Here in America: Alaska Four: Into the Wild

Jul 27, 2021

Alaska Four: Into the Wild

Shakes Glacier

The Alaskan wilderness is beautiful. It is truly spectacular. But it is also humbling. Being out in the wild, you feel really small. You realize that these stretches of the world are beyond the dominion of man. There is this heedlessness to nature, this sense that we do not matter at all to the natural world. Chris and I had a saying over the weekend, "Nature does not care." And it doesn't. Living in our man-made spaces it easy to feel like we are the center of everything. The Alaskan wilderness is quick to remind us that we are not.

Still, if you approach the wild spaces with wisdom, preparedness, and humility there is great reward in the splendor. And Sunday was exceedingly rewarding.

After a hot breakfast, we began our day with a couple of hours at the Hot Tubs. It was so relaxing at the outdoor tub, soaking in the water piped in from the hot springs looking out on a meadow that had recently been flooded by the engineering feats of beavers who had constructed a dam nearby. Chris, Aidan and I talked and laughed and enjoyed the beauty surrounding us. Thankfully, since we were immersed up to our necks in the water, the mosquitoes left us alone.

Chilling at the Hot Tubs

After indulging in the Hot Tubs, we returned to the cabin for lunch, and then set off for the Shakes Glacier. It was a fantastical voyage up the slough and to the lake, like traveling into Narnia or Middle Earth. As we traveled we began to see little chunks of ice, which eventually became large chunks and then full on icebergs. The air temperature also began to drop as we drew closer. Finally we came upon the mountainous river of ice and debris, brilliant blue at the edges, the calved ice floating white and baby blue around us. We were fortunate that the approach to the glacier was not clogged with ice and we were able to get as close to the glacier as we desired (we opted not to go right up to the glacier wall because of the danger of massive chunks of ice calving and crushing us if we were too close). On either side of us were towering, lonely walls of majestic rock festooned with waterfalls.

Signs of the glacier

The glacier in sight!

Chris and those lonely mountains

I love the brilliant blue color of glacier ice. Apparently it is blue because the ice is so tightly compacted that it absorbs all light from the spectrum except for blue.

After visiting the glacier, we picked up some snacks and other supplies for our later afternoon activities. Aidan took the helm for a bit as we went to check out Clearwater Creek. But there was low fog in the area and Chris didn't feel comfortable trying to explore with such poor visibility. We then motored on up to the Canadian border. We absolutely did not accidentally miss the border cut and traverse into Canada for a bit before realizing our mistake and slipping back into the U.S. before we got busted. That definitely never happened.

The border cut between the United States and Canada. Look carefully at the photo above and below (these were taken to my left and right on the river) and you will see strip of green where the tress have been cut to create a line. That cut strip of land indicates the border between our two countries. It's easy to miss. Of course we didn't miss it.

From the border we headed over to a sandbar that the Cottas like to tent camp at. The mosquitos are far fewer there and there's lots of fun places for the kids to play and explore. We set out our camp chairs, Chris built a small fire, and we snacked on beef summer sausage, cheese, and crackers while watching the sunset. At twilight we headed back to the cabin.