Harding Ice Field

Last night we had another porcupine presentation in Cooper Landing.  We decided that after the presentation, since we had thursday off, we would just stay and camp.  So, we were dropped off by a hiking trail and we were picked up this morning at 9 am.  Another employe also had his day off today so he picked us up and we headed to the Harding Ice field for a nice 8.2 mile round trip hike. 

The Harding Icefield and its outflowing glaciers cover 700 square miles of Alaska’s Kenai Mountains in glacier ice. Created more than 23,000 years ago during the Pleistocene Epoch, the Harding Icefield was a small piece of the vast ice sheet that covered much of Southcentral Alaska.  Indeed, at the time, ice blanketed one third of the Earth’s surface.
http://www.nps.gov/kefj/naturescience/the-harding-icefield.htm

As we started the hike the view was already going to be worth the work.

As we started the hike we were told that it would take about 6-8 hours.  About every mile that we hike we are gaining 1000 feet in elevation. 

 We reached the top in about 2 and a half hours.  I was exhausted.  However, it was worth hiking almost 4000 feet up.

The ice field started to peak around the corner.

 We soon saw miles and miles of icefield.  Can you imagine what kind of fossils could be hidden under that ice?  I wonder if there are any woolly mammoths ?

 Parts of the last mile of trail or so was still covered in snow.  By the end of the day my feet were soaked!

We made it back down the trail in a little over an hour or so.  My feet were killing me by the end!  We also did 2 more trails while we were there.  We also did a short .5 mile hike to the bottom of the glacier.  Total miles we hiked today was at least a solid 10 miles.  So we rewarded ourselves with mexican food and icecream in seward when we stopped for gas. 

We finally made it home around 8:30 and I took a hot shower and immediately climbed into bed to pass out.  Until tomorrow....

Good night lower 48,

ErIn