Valdez Glacier...kayak, hike...and swim?

On Tuesday, July 31st, we awoke to a stunning blue sky with a few small white clouds and the day shaping up very nicely. After a quick breakfast, we grabbed our gear and walked across the street to the harbor to admire the morning and the mirror image of the colorful boats. The snow-capped green Chugach Mountains encircle the entire Valdez Port, making for quite a picturesque view.

At 10am we joined the small group at Anadyr Adventures for our kayak and glacier hiking trip to the Valdez Glacier. After slipping on rain overalls and a rain jacket plus the life jacket and rubber boots, we were sweating in the 65 degree sunshine. The two guides loaded us all into the van and drove us to the lake in front of the Valdez Glacier, a lovely spot nestled between the green and very tall Chugach Mountains.

We unloaded the kayaks and paddles from the van, and, after a quick demo and safety talk, we scooted away from the shoreline. Darcy, our intrepid guide, led us onto the lake. As we paddled silently, we could hear the river of melting glacier water rushing into the lake in front of us. She led us toward a giant iceberg floating nearby into which a cavity had developed large enough for us to paddle our kayaks. The top of the cavity continued to melt in the pretty sunshine and rained down on us and our kayak when we paddled under it.

As the water drops dried we could see the glacial flour they left behind. The glacier, as it slowly gouges a valley in the mountains, grinds the rocks into ever smaller pieces. Eventually, the pieces are ground to a fine powder which remains suspended in the lake water as well as in the ice of the glacier itself.

Lunch on the river delta

We continued paddling around to a couple of other icebergs before stopping for lunch on the rocky delta of the river. As soon as we were on land, Darcy offered us a cup of tasty hot cider. We pulled out our lunch and suddenly I could hear the air escaping our inflatable kayak. Darcy flipped it over and we located the small crack in the middle bladder of the boat. Without a proper vinyl repair kit, we MacGyvered a patch with electrical tape and copious amounts of super glue. Though we could still hear the air leaking out, at least we managed to slow the escape.

Through the ice cave!

Back on the water, we paddled toward the Valdez Glacier edge. The glacier is covered in bits of shale and granite, the result of so much scouring as it ground its way down the valley. Darcy advised us to keep watch on any larger pieces balanced precariously on the edge of the glacier above us, lest they dive down onto us or our kayaks. She mentioned some ice caves around the bend, so we followed her lead and paddled under a bridge of ice through a cave about 30 feet long. The iridescent blue ice glowed from within and dripped on us as we glided under it.

We continued beyond the cave to a small pool of water surrounded by the glacier. With the towering ice around us, we paddled near the walls and noticed how they appear to be made of small chunks of ice squeezed together so tightly they form a solid block. Darcy led us back through the cave and we paddled around to the front of the glacier where the melting ice formed a small waterfall in a couple of spots.

As we edged closer to the toe of the glacier, Darcy found us a low spot where we could disembark. We all climbed out of our kayaks and she led us up the steep and rocky front to the top of the ice. We hiked around following her closely as she pointed out some of the features caused by the moraine on top of the ice. The sun heats the rocks which transfer that heat to the ice immediately around it. This will cause the rock to sink into the ice where water will pool. Eventually, as the water seeks the easiest path downward, the impression will become a tunnel, called a moulin. In short time, the moulin will extend deep into the glacier, sometimes all the way to the water underneath of it. Interestingly, because the glacier is dynamic and changing in major ways even on a daily basis, that tunnel will bend with the melting ice water rushing into it.

Hiking on the glacier

Throwing a rock into a moulin

She found several moulins of different sizes and encouraged us to throw rocks into them so that we could hear how far they each reached. At the first and smallest moulin, we could hear a rock bouncing and sliding down the ice tunnel until it reached the bottom with a faint ker-plunk. She led us to another, much larger, moulin where the sound of the rock scraping against the ice walls ended with the sound of shattering glass. This sound is caused by the splash of the rock into below freezing water, essentially a slurry of ice crystals. Once the rock hits the surface of that water, the ice crystals bang together making the glass crashing sound. Cool!

