Gorgeous Day in Alaska
Trip Start
Apr 04, 2011
1
5
Trip End
Apr 19, 2011
Turnagain Arm Alaska, Alaska
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
To be honest, this is my least favorite time of the year.
It is getting warmer, the snow is melting, but everything is just plain dirty .. .even the air is full of glacier silt making it hazy.
But I was determined to see things with new eyes today . . and go in search of something pretty, or at least unusual . .
First stop was a wildlife reserve about 50 miles North of Anchorage, with a detour stop when I saw a family of sheep on the bluffs along Seward Highway.
At the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center . . .the animals looked about half thrilled .. . yes I am being sarcastic. This time of year they were lucky to be getting hay since there would have been nothing natural for them to be eating, even though their fenced in area was quite large it was still just a fenced in area.
The orphaned baby brown bears from Kodiak were cute . .
Immediately across the highway from the AWCC was the road to Portage Glacier . . and it was a pretty day so I figured I was this far, I might as well go look at the glacier.
If you look there are two guys walking across the lake. I had to sit and wait and ask how long it took them to walk over to the glacier. 45 minutes each way. Carrying HUGE camera bags and tripods. I figure that is what telephoto lens are for !
On the drive home I saw huge numbers of people at all of the turnouts standing looking out at the water .. . what were they looking at ?? Whales??
After the 4th turn out full of people my curiosity got the best of me. I had not seen anything worth pulling over for, but 3/4 of the people had a camera in there hand, so I figured I should be gazing out at the great unknown along with them.
When I pulled in I saw the state had erected a full set of visitor propaganda regarding the fact that twice a day you could see "The Bore Tides" from these locations . . so I asked the nearest person with a camera if that is what everybody seemed to be waiting for . .
Due to my family going to Whittier from Anchorage EVERY weekend from the time I was 10 I figure I went back and forth on that highway close to a thousand times and I had never seen a bore tide so I figured I should stand there like the rest of the sheep.
Very Impressive. More impressive were the two fools trying to surf the tide.
The bore tide is a tidal phenomenon in which the leading edge of the incoming tide forms a wave
(or waves) of water that travel up a river or narrow bay against the
direction of the river or bay's current. As such, it is a true tidal wave and not to be confused with a tsunami, which is a large ocean wave traveling primarily on the open ocean.
