We got a hearty breakfast at Judy’s diner, of reindeer sausage in a Denali omlette. When in Alaska? Then drove down the Seward Highway and out on the Kenai Peninsula.
Our first stop is the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center to see a bunch of “little guys” and practice some animal photography.
We also stopped by the Portage train station to get a shot of their iconic locomotives. Luckily they weren’t moving, so I could climb on top of our car to get a good angle with the glacier behind.
We did a short walk to a fish viewing platform, and Hannah put her feet in a glacial stream.
We went a bit further to see Portage lake and the glacier hanging above. The sun is still warm, it’s almost 70f which is apparently a heatwave. But the cold wind blowing down off the ice seems a portent of the weather to come.
I had read about the bore wave surfers, and today there was a sufficient negative tide for it to be worth waiting around for. We arranged ourselves at one of the pull-outs at 6pm, not sure exactly what time the wave would get here, but content to wait while sitting in the late afternoon sun. It turned out to be fairly obvious; when all the water condenses from the whole arm into a single wave it looks pretty different from the normal tide.
Once the wave appeared, a half-dozen surfers rushed out to catch it. The signs warning of mortal danger didn’t appear to dissuade them, but the 40 degree water would have been enough for me. They paddled hard to get up to speed with the wave, and then battled to not get tossed by the gnarly turbulence. None seemed able to stand up, but just boarding along with the tide looked like a fun, if rough, ride.
Once the wave passed, we got back in the car and drove quickly down to the next turnoff to see it all again. In all we caught it three times, and had enough good shots to call it a successful evening.
Then we drove down to Hidden Lake, arriving by 9pm when it was still fully light out. We saw a baby bear right at the campground entrance, so they’re not kidding around here. I had forgotten to buy a lighter or bug spray, so got a light from a neighbor so we could turn on our stove, and cooked dinner and ate with bug headnets on. Then to bed, and to dream of bears.
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