On our way home we saw a whole pod of Beluga whales our in the Turnagain Arm

For real!  We laid our hands on Portage Glacier.  The day was bright and beautiful.  Our trip started out with a 2.5 mile kayak paddle along the shore of Portage Lake.  The park staff had warned us that the lake kicks up pretty frequently.  I had waves (of fresh glacier melt) in over the bow before we made it to the other end of the lake.  I was thankful for the clear skies and bright sunshine.

A few icebergs dotted the lake and shoreline.  We beached the kayaks and sat back to relax and watch and listen.  The glacier is grand to see but the highlight is seeing it calf  into the lake.  Cracks like gunfire sounded across the lake but nothing is falling.  That’s when I decide, we have to go touch it.  Look it’s not really far; maybe a mile walk around the beach and with binoculars it looks doable.  We watch a bit longer then Kent relents.  Yeap we are going to go touch it.  Half way there we hear the glacier crack again.  Once.  Twice.  Then it happens.  A huge chunk breaks free and plummets into the lake.  That’s why they don’t allow kayaks over there!  Wow.  Waves bounce around in the lake for 10 or more minutes and a giant pile of ice floats out from the glacier face.  That was impressive.  Now I really need to touch it….on the other end of course where stuff isn’t falling.

Some more rocky beach.  Some bigger rock climbing.  Some side creek crossings.  With very cold toes but no worse for the wear we make it over to the glacier.  We pick a spot with no overhangs.  Listen carefully for any loud noises emanating from that huge chunk of ice.  All is quiet.  So here it is…us touching Portage Glacier.

It calves a bit more as we gather our stuff.  We paddle among what is now much more ice floating on the lake then head back across the lake.  It was a fantastic day.

Bird TLC is a bird rescue organization in Anchorage.  We checked out their autumn event today where we met their resident educational birds.  Some of the coolest were the golden eagle, bald eagle, snowy owl, hawk owl, and a peregrine falcon.  Kodi, a northwestern crow might be their best fundraiser.  He takes bills out of your hand and deposits them into a donation jar.  It is impossible to resist.

Representatives from the Anchorage zoo and another rescue facility bought porcupines as their ambassadors.  They are surprisingly cute and very tolerant of people so they are great fun to watch.

Best part?  They released a rehab juvenile bald eagle back into the wild.  He was one of five who had gotten too close to a dump fire out on one of the Aleutian Islands and his early flight feathers were burned.  He stayed at the center through one molt and is now good as new.  It was fantastic to watch those powerful wings lift him up into the clear blue sky and off out of sight.

Fishermen in their clunky waders slip and slide on the glacier silt mud that lines the banks of Bird Creek.  It is a chore just to stay on their feet.  Besides, it is hard to believe something that swam through that gritty water could be good to eat.

Beluga whales follow the salmon in with the tide..so they say.  We haven’t seen them this trip.  Maybe the constant whitecaps have something to do with that?  We are at Bird Creek Campground for a couple more days so I still hope to catch a glimpse

Who could resist a BBQ joint with that name?  I had to try the signature sandwich “The Tidal Bore”; pulled pork with a big slab of bacon.  Very yummy. Kent gave the ribs thumbs up too.  Both came dry smoked with the chance to try 5 different sauces.  Of course we sampled them all.  The spicy Alaskan sauce won out.  The joint is along the Seward Highway on the Turnagain Arm about 20 miles out of Anchorage

Wind whipped Portage Lake is licking at the visitor center foundation.  Thick clouds race through the sky and completely shroud 6 glaciers that hang from the valley walls.  Sheets of rain are driven sideways in the wind.  We stayed one night but the weather never calmed.  We moved on along the Turnagain Arm toward Anchorage to watch for beluga and the bore tide.

Our goal is to kayak Portage Lake to get a look at the many fingers of ice and to get close enough to Portage Glacier to check out the ice chunks that have calved off and float the lake.  If the weather cooperates we will take the car and kayaks back that way in a day or two and try to make that voyage.

Actually, I touched a piece that had broken off Exit Glacier.  Well, more specifically, I touched a piece of the glacier that had broken off then floated down the swollen Resurrection River.  Ok, it was a piece of the glacier that had floated down the river and had been retrieved by a Ranger and brought to the Visitor Center.

Alright, the totally unimpressive real story:  I touched a piece of ice on the porch of the visitor center that a Ranger told me he had plucked from the river after it broke free from Exit Glacier and was carried downstream to a gravel bar.

Still, I touched ice that was formed from snow that fell 100s of years ago, has been compressed to clear blue ice as part of the Harding Icefield, and has spent over 50 years flowing down Exit Glacier to wind up at the river’s edge and ultimately right here at the Visitor Center.  Just amazing! (at least I think so)

A low sound that I could feel as much as hear.  A cruise ship fog horn sounded to let all know that she was coming into harbor.

The buzz of what must be hundreds of private fishing boats fills the morning air.  It is salmon derby time in Seward and there is constant traffic in and out of the small boat harbor.

Eagles chitter at one another and at flocks of dive bombing gulls.

Gulls laugh and cry and chirp.

Shore birds chatter alarm at dangers only they can see.

Otters cavort and recline but the only sound is a slight splash as they slip into the water to fluff their coats or search for dinner.

The repeated splop of fishing lures as angles cast and crank after inbound salmon.

Surf, crashing at high tide and a subtle slap at the lowest minus tides.