Glenn Highway

Matanuska Glacier

Today, we drove the Glenn Highway into Palmer (just a day trip from our campsite in Tonsina). The relatively short distance underscored that, with our revised schedule, we probably could have driven rather than take the ferry to Valdez. 

A fun day of exploring

But, of course, we were hoping to recreate the grandeur of our 2001 trip.

First stop, the Matanuska Glacier.

Scott in front of the Glacier

A valley glacier, Matanuska is the largest glacier accessible by car in the United States. Its terminus feeds the Matanuska River. 

Once again, the glacier has receded, but this one not as dramatically as others we had seen.

The glacier from the overlook

You can hike to the face, but it gets pretty icy before you hit white ice. 

The melting glacier and some fireweed

Neither Scott nor I wanted to risk a fall, so we didn't chance it. The glacier was pretty thrilling the first time we saw it, but since then, we've seen a lot more spectacular ones.

Close-up of the glacier face

Sometimes I worry that we've seen so much that we're losing the ability to be thrilled. 

Hiking at the terminus

Then, we headed on to the Muskox Farm in Palmer. 

Adult and baby Muskoxen

It's a project to preserve and domesticate Muskox, so it has fenced pastures and breeding facilities. And, although it has been there since 1964, it has a long way to go. It takes about 250 years to domesticate an animal; the last to be successfully domesticated is the horse! 

These weird-looking critters are still pretty wild, so you have to stay clear of the fence for fear of a painful head butt. They are very short and apparently not too bright. The meat isn't good and the milk is very, very rich and very low in quantity. 

The breeding program is successful

So, why domesticate? 

These can be dangerous animals

For their undercoat, which is used for qiviut, a very soft, very warm, very expensive wool that is knit into very delicate items by native Alaskans all over the state. 

Qiviut scarf

I have a qiviut scarf that Scott gave me and I brought with me. So far, it's been too warm to wear it. In fact, I have a whole big bag of clothes it's been too warm to wear.

An Interesting Occurrence

Back at the campsite in Tonina that evening (remember, it is light until very dark), Scott took a walk along the creek behind our campsite. 

Interesting

The opposite bank was considerably higher than the bank on our side (you can barely see it in the photo).  As he was walking, large chunks of bank crumbled into the creek for no apparent reason. it was significant enough that he told me about it when he came back. 

It turns out that it was an earthquake.

Trip date: June 3-July 20, 2013