It was a beautiful day to visit Exit Glacier which is about 11 miles outside of Seward. This glacier is in Kenai Fjords National Park and is one of the many glaciers fed by the 700 mile Harding Icefield. The drive offers some beautiful views of the glacier. It is the only part of Kenai Fjords National Park accessible by road.
Alaska SeaLife Center
In Alaska you can’t get enough of the animals, and thus on a rainy day in Seward, we visited the Alaska SeaLife Center which is the only permanent marine mammal rehabilitation facility in Alaska.
Leaving the SeaLife Center, these guys were all over the place!
Mount Marathon Race
Our five nights in Seward were over and we awoke to a beautiful morning and were able to capture these pictures of the area in back of our camping spot. Notice the path at the top of the mountain? One of the oldest death defying footraces, which began either in 1912 or 1915 (date is not clear), is run here annually (elev. 3,022 feet).
“Good things rarely come out of a bar bet, but 2 Sourdoughs wagered whether Mount Marathon could be climbed in under an hour and Seward’s annual Fourth of July endurance race was born.
….. The descent is so steep that it’s part run, part jump and part slide. The race attracts competitors from all over, and thousands of spectators line the route each year”
2022 Alaskan Milepost
Sounds fun, right???!!!
Boondocking Magic
Heading back north towards Anchorage we took the turn west onto the Sterling Highway about halfway back to Anchorage. We planned to stay at a campground near Coopers Landing on Kenai Lake which is formed by the Kenai River.
We arrived at the campground pretty early and we did not have a view like the above at our campsite. Rain was in the forecast for the next several days and since Victoria really wanted to see the three volcanoes at Cook Inlet, we decided to continue onward. I’m so glad we did, as it was true boondocking magic!
While taking the below pictures, I met a German couple who had brought their RV over the ocean from Europe on a ship. Hmmm…..made me think about doing the reverse… a thought for the future.
Note: The dates we visited were in August. I’m just working to finish up my trip in the blog. Sorry for the delays.
We stayed on Seward for three days and enjoyed exit glacier and the glorious views also. Such wonderful memories!
Wow love seeing your updates and even better when you have Victoria there !! Thanks for sharing – so interesting!
Thank you for this update! Such stunning views. So glad Victoria could be there with you!