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With Denali under our belts we head south to Seward. Google says it is 349 miles and will take over 7 hours. Please, I’m driving a rental. Hang on Amy!

I can’t remember exactly how long it took, but I noted in my Palm T|X that we left around 9 AM and were hiking the Exit Glacier by 3. That included stopping for lunch. Not too bad.

I’ve never seen a glacier up close so I’m pretty excited. We left the parking lot at a balmy 65 degrees or so and start hiking. Along the way there is much to see. The mountains are spectacular. If I was a glacier I’d love to live here.

<mindless rambling>

All this hiking is taking a beating out on my poor shoes. We hiked this glacier on July 9. It is now late September and I’m still wearing them to work. My sister would be appalled. But she’s a freak about shoes. Something about that’s the first thing people notice…blah, blah, blah.

</mindless rambling>

As we get closer and closer the air temperature drops dramatically. It’s like sitting in front of an air conditioner. Where’s that global warming when I need it.

The ground looks like “crush & run” and the runoff is laden with silt, creating ribbons.

Up close the glacier is cold, big, dirty, and blue.

You can find more pictures from the Exit Glacier hike here in the Alaska 2008 photo gallery.

Luckily we’ll be in Seward for a few days before heading to Homer. Tomorrow is the Kenai Fjords cruise. This is gonna be awesome.