Matanuska Glacier, Alaska #8

Matt and I awoke early enough to catch a quick chat and goodbye with Becki (whom had been working 11pm-8am most of our stay, so we mostly had dinners with her).

We headed to Matanuska Glacier, 60 miles west on the Glenn Highway. Until this point, the Glenn was the only highway on the Alaska road system that we hadn't covered yet. Now we've got them all!!

The Matanuska Glacier access road is on private property and cost us a heart-stopping $20/person to go out on. As we drove the bumpy gravel road to the glacier, the clouds lifted and dissolved. The glacier sparkled like a sapphire, tucked away in the mountains. It shone so brightly that I couldn't stand to look at it for too long at once. Blue crevasses jutted from every angle. At 27 miles long, it is the largest glacier I have ever seen. Typically, glaciers have retreated so far up the mountain that ice fields at the peaks aren't visible. But this one was right there in the river valley, and it was massive. We walked out onto the glacier about half a mile before turning back. The loud sound of rushing water echoed through the crevasses. Although we couldn't see any water, a raging river was definitely underfoot. Since we didn't have any type of rescue equipment nor crampons, we turned back and headed for town.

On our return trip, we stopped in Palmer for some Dairy Queen and coffee. Perfect lunch, right? I regretted not borrowing Becki's camera for the glacier and then returning it when we went through town. You'll have to wait until I get the disposable film cameras developed, but I will post photos when I get them. Sugar and caffeine provided a jump start to the final day of our trip.

The bus ride from Wasilla to Anchorage was fun. I was surprised that I didn't get sick at all. Typically, city buses make me incredibly motion sick. It was almost all highway miles, so I'm sure that had something to do with it. As we rode into town, our whole trip moved in reverse. Crossing the Matanuska River fed by the glacier. Passing Eagle River, where our backpack trip ended and I drowned my camera. Finally back to Anchorage and Mike's house at the base of the Chugach Mountains.

But between the bus ride and heading to Mike's place, we met up with one of my best friends from high school, Anna. She moved away after our sophomore year and I hadn't seen her since. Ten years had passed. As we chatted through dinner, the years melted away. It was like we'd last seen each other yesterday. She moved to Anchorage just two weeks ago and is very excited to experience all that Alaska has to offer. It was fun to hear about her Al-Can Adventure and what she thought of Alaska so far. She moved here partly on my recommendation, so I'm glad she likes it this far. I look forward to drooling over her photos as she explores.