Drinking melted glacier water

Fissure in the glacier

She continued hiking around until she found a small rivulet of water rushing along the surface of the glacier where she encouraged us to have a drink. We hiked on to an area where she pointed out the fissures that occur with the melting. She mentioned one small fissure had rapidly developed into a large crevasse in a matter of only a few days. None of us strayed too close.

Surface of the glacier

Walking on the surface of the glacier was fascinating. The moraine appears as a thin veneer of gravel on top of the crystal clear blue ice underneath. Farther up the glacier, the gravel has completely covered the ice except where the crevasses and little rivers of water cut through it. Darcy mentioned in wintertime how dangerous the crevasses become when new snow covers the huge cracks. She led us to another area where she pointed out that the size of the rocks above the ice will tend to insulate the cold rather than transfer the heat to the glacier. Those rocks develop a pedestal of ice that continues to support them after much of the glacier around it has shrunk.

Post Polar Bear Plunge
(soaking wet)

Our hiking time over, Darcy led us back to toe of the glacier where we had parked our kayaks and then the fun began. The two-man kayaks were beached nose in on the ice shelf, just as we had done at lunchtime. Each of the three couples began preparing themselves to get back in the boat, putting on life jackets, securing our cameras in the plastic bags, and so on. As Ken neared the kayak to get in, I reminded him (perhaps ominously) not to step off the ice shelf.

Ken in his dry 'farmer Santa' suit

No sooner had he neared the end of the kayak, his left boot slipped on the ice under the gravel and slid off the ice shelf. I watched helplessly as almost instantaneously his entire leg slid into the lake followed quickly by the rest of him. We jumped into action and Darcy and I helped yank him back onto the ice shelf. Soaking wet from his shoulders to his toes, we were so thankful he was only in the 38 degree water for a couple of seconds. Darcy was prepared with a quilted plaid farmer's shirt, Santa red sleeping pants and wool socks. He looked ridiculous, but at least he was safe and dry. Ken's costume change complete, we all safely loaded into the kayaks for our trip back to the van.

Valdez Glacier

Evidently, the ice shelf is exactly that...the underwater continuation of the steep-sided wall of ice above the water, not at all like a beach. One of the other kayakers pointed out just how lucky Ken was to have been wearing his life vest when he slipped into the water. Only in the frigid lake for a few seconds, the life vest buoyed him and prevented him from going completely underwater, and at least it was at the end of the trip instead of the beginning. Despite the unintentional soaking, we had an absolutely wonderful time. When we returned to the company's storefront to turn in our gear, Darcy presented Ken with an Anadyr Adventures t-shirt to commemorate his triathlon (kayak, hike, swim) while she threw his wet clothes into the dryer. After another costume change, this time into his own dry clothes, we returned the Santa suit to Darcy and thanked her profusely.

Chugach Mountains

Afterwards we walked around the harbor enjoying the beautiful day. On Darcy's recommendation, we first headed to the Best Western Valdez Harbor Inn, a long name for a small hotel with a great bar. We stopped in for a porter and sat a table looking through a picture glass window the length of the bar at the small boats docked just outside in the harbor. From there, we headed to dinner at the Fat Mermaid, a casual place with outstanding pizza. We chose the Chix D Pesto, a pizza with pesto sauce, chicken, red onions, feta, mozzarella and fresh cilantro on top. As strange as it sounded, we both loved it. Soooo yummy!

Cottonwood blossoms

After dinner, we returned to the RV for showers and to unpack our stuff from the kayak trip. We took a short drive out to see the pink salmon swimming near the hatchery again, and actually caught sight of some sea otters swimming in the port, unfortunately much too far away to photograph. We drove back toward town and stopped briefly at the Chugach National Forest visitor center where we noticed the cottonwood blossoms littering the driveway and grass. The fluffs of cottonwood had been floating around in the air all day like a snow flurry. So pretty.

Valdez harbor in the moonlight

As the evening wore on, I noticed the moon peeking out just above the mountains across the harbor from us. It occurred to us that before Friday of last week when we saw the moon as we drove out the McCarthy Road that we hadn't really seen it in more than a month because of the midnight sun. Discovering I actually missed it, I was mesmerized watching the full moon rising slowly above the harbor, reflected in the still water.

What an awesome day!