I have got to say this was one of the most spectacular hikes I have ever done, we climbed up 2200ft in elevation over 2.4 miles and to get to the top of Exit Glacier, we had to climb over rocks and my legs were jelly like by the time we got done, but all worth it. We had lunch looking over the glacier, I will not forget this hike very soon.

Shoeleh

Awoke this morning the weather was fine and sunny, made our breakfast and coffee and packed our gear for the Exit Glacier www.nps.gov/kefj/planyourvisit/exit-glacier.htm walk. This has been described as six hours on the stairmaster, but we were willing to give it a go.

We dallied a little and so did not make it to the glacier till 11:00, the drive up gave you an impressive view of the glacier and the icefield. The road offered Clancy some excitement too with some awesome dips and bumps.

Packed the backpack and added the walking poles and headed off to the ranger station. A quick word with those inside said the walk was doable and there was a limited bear encounter opportunity. So we headed to do a glacier viewing before heading up the Harding Trail. To get to the glacier one passed signposts noting the receding nature of the glacier. In fact the 1998 view point was now a long way from the physical glacier and the roped section where you could touch the glacier in May was now two metres from the ice!

We took snaps of the glacier toe and then went back to the Harding Trail, the trail is a round trip of 8.4 miles rising 3800ft. The start was now a sort of rainforest like entrance with a series of switchbacks as you gained altitude. The humidity and bugs could have convinced you the you were in the tropics, although only about 19 degrees it felt a lot hotter. As we climbed we approached a glacier/icefield runoff stream that offered the opportunity to wet the hat and cool down a little. Then it was back to the trail and climbing up the hillside.

The climb was strenuous but not as hard as many of the reviewers had made out. We were passed by two guys who I am sure were trying to run the whole way. We also met a number of ladies who had left their partners and sons at the viewing point and decided to return back to sea level. We toiled on to the viewing area which was semi crowded with people having lunch. We decided to head to the 'top of the cliffs' for our lunch break. The view of a glacier over the side of the cliffs was impressive and on the other side was a mixture of berry bushes and meadows of flowers. No Bears!

Now the top of the cliffs is awesome not only were you looking down on the glacier but you could see the start of the Harding Icefield, if you haven't seen an icefield it is hard to describe. The best analogy I can think of is a meadow of ice with mountains popping through, it was awesome and on the hot day the breeze was refreshing if not cold.

So we rugged up ate our lunch in the most awesome of places, just like in the postcards the icefield and the meadow. Shoeleh had made the call that given the time the remainder of the walk could wait for another visit as we would likely not get back till well after 18:00, which would still be light but was probably not the best thing for me and my cold.

Thus we headed down the hill to the ranger station. This was a downward journey and we had the walking poles with us that assisted in getting down, but it was still a long walk. What was amazing was that there were still people heading up the hill as we were descending. At the base we signed out and then off to the ranger station before back into Clancy.

We drove into Seward, grabbed a Starbucks coffee from Safeway and sat on the breakwater and pondered life for just a moment, then back to Bear Creek RV Park www.bearcreekrv.com/ a hot shower and another dinner heated up on the trusty burner then off to bed.

Animals Spotted: Another not so great animal day - biggest winners were the insects.

Day Thirty one