Being flexible

When we go over the remaining details of the trip in Anchorage, we seem to be running out of days. Dad flies back on June 17 and has to be back in Anchorage by the 16th. Because of this we book a bus to Seward, this saves us 3 cycling days. 

The first 5 minutes I was in a bad mood, I wanted to travel human powered as much as possible and didn't care for that bus ride at all. But every downside has its upside. Look for the good, remember?

Harding Icefield

We stood on the top beaming with pride, what an effort but what a beautiful reward! We are gazing at the Harding Icefield, a gigantic ice field that stretches out as far as we can see. The hours leading up to this moment were a real challenge. With snowshoes we hiked up extremely steep hillslopes. By the way, we are all alone on the trail! 

Down the slopes we slide! Super fun, until you go too fast and lose control: more than once we end up in the bushes. At 08:15 pm we get back on the parking lot. We will not soon forget the Harding Icefield!

Watch out, tides!

It is still early when the alarm rings, 05:30 am, despite the fact that we are on a trip! Today we have a coast walk on the program. We have to take the tides into account, because only at low tide you can pass. 

What a walk! This is truly wild untouched wilderness. As we walk along the beach and get ready to climb back into the forest, we hear a loud splash! We just barely see the fin of a whale go down. A few minutes later the whale jumps out of the water and we have a fantastic view of this colossal creature. Wow, from the beach we are watching a whale! We feel so privileged to be in this nature. It is 08:25 pm when we can return with low tide. As we cycle back to our host, we see another sea otter enjoying the last rays of sunshine in the bay.

For now, Seward is the greatest discovery of Alaska! After these hiking days, I'm looking forward to biking back and starting the last part of Alaska.