Our Own Private Wilderness

Sunday morning, the 15 or so “floating alternative” guests were back on vans headed on the return trip to Seward. Clouds and rain had returned, but the seas had calmed. It was time to finally head out to the Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge.

After an early breakfast, we all left the Kenai Riverside Lodge and made the 45-minute trek to Seward. By 10:30, staff were loading our luggage on the small boat we were taking out into the bay. We joined up with the other guests who had been originally scheduled to leave that morning. Given the several-day delay for guests, we found out that our boat would be the first to arrive at the Lodge for the season. The staff had been there for weeks preparing to open and the word we received is that they were anxious for us to arrive and the fun to start.

Alaska Wildland Adventures (AWA) has been around for many years. The president, Kirk Hoessle, has opened several lodges across the Kenai Peninsula. Nearly 20 years ago, he eyed the piece of land out on Pederson Glacier Lagoon on Resurrection Bay as an ideal spot to put an eco lodge. But at that time he wasn’t ready to build it. In later years, the Port Graham Native Corporation claimed the land that included the lagoon area. They did not want to see the land overly developed, but they also wanted people to have access to enjoy the wilderness. Kirk was honored that they approached him to ask if he would be interested in building a wilderness lodge on the site. Apparently, they continued to solicit him over the years until he finally felt that we was ready to invest and expand his business. It would be a major undertaking to build a lodge in such a remote place.

Through meeting Kirk and reading books on the history of the lodge, we formed an understanding of the challenges he overcame to create the destination. When he finally starting building,  it took two years – or about 10 months of non-winter work – until it was ready to open. The only way to get materials to the site was by water. Over the two-year period, he loaded five barges with more than 90 tons worth of materials – including more than 100 panes of glass (which he accomplished with none of it breaking!). Also, he did whatever he could to reduce his footprint on the land. The very limited number of trees that were cut down were incorporated into the main lodge structure. He put moss blankets down to make sure his machines did not destroy the thick green carpet that blanketed the forest. And he built the small cabins elevated off the ground to have less of an impact on the land underneath. The lodge is maintained off of a propane generator, to eliminate possible fuel spills, that switches over to battery power at night and the water system is spring-fed.

The Boat Trip

The trip out to the lodge is an event in itself. We were on a very small boat, with less than 30 of us on board – including a guide from the lodge and a local expert on the area and sea life. The trip was scheduled to take almost five hours, with plenty of stops along the way.

Although the seas had calmed, the weather had not. Unfortunately the trip out was in clouds, wind and cold rain. But we were covered in rain gear and the back outside area of the boat had a roof – so we were able to spend most of the trip outside. We pulled out of Seward and out into the bay along the towering shoreline. The tops of the mountains were still in the clouds, but the scenery was gorgeous nonetheless.

Elizabeth, the ship captain, was on a lookout for sea life for us. The great thing about this small boat, and full-day trip, was that if we spotted sea life, we headed straight for it and spent time observing the animal. Over the next few hours we saw all sorts of amazing creatures – sea lions, sea otters, eagles, puffins, mountain goats and humpback whales. Lots of humpback whales. Whenever a whale appeared on the surface and we saw either a tail or a blowhole spout in the distance, we headed straight for it. Then, the captain would shut off the engine and we would float there silently watching until it resurfaced. Not only was it great to see these huge animals up close, but to hear them too. The whales forced air out through their blow holes in a large huff and puff that you could hear from quite a distance. It was usually the first indicator that a humpback was nearby. One whale spent a lot of time on the surface playing. It started slapping its large fins on the water, making loud sounds that cut through the misty air. It was quite spectacular to linger there, bobbing in the small boat in silence, listening to these huge animals in their environment.

The staff provided sandwiches on the boat, as we rounded the tip of the peninsula and started heading up into Aialik Bay and to see some glaciers up close. We worked our way into a small channel and up to the face of the looming Holgate Glacier. Being in such a small boat made this a much different experience than our boat trip into Glacier Bay. The captain pulled the boat up to the allowable ¼ mile away from the face, stopped the engines and let us float there for a half hour. The glacier cracked and moaned and calved ice chunks into the water. Every now and then a large air pressure release would echo in the channel like a cannon shot. It was like a living breathing creature that spanned almost a mile across and several hundred feet high.

