"Experienced glacier hikers only"

Saturday, June 12, 2010
Well, after we got off of the Matanuska Glacier we were experienced. Somehow, I guess that notice wasn't meant for us. Actually, it was fun and not scary, although I didn't look over the edge to take the pictures. This glacier is about 2 hours north of Anchorage down a rock road which I wish we would have had the SUV instead of my Prius. A glacier is actually a rocky ice mountain (my definition). It was cool, no pun intended. Just under the rock layer is the ice. Some spots are all ice, with no rock visible. The part we were hiking on was mainly horizontal with a slight incline. At some spots the melting water was flowing very fast, between the walls but the part we were on seemed stable. I could see how if there were still snow on top, it would have been slippery and dangerous. The sun was softening part of it, but it was not that slick. This glacier is the largest one in AK accessible by car and is 24 miles long and 4 miles wide descending 12000 feet. It is kind of like viewing a mountain and the more you approach it, it is still far away.



Sunday,
We went to a nature area Potter Marsh on the south side of town. It is mainly for watching birds. I saw my first moose. It was just sort of grazing in the tall grass. There was also a tree swallow just waiting to be photographed.



Socializing in general,

I am making progess considering I have only been here ten days. Don's boss and wife had a party so I could meet the office. It was pretty fun. At square dancing, I met a lady who said she would teach me to fly fish. Last week I went to a meetup scrabble event with a couple of ladies. They were pretty darn good and one of them played all seven tiles at once! Today, I went with two of the Petroleum wives' ladies on a hike. They brought 4 well behaved dogs. I wasn't quite as strong of a hiker and will probably join the walk/lunch bunch instead. This group likes to hike 5-10 miles in mountains.