Spencer Glacier via the Alaska Railroad

In late July the wife & I celebrated our 18th anniversary. Months earlier I had started saving money for an Alaskan adventure that I had wanted to do for a long time.

The Alaska Railroad's Chugach Explorer Train

You see, it's not just the tourist that enjoy Alaska. Us locals like to get out and explore our home too. The Alaska Railroad offers Glacier Discovery Train takes you to the Spencer Glacier Whistle Stop. Departing from Anchorage in the morning, it makes a stop at Portage and then onto Whittier and then back to Portage. From there it heads into the Chugach National Forest and stops at the Spencer Glacier Trailhead. From there it continues onto the Grandview area and then heads back, stopping again at Spencer Glacier and then along side the Placer River to pick up those who have traveled downstream by raft. Then back to Portage, Whittier, Girdwood and finally Anchorage.

Because of the multiple stops, people use this train for multiple reasons. Cruises headed to Whittier can use this train to get to their ship. Or you can do a Prince William Sound glacier cruise. We caught the train at Portage when it stopped there the first time and road along as it went to Whittier and back. We could've caught the train when it stopped in Portage the 2nd time, but it was nice to just relax as the train rolled along. And while we were stopped in Whittier, we had enough time to bag a geocache.

Yesterday's rafts being pick up for today's rafters.

At our 2nd stop at Portage, we picked up the bulk of the passengers. Most were part of a tour group. From Portage to Spencer Glacier is a quick trip of about 30 minutes. This includes a few moments alongside the Placer River to pick up the rafts that had been left there yesterday to be used today. These rafts are surrounded with an electric fence to keep curious bears from damaging them.
Then it was onto the the Spencer Glacier stop where most of us got off. A few people stayed on for the trip to the Grandview area. This trip is suppose to be beautiful and someday I hope to do that too. In additional to the Spencer Glacier stop, the US Forest Service and the Alaska Railroad plan to develop several more stops in the future.

The level, easy 1 mile trail at the Spencer Glacier

At the Spencer Glacier stop you disembark at the head of a one mile gravel path. There's a couple of covered pavilions with interpretive panels and outhouses here. Those going rafting were met by their guides and loaded on a bus. They made a short trip up to the lake formed and fed by the Spencer Glacier that serves as the headwaters to the Placer River. After rafting among the ice bergs born of the glacier, they float down the Placer River to be picked up by the train on the way back. This looks like a fun trip too.

Always good advice...

This bridge over the Placer River connects to what will be additional trails

Most of those not rafting rallied around the Forest Service ranger for a ranger guided walk to the lake. I'm sure this was informative, but we had a different agenda. We have been geocaching for 12 years and were just a few caches away from having found 1,200 caches. There was a string of caches along the trail that would get us over the mark, so after the crowd (and by crowd there was maybe a dozen people...) moved on, we started our hunt along the trail. The walk was Alaska at its finest with mountain views, lush greenery, and the river humming by. And bugs. Not mosquitoes, but these little black flies. They didn't seem to bite, but having a cloud of these things around your head would almost drive a person nuts.

Spencer Lake and Spencer Glacier

After a mile on the gravel path and 5 caches, we came to the lake. The view across to the glacier was majestic. Ice bergs serenely floated on the lake. Our fellow travelers spoke among themselves quietly, almost as if they were in a cathedral and respecting the sacredness of the surroundings. At the lake edge we found geocaching number 1,200 and soaked in the views.

A few people brought mountain bikes to explore on. The trail continues past the lake to a public use cabin. Nearby is a camping area for those who wish to spend a few days here. But alas, our time was short, almost too short. We walked back do the trail and waited just a few moments for the train to arrive. We loaded up and found our seats. The train continued on, pick up the rafters and then arrived at the Portage stop. We got off here where our car was parked. There was a motor coach waiting to take other travelers to Girdwood and Anchorage while the train would continue on to Whittier again to pick up those who had done a day cruise or were coming off a cruise ship. You can stay on the train if you don't mind a late return to Anchorage.

We hopped into the car and headed to Girdwood to overnight in the Alyeska East 210 condo offered by Alyeska Accommodations. It was a nice place with a great view of the mountains and very affordable for Alaska in the summer. We enjoyed dinner at Silver Tip Grill and walked around the Alyeska Resort area at the base of the ski hill. Then it was off to bed.We had more adventure planned for the next day, which you can read about here...

