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From Wikipedia – Near Seward on the Kenai Peninsula, this park protects the Harding Icefield and at least 38 glaciers and fjords stemming from it. The only area accessible to the public by road is Exit Glacier; the rest must be viewed or reached from boat tours.
- Established: 12/2/1980
- Annual Visitors: 321,596
- Size: 669,650 acres
Anchorage, Alaska
Day 1 – March 5, 2022
Iditarod and Fur Rondy Festival
We started our first Alaskan National Park adventure by leaving the desert climate of Phoenix on a late night, non-stop flight, Friday March 4th, transporting ourselves into snowy Anchorage, a city of almost 300,000 people. The forecast had been for mostly rain today but ended up being a winter storm warning. We are out of practice driving in any snow after leaving our home state of Vermont 25 years ago, much less driving on yet to be plowed, unfamiliar roads in an all-wheeled drive Jeep Grand Cherokee we have never driven before (rental). Gary did an amazing job navigating the slippery streets, both physically keeping tires to ice contact and finding all our destinations.
Our first stop was to find a location to watch the 50th Anniversary of “The Last Great Race”, The Iditarod. A 1,000-mile competition to see who, of the 49 entered teams of 8 sled dogs and a human “musher” can take their team, averaging 80 miles a day east from Willow to Nome, Alaska first. The day before the full race, this year being Saturday March 5th, was the ceremonial parade of all the teams running 11 miles through Anchorage. We chose the beautiful wooded Chester Creek Trail to view the racers and loved the spontaneously chosen spot. Unfortunately, we were told we missed a moose crossing the trail about 20 minutes prior to our arrival. Children were high fiving the mushers as the dogs plowed through the large accumulation of perfectly shaped flakes of snow. Beer coolers, fire pits, grills and folding chairs lined the path for what the locals call Trailgating. A play on Tailgating at football games. The spectators were handing out beer and food to the racers. One racer passed rejoicing: “I just got a full box of thin mint cookies!! Yahoo!!”
It was all an incredible experience. Enjoy the slide show below!
3rd generation Iditarod musher, Dallas Seavey #20. Youngest musher in history (in 2005) to run the Iditarod and in 2011 the youngest champion. He’s one of only two mushers to win the Iditarod five times! 
Elizabeth on the Chester Creek Trail, in Anchorage, where the 49 mushers will be going through minutes later. New snow! Hooray! 
Gary and Elizabeth enjoying the March winter in AK! 
Locals “Trailgating” – as the Iditarod partiers call it. 
Mushers crossing a wooden bridge through a park in Anchorage. 
Gary by the snowy stream’s edge 
A Trailgater handing a musher a local beer! 
Elizabeth on left, Trailgaters in background, a photographer in lower right 
Beer for mushers sign behind Elizabeth at this Tailgate gathering! 
Fresh snow, mushers and lots of fans through a majestic tunnel made of trees.
The 10+ inches of snow that fell from 8am-4pm today is more than double the record for Anchorage on March 5th! The forecast is for an additional 4 to 8” before stopping about midnight tonight. Temperatures have hovered around 30 degrees and there is no wind, so it is truly a winter wonderland. With that said, after the Iditarod fun in the park we chose to return to the hotel for a rest and regroup after a bit of nerve wracking, slippery driving. The next adventure was to watch The Running of the Reindeer charity event during the annual Fur Rendezvous Winter Festival, Rondy for short, in the afternoon. https://www.furrondy.net/history/
After driving downtown we enjoyed an Alaskan Brewing Company draft, found our spot along the short reindeer run course and watched all sorts of costumed runners of all shapes and ages jog amongst the real antlered caribou up the center of downtown Anchorage. Not one complaint from some scantily dressed runners to anyone on the curbs watching as Mother Nature continued her record-breaking snow fall!
The antlered Caribou from a nearby petting zoo are lead to the start of the charity running with the reindeer annual event. 
