Cruising the Fjords

Our big adventure for today was the 6-hour Kenai Fjords National Park Cruise with Major Marine Tours. Since the tour didn't depart until 11:30AM, we headed out after breakfast for a look around Seward. 

At the southern end of town is the beginning of the Iditarod National Historic Trail. Established by Congress in 1978, the trail celebrates the route that first connected Native Alaskan villages and later served mining camps, trading posts, and other settlements founded during the Alaskan Gold Rush Era (1880-1920). Sled dog teams were the only reliable means to transport goods and people along the route in winter. Most notably, when a diphtheria outbreak threatened the residents of Nome in 1925, the only way to get them enough serum for inoculations was by train from Anchorage to Nenana, and then mushers and their sled dog teams (have you heard the story of Balto?) relayed the precious cargo the final 674 miles in less than 5.5 days.

 

938 miles from Seward to Nome

Roll Tide

We had breakfast in the lodge before checking out this morning. Since we had a little bit of time before our float plane was scheduled to depart, we went out for one last look at the bears from the lower river platforms.

Monsters of the Midway

For our last full day in Katmai National Park, we spent most of our time hanging out with the bears. I had asked the lodge about the possibility of a flightseeing tour to visit Alagnak Wild River, Aniakchak National Monument & Preserve, and the preserve portion of Katmai, but nothing could be arranged for today. Guess we'll have to come back to Alaska another time to check those units off my bucket list!

Another sign pic

Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes

When making our reservations for Brooks Lodge back in January 2024, I also booked us on the day-long bus tour out to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes to ensure that we had spots. Good thing I didn't wait until we got here because the tour was full, and there were several people at the check-in spot this morning hoping to take the place of any no-shows. 

Here are a few foggy bear pics that I took while we were waiting for the tour to start at 9:00AM...

Now that's a fat bear!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt

After checking out of the hotel and returning the rental car this morning, we started the second leg of our trip with a one-hour Alaska Airlines flight from Anchorage to King Salmon. 

Cook Inlet

Anchorage Away

We didn't have much on the schedule for today, so that gave us the opportunity to explore the area around Anchorage at a more leisurely pace. From Wasilla, it took less than 30 minutes to drive to Chugach State Park. We paid the $5 day use fee at the kiosk in the parking lot of the trailhead and started the hike (~1 mile, one way) to Thunder Bird Falls.

100-foot elevation gain in the first 0.1-mile