, where the current shot us out the other side and into full view of the glacier. We could hear the rumbling of the calving glacier, and the air was definitely cooler on that side of the island.
Being down on the water and looking up at the huge glacier was deceptive – it felt as though we were really close, but we were still about 3 miles away from the base of the glacier!

On the northwest corner of the island, we found a bald eagle nest on a spruce tree; we waited a few minutes and a bald eagle came soaring into view and landed on the highest ledge above the tree. In the water we saw hundreds of tiny (quarter and dime sized) moon jellyfish, with one or two lion’s mane jellyfish thrown into the mix.

It was a smooth, easy paddle back to shore – overall a beautiful morning. We left the lodge at 2 to return to Seward on the sightseeing boat. First we stopped in a small bay across from the lodge to see a huge smack of moon jellyfish. It was much larger than the one we saw on the ride in, and the water was so clean and clear that we could easily see through the water and notice the gorgeous patterns in each individual jellyfish.

Along the intertidal zone we saw dozens of sea birds – including both tufted and horned puffin, pigeon guillemot, cormorants, glaucous gulls, and kittiwakes. Along an outcropping, a small group of Stellar sea lions had hauled out – most likely just to rest.

Crossing Resurrection Bay, we were greeted by a humpback whale. Humpbacks come to this part of Alaska to feed on the rich bounty of krill fed by the glacial waters, some coming from as far away as Baja California, Hawaii, and Japan. They typically dive for around 6 minutes, and we watched it dive twice – when it does, it flashes his fluke (tail fin) – each humpback can be identified by the individual bumps and ridges in the tail.

Right before coming in to Seward, a huge, bright rainbow appeared, right next to Paradise Glacier. It was the perfect way to end a great expedition.

29 July – Kenai Peninsula to Anchorage

A nice and relaxing day today! We spent last night in Cooper Landing, mainly because Seward is so expensive. But we decided to drive back to town this morning to see Exit Glacier. We had breakfast at the Train Rec (the small grouping of renovated train cars that is a landmark in Seward), then went out to the Exit Glacier Visitor Center. We picked up the Discovery Backpacks for the Junior Ranger Program – there’s one for art and another for science – a great idea to get a more in-depth experience at Exit Glacier. And it’s for all ages even though it is geared for kids, but I personally think everyone should do it in order to enrich their experience in the Park!

We joined the guided hike to the base of the glacier, stopping at various points along the way. It was disheartening to see the signs posted for the terminal ends of the glacier during different years in the past – in the last 100 years, it has receded over 1,000 feet and is melting faster and faster. There’s even a small structure built in the 1980’s that was meant to be the end viewpoint of the glacier – today, you can’t even see very far because the view is completely obscured by alder, birch, willow, and pine trees. And even if the vegetation were removed, the glacier is so much further up the valley that it wouldn’t give a very good view.

We stopped near the end of the trail to open our Discovery Backpacks – we decided to do the art activity, which instructed us to create a piece of work based on what we saw. Gemma and I used colored pencils while Anil made a watercolor, all of the view to Exit Glacier. It was actually amazing how much detail you observe when you take the time to truly look  - seeing the different colors in the earth, the trees, and especially in the glacier itself was amazing.

On our hike back, we saw a little vole darting across the trail. It was the only wildlife we saw, despite the fact that the main trail to Exit Glacier was closed because of a black bear sow and her two cubs that were roaming around the area.

After stopping at the post office and having a quick lunch, we went to the Alaska Sealife Center based on several recommendations. It’s a great little aquarium, reminiscent of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but focusing on the marine diversity particularly in the Kenai Fjords area. It was particularly interesting to see an up-close view of the horned and tufted puffins, since they’re so skittish in the wild and hard to get close to.

On our drive out of Seward and up the Turnagain Arm, we stopped at one of the pullouts to see the view of the arm. It was a low tide, but not the right time for the Bore Tide so we didn’t see the dramatic change in sea level. Even so, it’s a beautiful drive, and it was hard to say goodbye to the Kenai Peninsula!