Kenai Fjords Tour and Mr. Spock Enjoys Exit Glacier

Blog for August 14, 2016

Today’s boat tour of the fjords and glaciers of Seward on Resurrection Bay and the Gulf of Alaska was guided and narrated by the Captain of the boat. The weather wasn’t the best, but the scenery was still magnificent and the glaciers imposing. 

Here are some of the views:

Harbor seals

After our boat tour we drove with Ian & Carolyn Muir to Kenai Fjords National Park where Mr. Spock was able to view Alaska’s sole geo-site - Exit Glacier.  Created in only 1980, Kenai Fjords National Park protects 587,000 acres of Alaska’s most awesome, impenetrable wilderness. Crowning the park is the massive Harding Ice Field, 5,000 feet thick and home to at least thirty-five glaciers including road-accessible Exit Glacier, its highlight attraction. 

At Exit Glacier, Mr. Spock not only enjoyed viewing and hearing the glacier, but he also introduced us to a new term - nunataks. Most of the mountain tops that were covered by glaciers have a rounded top, scrubbed by the glacier. But the tops of some mountains were not covered by ice and retain their eroded, jagged tops called nunataks. Thank you Mr. Spock, for introducing us to a new term. 

 First view of the glacier in the triangle above Frederick's head.

Notice marker for the "toe" of the glacier in 2010.