Photo of the day:
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| Our hike at the Byron Glacier Trailhead was delayed by this guy's hike! |
This morning we headed back towards Whittier to do the Byron Glacier Trail. We saw a mama moose and a baby moose crossing the road. Unfortunately, we were unable to get a photo until they were in the woods. While we scrambled to take a picture, the mama got through the brush. The baby looked like it was trying to get through the brush, but ended up falling to the ground - maybe to hide itself before it got back up and scurried to mom’s side.
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| You can see the darker legs of the Mama to the right of the main pine tree and the baby's lighter colored legs to its left. |
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| He looks like he is snarling here. Carol got this video too! |
There were a couple patches along the trail that were snow covered as shown below, but mostly we walked on a crushed gravel path through a valley. We were able to see the glacier and an area where there had been an avalanche.
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| Byron Glacier |
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| Byron Glacier plus remnants of an avalanche. |
We thought it was funny to see this bratwurst in the water. Some bear will find it to be a tasty treat later.
We passed about 40-50 people on our way back from the hike, so we were grateful for our timing. When we got back to the parking lot, we were surprised to see that the bear was back, so we had to take a few more pictures of course!
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We stopped at the visitor center for a bathroom break and to take a picture of pretty Portage Lake. It is much prettier when the sun is shining!
After a short break back at the condo, we headed into Anchorage to drop off some stuff at Goodwill. On our way, we saw 2 young male moose. One was in someone’s front yard munching on their plants. While to us these animals are a novelty and are fun to watch, we imagine the locals find them to be a bit of a nuisance.
We next ran into Costco to check out their clothing to see if they had anything special or different. They didn’t, but we’ve never seen a commercial fish net at ours! This thing was taller than Lynda. They also had a two-pack of bear-spray for $42.99! That is a good deal, but we cannot get it home on the plane. And, of course, the bigger thing is that we do not need it in Illinois!
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| Alaska's tulip season is a bit later than in Chicago |
On our way back to the condo, we stopped at the Anchorage Coastal Wildlife Refuge. They have long boardwalks over the marsh that branch off in a couple directions and little turnoffs with signs with interesting information how this place was formed and about the wildlife in the area.
The Potter Marsh area used to be open to the Turnagain Arm, but when they built an embankment for the Alaska Railroad in 1917, they restricted the flow of Rabbit Creek and other sources and (accidentally) created the marsh.
When we were there, a volunteer had a viewing scope fixed on an eagle’s nest. There were three baby eaglets inside. We could also see Mama and Papa in a tree nearby. They were too far away to get a picture, but Lynda can draw one if folks are interested.
We also saw other ducks, swans and birds including this cute little bird peeking its head of the house. We think it was a swallow. We finally headed home to do a final load of laundry and take a short nap before Steve made us all a spaghetti dinner!
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| Sidwell Snoozers |
We haven't had an early evening yet, so tonight will probably be one so we can start packing before we check out tomorrow. Our flight is not until midnight, so we will have some time to do some more exploring in Anchorage.
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