We have been having quite a bit of rain so yesterday, before it got too rainy, we hiked up to the edge of the Exit Glacier. Unfortunately, you cannot hike up to the toe directly, but we did get a few good pictures.
After Exit, we headed down to the Alaska Sea Life Center. It was pretty cool seeing the same animals we saw on our boat tour, but up close and personal. They have an inside/outside birding area. The inside is also a very large fish tank. I found it really interesting seeing the puffins dive and swim to the bottom. They are pretty amazing swimmers.
Today, Chris and I got up fairly early to hike up to the Harding Ice Field. It is a pretty strenuous hike up with 3000 feet of elevation gain in around 4 miles. Both Chris and I are pretty experienced backpackers/hikers and have backpacked Isle Royale to the Colorado Rockies and have hiked Volcano National Park to Dry Tortugas National Park. I feel pretty confident in our ability to hike this.... However, we did not expect what happened. On the way in, there is a login sheet to log departure time and when returning, you must log your arrival time. I logged us in, but noted that someone from yesterday had noted a bear on the trail.
We still set off for our hike, but about a mile up the trail a park ranger said he thought there was a bear around a half a mile past "the bridge" which would be about a mile and three quarters up.
Undeterred, we hiked on. The trail was not difficult to hike, but was very closed-in by vegetation. We got to the bridge pretty quick which was at a mile and a quarter. At this point, we had not seen any other people hiking, but we went on.
At about two tenth passed the bridge we went into our "bear scare" routine. Saying "Hey Bear", clapping, a little whistling, etc. The trail was switched back and forth. At about 4 tenths passed the bridge, we went around a switch back and a very large bear about 20 yards in front was standing on two feet who growled very loud. Both Chris and I jumped back. I knocked my sunglasses off the top of my head. We paused for a moment and noted she was standing on the trail with her front paws on a tree. I looked up the tree and immediately knew the situation. Her cub was treed about twenty feet up. She was just protecting the cub.
I walk forward just a bit to pick up my sunglasses. I then tried to take a photo of both the bear and her cub with my phone but I guess I was shaking a little.
After that, we knew she was not going to let us pass. We decided full of adrenaline to head back down. No Harding Ice Field for us today.
The picture is blurry, but she is standing on the right side of the tree looking straight at us.