Byron Glacier Trail

For our 18th anniversary in late July we decided to have an Alaskan experience. For the first half of our weekend, we did the Spencer Glacier Whistle Stop trip on the Alaska Railroad and overnighted in Girdwood. You can read about that here...

After waking up we left Girdwood and headed to the Portage Glacier Valley in the Chugach National Forest. This is one of my favorite areas and we've spent time here in the past. ( Hiking Portage Pass, the Portage Glacier cruise, gulls trying to kill us.... ) But one thing we've never done was the Byron Glacier Trail hike. The Byron Glacier Trail begins as a 1 mile gravel trail over flat terrain. It's easy walking and on the weekend we went it was well traveled. As with anywhere in Alaska, you want to be "bear aware" and use all the proper precautions.

Byron Creek looking towards Bear Valley

The trail officially ends on the creek bed of Byron Creek. But really, that's where the fun begins. You can get some great views here and if your mobility is limited or you are short on time, just walking this far is worth it. But if you can and you've got the time, keep going. The glacier is another couple of miles up the valley. If you had the skills, I bet getting up to it is amazing. We just went another mile and every step we took the view got better and better.

You could see evidence of last winter's snow coming down into the valley in an avalanche. Many people were running around on the snow. Many tourist that come to Alaska are coming from locales where snow is non-existent, so this is a treat for them. But do use caution. The creek is running under that snow and I don't think it would be impossible to break through under the right conditions.

Waterfalls coming down from the glacier

Directly in front of us was a small mound of shale pushed up by the glacier. A well worn path led to the top and I figured that would be a great place for a photo. From there I could see beyond that was a large mound of rocks and boulders that over the years had cascaded down from the mountains on both sides. It looked like it could be a tough scramble for two chubby people, but I knew I had to go further. So onwards we went. Most people were staying within a hundred yards of the end  of the trail, but there was few going further; including families with young children. So I knew that it wasn't impossible.

We made our way up and over the mound, pick our way through large chunks of rock. The creek flowed around the mass to the east and I could see one person making their way alongside it. There was no real path; you simply went whatever way you could.

We pushed onto another snow field, crossing the creek to get to it. At that point the terrain began to get increasingly steeper. We had already gone much further than originally planned and knew that it was probably time to turn around. This time we went around the mound along the creek. It certainly wasn't any easier, but being right next to the roaring water was a great experience.

As we got back to the trail, I wanted to shout to those there" hey, go up just a little further! It's worth it!". But I figured each person explores in their own way and left it at that. We got on the trail and made our way back to the car. Our incredible weekend  was coming to close. It was a great way to celebrate a milestone and I'm looking forward to many more adventures with the wonderful gift that is my wife.

A few tips for Byron Glacier: the parking area can fill up. You can find more parking at the end of the road where the Portage Glacier Lake cruise departs or at the Begich-Boggs visitor center. Or wait a little bit. It seemed like there was a lot of turnover. There was no cell service in the area. The only food in Portage Valley is at the Portage Glacier Lodge. It's soups and sandwiches. I haven't eaten there in years, but in the past they've had great food.

So many Geocaches...

June 25th marked the 9th anniversary of our first geocache find. (You can read  how we got started here...)
We've been trying to average 100 caches per year. Right now we are a little ahead of the curb, with 929 finds. We have cached in 28 states and two countries and have traveled 78,760 miles in our geocaching journeys.
Here's what it looks like in Google Earth:

Here's the map of states (and 1 Canadian territory) that we've cached in:

Here's some various other statistics:

Another Trip to the Matanuska Glacier

When we stayed at the State Park cabin up at the Matanuska Glacier back in April, it was still more winter than spring or summer. So we decided to give it another shot. This time around we enjoyed some of the best June weather that Alaska has ever seen.

 I don't know of any other location in Alaska that has the view that you get off the front deck of the cabin. This time around it was warm enough for us to eat our dinner out on the deck and take in the magnificent view.

And this time we remembered to grab the camera and were able to get some much better photos of the glacier. All of Alaska is beautiful, but for some reason I find glaciers to be particularly fascinating.

It's not just their immense size and composition of densely packed snowfall... But their ability to grind and carve the land scape they cover. Eons after they are gone, the evidence of their passing still lingers.

As the glaciers grind over the land, they pulverize the rocks into a fine powder, which is carried away in the rivers which flow from the glaciers. This silty water is a luminous gray and cold.

But not all rivers come from glaciers. Mountains with a southern exposure do not build glaciers and their snow packs melt off during the spring and summer, producing pristine, clear water. Granite Creek just north of Sutton is an beautiful example of this, flowing down from the Talkeetna Mountains.