From there, we headed straight for the lodge. As we approached the black sandy beach, a line of expectant staff gathered waving and ready to meet us. They dropped the ramp and we climbed down to the beach and our new home for the next few days. The staff loaded our bags onto a small ATV golf cart and we gathered in a small group and started our 15-min hike to the main lodge. The rain was pouring down, but everyone was all smiles. We all felt like we were in a special place, five-hours away from civilization by boat.

Half way along the walk, in the middle of a rainy meadow, surrounded by snowy mountains, a large glacier and the ocean, the lead guide stopped us to give us the “bear talk.” There were no brown bears there, but there were plenty of black bears. So far, they’ve all lived together in harmony. But they reminded us that we were, indeed, in the wilderness and that we needed to be bear aware whenever wandering on the grounds.

We arrived at the lodge and gathered with refreshments by the woodstove for our orientation. Since we were the first guests of the season, the company president, Kirk, was there – and he welcomed us all. We got a rundown of our cabin assignments, and an invitation for an afternoon canoe trip on the lagoon. We decided to pass on that, and took a nap in our cozy cabin instead. The cabin tucked in the forest with a back porch with a private view of the lagoon and a massive glacier and snow-capped mountains. This place was awesome.

Later that evening, we gathered at the bar for drinks and appetizers before being seated for dinner as a group. During the cocktail hour, we signed up for our staff-guided excursions for the next day. We opted for a full-day kayak tour to a nearby glacier. For dinner, we sat with Kim and Kris from Anchorage. They were our age and just there for one night. Kim works for an Alaskan tours company, helping clients build their dream Alaskan vacations. She was there to experience the lodge, because she sends so many of her clients there. Her boyfriend, Kris, is an environmental consultant who works on projects across the state. Currently he is working on relocating a landfill in the arctic that is beginning to slide into the ocean because of melting permafrost. By the time dinner was over, the rain had stopped and the skies had begun to clear. Blue, finally! So Kim, Kris and John and Johanna from NY, and the two of us decided to take a walk back down to the beach to enjoy the newly sunny evening.

John and Johanna headed back after awhile and we stuck with Kim and Kris for another hour or so wandering on the beach, in the marshes and along the lagoon – always keeping our eyes peeled for bears. The sun was lowering in the sky (but not setting) and the mountains were drenched in golden light and the water sparkled. Kim and I talked and talked about Alaska and our lives while the boys wandered, explored and took pictures.

When we made it back to the lodge we joined our friends Louise, Bob and their son, Ben, skipping stones and drinking beer and wine before the 10 p.m. bar close. Louise and Bob knew the president, Kirk, and so when we returned to the lodge, he agreed to unlock the closed taps and keep the alcohol flowing. All of us, including Kirk, stayed there until well past midnight chatting about Alaska, the lodge, conservation and life. It was a great evening.

Excursions

After an early breakfast the next morning (there’s no sleeping in here) we were able to make our own lunches for our kayaking adventure. It was a very small group of us going. Just the two of us, our two guides, Laura and Devon, and Laura’s parents (from Alaska) who were visiting for a few days. We hiked down to the beach and got to know each other. Since all of us had kayaked before, we quickly moved through the safety and skills talk and got underway. The plan was a 7-mile round trip to the Aialik Glacier, with a few stops at beaches along the way – including Slate Island, for lunch. The skies were blue, the weather warm and the seas calm.

We pushed off in our double kayak and started heading toward the glacier. All was well for the first hour or so as we glided along. Sea otters kept popping up to say hello near the boats (actually thinking that we were whales and probably scared for their lives…). The water was turquoise blue and it matched the sky. We were warm (which was unusual) and having a great time.

But then a breeze started to blow. And then it was a wind. I could feel myself getting chilly, but I thought it was just because we were getting more into open water. We put on extra layers and kept going. We started to reach the ice fields. Small to medium chunks of ice surrounded the boat. Devon asked us to go single-file, following her, as she maneuvered her way and made clearings through the ice. But the task got more and more difficult as the wind continued to pick up. The ice kept coming, it was getting bigger and we were all having trouble steering our boats. When I finally took a moment to look around, I realized that we weren’t making any forward progress. It was like kayaking on a treadmill. And the ice from the glacier was getting blown out into the open water and was surrounding our boats. It was an incredible sight, but it made for very difficult kayaking. That’s when Devon and Laura made the decision to call off the outing. It wasn’t worth the effort anymore.

