Thursday, July 23, 2015

The Seward Highway and Kenai Fjords National Park


Arriving almost four days early in Whittier, Alaska, we rented a car there and toured the Kenai Peninsula.  Leaving Whittier via the Whittier Tunnel, we passed Portage Glacier and the area west of Whittier where we took the Seward Highway to the town of Seward.  We did not stay in Seward but in the Exit Glacier area of Kenai Fjords National Park where we camped near the Resurrection River.  While there we took a glacier and wildlife cruise out of Seward (subject of another post) and hiked the Harding Icefields trail to Exit Glacier and beyond.  This hike was the best of all for wildflowers.

Part 1, The Seward Highway

near the junction with the road to Whittier



Turnagin Pass





 Lower Summit Lake



 Woolly Geranium


 Red Columbine



 Jerome Lake





 Trail Lakes






 Cow Lily



 north of Seward






 Part 2, Exit Glacier area of Kenai Fjords National Park

first views of Exit Glacier




 entrance sign


 baby Moose near the Resurrection River




 campsite near the Resurrection River



 views from camp




 Pixie Cups in the campground


 another view of Exit Glacier


 Blunt-leaved Rein Orchis


Part 3, Hiking near Exit Glacier

Edge of the Glacier trail

Exit Glacier









Parsley Fern


 beginning of the Resurrection River


 Harding Icefields trail

unidentified creek near the beginning of the trail


the trail


 Goatsbeard


 Fragrant Fringecup


 Yellow Monkeyflower



 Red Columbine



 view through the trees


 Coastal Paintbrush


 Parsley Fern


 the stream again at one mile and crossed by a bridge



Sitka Lupine


 Red Columbine


 Woolly Geranium


Resurrection River Valley


 more Coastal Paintbrush




Large-leaf Avens


 Nancy


 Narcissus-flowered Anemone


 Mountain Heather


 Alaska Spirea



 the trail


 Sitka Lupine


 Sitka Lupine and Mountain Valerian




Marmot Meadows



Exit Glacier




Coastal Paintbrush


Frog Orchid


Exit Glacier
(note the people on the glacier in the third photo)




Shrub Willow


us


Marmot Meadows


moi


Exit Glacier



Coastal Paintbrush


Two-flower Violet


Corn Lily


glacially scoured rocks


overlook


Resurrection River valley


Fool's Huckleberry



Resurrection River valley



Narcissus-flowered Anemone


Large-awned Sedge


glacial run-off


Exit Glacier






Willow Catkins


beginning of the Harding Icefields


Dwarf Marsh Violet




Two-flowered Violet


Red-stemmed Saxifrage


Exit Glacier



me again


Sitka Lupine


Frog Orchid


Fragrant Fringecup


Mountain Valerian


Western White Butterfly
(very uncertain of this ID)


Unidentified Sedge


back down the trail



Blunt-leaved Rein Orchis


Tall Jacob's Ladder