We weren't the only ones out enjoying the almost twenty hours of sunlight on the Summer Solstice weekend. I just barely managed to snap a photo of this classic car as it zoomed down the highway past us.

We couldn't let the opportunity to do some geocaching pass us by. Our favorite one of the day involved the most work. We had to scramble a hundred feet up a very steep embankment. The GPS led us to ground zero, but all we could see was more rocks... But all was not as it seemed. We flipped a few over and came up with what we were seeking.

In our search for another cache we came upon this old bridge. It once spanned the Chickaloon River and allowed coal trains to haul their cargo to market. The Sutton & Chickaloon area was originally sourced by the U.S. Navy as a strategic supply of coal before they converted the fleet to diesel.

The metal roof was not an original part of the structure. It was added at some time to slow the decay of the old bridge.... But I think it was added too late. The massive wood beams were showing their age.

And while the old bridge slowly rots away, Castle Mountain stands as it has for untold generations.

We turned back south and headed for home just before entering the pass at Eureka Summit. I love the high alpine areas in Alaska. Broad Pass south of Cantwell is my favorite, but this area is a close second.
The weather was perfect, the views were perfect and we got to do some geocaching. It doesn't get much better than that...

A Fun Cache....

If you are unfamiliar with Geocaching, start by going here to learn a little about it. It's basically a high tech treasure hunting using a GPS device to find "caches" that have been hidden. We've found over 700 and have hidden about a half dozen. Here's one I have hidden in the Lake Lucille Park area.

Oh, I guess first I should explain that caches come in all shape and sizes. One very common size is a called a micro. As you may have guessed, it's a very small cache. It's often a metal container called a bison that is about the size a tube of chap-stick. Now these caches are fine in an urban area, but I get annoyed when they are hidden in the woods where a larger cache could easily be concealed.

This one is called "Micro in the Woods." It's kind of a tongue & cheek reference.

Do you see it????

How about now?

See... It's a "micro" in the woods.

Yes, that's a real, full sized microwave that I packed a quarter of a mile into the woods. Now all I need is about 1500 feet of extension cord and I can plug it in.

700 Geocaches in 7 Years!!

Christy & I learned about Geocaching from Daren Lindley, who is a traveling minister that was speaking at our church. This was June 25th, 2005; seven years ago today. It was shortly after Google Maps introduced their satellite view. Daren was going to be speaking at a Saturday night service and beforehand a bunch of us were hanging out and checking out the satellite views of different places. Darren joined in and was looking up various places in his hometown in Oregon. He then had us go to Geocaching.com and was telling us a little bit about geocaching. We looked and saw that there was several caches in the area and Daren mentioned that he'd love to find one after the service. Service didn't get done until late and I figured he'd forget all about it. But Daren is a super enthusiastic, energetic guy and he was ready to go. So Christy, myself, Scott and Daren headed to the Crevasse Moraine trail system about 10 miles away. After a short walk, surrounded by clouds of veracious mosquitoes we reached ground zero and made the find.

The next day, after speaking in our Sunday morning service, Daren was itchin' to find some more caches. Christy and I had enjoyed ourselves the night before and so we headed out again, finding 3 more caches. The follow Wednesday Christy & I bought our own GPS and became regular geocachers. Since June 25, 2005 we have 700 geocaches. We've cached in 12 states and two countries. We've cached in hip deep snow and through swamps. We've cached in -40 degree weather along the banks of the Chena River and in 100 degree heat in Dallas. We've cache in hurricane force winds and in a torrential thunderstorm along the Louisiana Gulf Coast. We driven & hiked miles in search of caches, chewed on by mosquitoes,  encountering moose & bears.

Some of our best times together have been while caching. And, some of our worse fights have been while caching. We've seen some incredible sights and explored places we would've never been to otherwise. It's been a great form of exercise and gotten us up off the couch. For Christy, geocaching is the only time she can disconnect from the stress of her job.

Geocaching was born May 2nd, 2000 when the US government switched off Selective Availability, meaning GPS signals could be received by civilian owned handheld models with much greater accuracy. A man named Dave Ulmer hid a five gallon bucket near Beavercreek, Oregon and posted the coordinates on a Usernet group, challenging others to find what he had hidden and sign the log book within.

Others began to do the same and soon Jeremy Irish created a website where these "stashes" could be listed for others to find. To avoid any negative connotations that might come with the word "stash" it was agreed to call the hidden objects "caches".

