The Traveling Lounsburys

AlCan – Part 7: Seward & Kenai Fjords National Park

August 1 – 4: The most amazing beauty just keeps piling up on our trip to Alaska. We spent 3 days in Seward and took a full day boat tour to Northwestern Glacier past one of National Geographic’s top most beautiful photographed spots in the world, Spire Cove. The spectacual wildlife and glacier scenery continues to astound us!

Seward

Seward, located on Resurrection Bay, is another small harbor town greatly affected by the 1964 earthquake. The harbor was originally a little further south, but was destroyed in the 1964 earthquake and the area deemed not stable enough to rebuild the harbor. So they built the mile-long Waterfront Park & Campground filled with little mini gardens of wildflowers. The town also is decorated with local artist’s murals throughout.

  • Seward Highway
  • View from campground towards Seward Harbor
  • Looking across Resurrection Bay
  • Seward Harbor
  • Little gardens of wildflowers planted in key places
  • Seward Harbor with Norwegian Cruise ship in the background
  • Historic starting point of the Iditarod is located in the campground and former harbor location
  • One of the many murals on the buildings throughout Seweard

Kenai Fjords National Park

Kenai Fjords National Park (KFNP) was designated a national monument in 1978 and then became a national park in 1980. The focus of KFNP is to protect and preserve the Harding Icefield, the 40 glaciers that flow from this feature and the area where these mountains, ice and ocean meet. The best way to really see the glaciers is to take one of a variety of boat tours from Seward. The other way to connect with KFNP is to visit Exit Glacier, which is accessible by vehicle from a road as you drop into Seward. From the Exit Glacier area, the super serious hikers (not Tom and Jeanne) can actually hike up to see the Harding Icefield. We also stopped into see many of the wildlife we saw on the boat trip up close in the Alaska Seal Life Center, an aquarium and cold water research facility.

  • Spires of Kenai Fjords National Park – one of National Geographics most photographed sites
  • Intertidal Zone: purple & orange starfish
  • Spires
  • Spires
  • Spires

Animals of Kenai Fjords National Park

The variety of wildlife on this cruise was exceptional, but the most stunning experience with the wildlife was watching a group of 12 – 16 humpback whales “bubble net fishing” , which we watched at least 6 times. Bubble net fishing is where the whales get large breathes of air at the surface, dive down hundreds of feet and swim in circles together while blowing bubbles. The bubbles create a “net” around thousands of small fish that are forced to the surface for a concentrated food source. Heavy seagull activity just prior to the whales surfacing predict where the whales’ smorgasbord will occur.

  • Humpback Whales surface with their mouths wide open to take in the fish. Apparently, the seagulls end up in the whale’s mouth, but they just spit them out!
  • Humpback whales diving back down for another round of bubble net fishing – the seagulls are much calmer
  • Whales spouting water as they rise to the surface
  • Seagulls and one lone cormorant line up for the view
  • A circus of Tufted Puffins
  • Common Mure line up for another view on their home of the rocky ledge
  • Dall porpoise – there were about 3 or 4 following along our boat. This is the best photo where you can see the black and white coloring similar to an orca.
  • Mountain goat and baby…heavily zoomed in and cropped
  • Nesting Horned Puffins
  • Harbor Seal
  • More harbor seals
  • Tufted Puffin

Glaciers of Kenai Fjords National Park

  • Mountain views as we pass through Northwestern Fjord
  • Starting to see the ice that recently calved from the glaciers. It takes about 7 hours for the ice to melt in the fjord water.
  • Northwestern Glacier – the blue color is as strong as it is in this photo. It is from the densely compacted ice and reflecting only blue light.
  • Northwestern Glacier – all of the ice in the water indicates recent calving, where the glacier ice avalanches into the water
  • Northwestern Glacier calving
  • Bigger view of the glacier calving in action! You hear the glaciers calving before you see it and it’s quite loud.
  • Harbor Seals resting on icebergs
  • Secondary glacier near Northwestern Glacier–you see the layers of sediment and years of formation, similar to tree rings
  • Zach capturing our day’s activities
  • Glaciers form U-shaped valleys
  • Fun day on the boat!
  • Glacial waterfall

Kenai Fjords National Park Exit Glacier & Seward’s Alaska Sea Life Center

  • Exit Glacier, anather glacier from the Harding Ice Field.
  • Birch trees are one of the first trees that grow in the areas where a glacier receeds.
  • Horned Puffin at Alaska Sea Life Center
  • TUfted Puffin at Alaska Sea LIfe Center

2 comments

Leave a reply to The Traveling Lounsburys Cancel reply