Action shots of the reindeer run 
Costumes are a favorite choice for those that paid to run for charity 
More costumes, or lack there of, with a caribou in middle 
Two runners taking selfies and videoing a strolling reindeer 
Neither the weather or an injury keep runners from taking part! 
Three fun loving women sauntering to the finish line! 
Last year’s participants?? – had to say it! 
“Vegan Sausage” – by definition of sausage, isn’t that an an oxymoron? 
This event has a fur auction and there are many who wear real pelts. 
So far, the people of Alaska have been super nice… on the phone, in the businesses and on the street.
Weather permitting, we will be heading to Seward, AK, 125 miles south of Anchorage, to Kenai Fjords National Park tomorrow with our friends Sherry and Craig, who flew in tonight to meet us, as planned.
Driving along the Turnagain Arm, a part of the Cook Inlat off the Gulf of Alaska, south of Anchorage. 
Gary at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center which is at the end of the Turnagain Arm. 
The female elk are wondering “What’s going on over there?” 
Male Elk enjoying life at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center 
A Grizzly (Brown) Bear 
“Hey, you guys, look at me!” 
“I don’t like my picture taken” 
“Ahh, shucks, I ‘m shy” 
This area sank 8 feet during the 1964 earthquake. This caused the water table to be salt instead of fresh water. The salt killed the trees, but preserved them, creating the Ghost Forest. 
The Gost Forest today 
The highway just north of Seward.
Kenai Fjords National Park
Gary awakened at 1:30AM, got dressed, left the hotel and headed north on foot to see if the Aurora Borealis was visible in Seward, AK. Bummer, cloud cover and being so far south, no-go tonight.
Gary began his morning…after returning to bed and awakening at 6am again… by driving 5 miles to Exit Glacier Road and taking a walk up the closed road to Kenai Fjords National Park. See his AM pictures in the slide show below.
Craig and I walked to 13 Ravens, a coffee shop at the marina, that opened at 8AM. He and I like coffee and Gary and Sherry do not drink coffee. The coffee shop was inside a renovated train car. Alaska has more coffee shops per capita than any other state! In Seward, for example, there are kiosk type buildings in parking lots, the train car we went to, a renovated historical church and more.
Gary and I went to the Seward Chamber of Commerce to get our national park map and a stamp in our national park book marking our 53rd park out of 63, so far. The official visitor center is closed for the season.
We then reconvened with our friends Sherry and Craig heading to the end of the small boat marina to board our Resurrection Bay to Kenai Fjord NP 3 ½ -hour private ocean tour. I can easily say that all four of us had the time of our lives. We saw eagles, otter, Mountain Goats, various sea birds, a sea lion and the largest of all porpoises, the Dall’s Porpoise, which are black and white. The snow-covered mountains with their jagged peaks and cornices, glaciers, and the incredible close up wildlife sightings were spectacular sights.
Elizabeth, Gary, Sherry and Craig next to our Seward Ocean Excursion three hour private tour up Resurrection Bay, Seward. 
Glaciers and tides have made a beach of small, smooth stones from the large surrounding mountains 
This beach separates Resurrection Bay from the the Gulf of Alaska 
Gary, Elizabeth, Sherry and Craig on our tour 
Elizabeth doing a Yoga Warrior pose, on a log, boots, parka and all! 
Need I saw more? : ) 
WWII bunker for troupes protecting Resurrection Bay and the rest of the state of Alaska
We returned to shore in Seward, hopped in the car and drove the 127 mile very scenic Seward Highway back to Anchorage. The driving was much better than the day before when the plows had a chance to clear a lot of the over 11 inches of snow from the roads.
We checked into Susitna Place, a wonderful B & B in downtown Anchorage. The next morning the host made us breakfast bags to-go, fresh brewed coffee/hot chocolate and called us a cab for our next adventure…the 3 hour train ride from Anchorage to Talkeetna, AK, the gateway to Denali National Park!
Not all those who wander are lost.
J. R. R. TOLKIEN
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Gary and Elizabeth's Adventures 