Since then 1.5 million caches have been place in over 200 countries. Almost 5 million people enjoy geocaching, making 4 million finds last month. A geocache could be as small as a chapstick container or as large as a suitcase. Ammo cans make a good hiding container and would be considered a "regular" size container. Smaller caches simply contain a log book or sheet to be signed. Larger caches might contain "swag" to be traded. Swag can be almost anything not dangerous or illegal. A deck of cards, local souvenirs, small toys and fishing lures all make for good swag.

To participate in geocaching all you need is a handheld GPS, a free registration at www.GeoCaching.com and access to the internet. You can search for caches in your area, plug the coordinates in your GPS and you are good to go. Your GPS will get you within 10 feet or so of the hide and then its up to you find the cache. Some caches are large & obvious. Some very carefully hidden & camouflaged and can be hard to find.

You can read a little more about geocaching at it's Wikipedia entry or by watching the video below. And if you'd like to get started geoaching yourself, visit www.Geocaching.com and sign up for your free basic membership. You can also read more about geocaching here in the Mat-Su Valley by checking out the article I wrote for the MatSu Visitor's & Convention Bureau.

601 Geocaches

Geocaching was born May 2nd, 2000 when the US government switched off Selective Availability, meaning GPS signals could be received by civilian owned handheld models with much greater accuracy. A man named Dave Ulmer hid a five gallon bucket near Beavercreek, Oregon and posted the coordinates on a Usernet group, challenging others to find what he had hidden and sign the log book within.

Others began to do the same and soon Jeremy Irish created a website where these "stashes" could be listed for others to find. To avoid any negative connotations that might come with the word "stash" it was agreed to call the hidden objects "caches".

Since then 1.5 million caches have been place in over 200 countries. Almost 5 million people enjoy geocaching, making 4 million finds last month. A geocache could be as small as a chapstick container or as large as a suitcase. Ammo cans make a good hiding container and would be considered a "regular" size container. Smaller caches simply contain a log book or sheet to be signed. Larger caches might contain "swag" to be traded. Swag can be almost anything not dangerous or illegal. A deck of cards, local souvenirs, small toys and fishing lures all make for good swag.

To participate in geocaching all you need is a handheld GPS, a free registration at www.GeoCaching.com and access to the internet. You can search for caches in your area, plug the coordinates in your GPS and you are good to go. Your GPS will get you within 10 feet or so of the hide and then its up to you find the cache. Some caches are large & obvious. Some very carefully hidden & camouflaged and can be hard to find.

Christy & I learned about Geocaching from Daren Lindley, who is a traveling minister that was speaking at our church. This was June 25th, 2005. It was shortly after Google Maps introduced their satellite view. Daren was going to be speaking at a Saturday night service and beforehand a bunch of us were hanging out and checking out the satellite views of different places. Darren joined in and was looking up various places in his hometown in Oregon. He then had us go to Geocaching.com and was telling us a little bit about geocaching. We looked and saw that there was several caches in the area and Daren mentioned that he'd love to find one after the service. Service didn't get done until late and I figured he'd forget all about it. But Daren is a super enthusiastic, energetic guy and he was ready to go. So Christy, myself, Scott and Daren headed to the Crevasse Moraine trail system about 10 miles away. After a short walk, surrounded by clouds of veracious mosquitoes we reached ground zero and made the find.

The next day, after speaking in our Sunday morning service, Daren was itchin' to find some more caches. Christy and I had enjoyed ourselves the night before and so we headed out again, finding 3 more caches. The follow Wednesday Christy & I bought our own GPS and became regular geocachers. Since June 25, 2005 we have 601 geocaches. We've cached in 12 states and two countries. We've cached in hip deep snow and through swamps. We've cached in -40 degree weather along the banks of the Chena River and in 100 degree heat in Dallas. We've cache in hurricane force winds and in a torrential thunderstorm along the Louisiana Gulf Coast. We driven & hiked miles in search of caches, chewed on by mosquitoes,  encountering moose & bears.

Some of our best times together have been while caching. And, some of our worse fights have been while caching. We've seen some incredible sights and explored places we would've never been to otherwise. It's been a great form of exercise and gotten us up off the couch. For Christy, geocaching is the only time she can disconnect from the stress of her job.

You can read a little more about geocaching at it's Wikipedia entry or by watching the video below. And if you'd like to get started geoaching yourself, visit www.Geocaching.com and sign up for your free basic membership. You can also read more about geocaching here in the Mat-Su Valley by checking out the article I wrote for the MatSu Visitor's & Convention Bureau.