When we turned around to face the shore, the view was entirely different than when we had left. The wind had pushed all of the ice behind us and it was piling up on the beach. We now had to re-navigate all of the ice blocks as the wind pushed us from behind. All of the ice had now built up on the beach and created a 10-foot wide barrier that we couldn’t get through. We couldn’t return to the spot on the beach where we started, so we had to move down to another section of the beach. Which meant, when we landed, we all had to haul the boats a really long way back to our starting point. After several hours of beautiful and difficult paddling, we managed to get a great workout but didn’t even make it half way to our halfway point. The experience just shows how the Alaskan weather can change so dramatically even in only an hour or two.

Since our full-day adventure was foiled, the guides offered to take the two of us on an afternoon hike up the ridge by the lodge after lunch for some great views. Laura and her dad joined us, along with a new guide, Grace. It was Grace’s day off, but she thought it would be fun to come along on the hike. The ridge hike was several miles uphill to a summit with fantastic views of the ocean, mountains, lagoon and glaciers. Sections of it were so steep and muddy that there were ropes to help us pull ourselves uphill. Along the way we spotted a bald eagle in its nest. We were also lucky that not only was Laura a naturalist studying environmental studies at Stanford, but that she and her dad were Alaska natives who knew everything about the flora and fauna around us. We stopped throughout the hike and learned so much from them about our surroundings. We even found out which plants were edible and sampled them all, munching on salmon berry flowers the whole way up.

The summit was beautiful, with sweeping 360-degree views. It was a fantastic afternoon, with really fun people – and a great way to make up for our having to turn back on the kayaks that morning.

That evening, we had another nice time chatting with everyone at the bar followed by another good dinner. But this time, dinner finished with a show. Immediately following dessert, we heard a gasp and everyone ran to the windows. A black bear appeared on the dock and headed right up to the back deck. He paused, and shook his wet black fur for us, spraying water in every direction. We all peered out the window while he flopped down on a log and proceeded to rub his belly. And then, just as quickly as he appeared, he bolted, taking off down the beach and disappearing quickly into the forest. It was perfectly choreographed, as a friendly reminder that we were not alone out there. 

After dinner, John from NY joined Dave and me for another walk on the beach – in the opposite direction that the bear traveled. We walked over to the beach where we took off with our kayaks earlier that morning to check out the ice still left on the sand. Most of the chunks from that morning had either melted or floated away. But several dozen were still scattered in the black sand, with the evening sun reflecting off their random angles. John is an amateur photographer in his retirement, so he and Dave were down in the sand, enjoying opportunities to capture the melting ice sculptures.

Half-Day Redemption Attempt

The boat taking us back to Seward didn’t leave until 2:30 p.m. the next day, giving us an opportunity to sign up for a morning excursion. Along with Laura’s parents, we opted for a half-day kayak trip to Slate Island – the halfway point that we weren’t even able to reach the day before. We all felt the need to redeem ourselves after being thwarted by the wind. But alas, just as we sat down for breakfast, the guide let us know that the wind had not relented and the trip was canceled. So we changed our plans again. We signed up to take the canoe across the lagoon and then hike across the inlet to visit the upper lagoon at the face of Pederson Glacier.

Apparently, the wind was raging in the lagoon as well. Because, what was a leisurely canoe paddle for everyone who did this excursion the day before, was now a serious workout as we all paddled with all of our might to get across the lagoon. Our shoulders all stung when that was done. On the other side, Riley and Randy, our guides, walked us about 1.5 miles across the inlet – stopping along the way to examine plants and wildlife. We reached the upper lagoon and had about 30 minutes to explore and play on the ice floating beneath the glacier. Then we hiked back and canoed our return across the lagoon for lunch.

The Departure

After lunch, we found our favorite guides and exchanged goodbyes and contact information. Dave and I hiked down to the beach in advance of the other guests to spend some extra time in this beautiful place before leaving. We had some time to play with some sea otters that were poking their heads above the surf to check us out.

We boarded the boat and headed back out onto the bay. This time, the skies were clear and there was no chilling rain slowing us down. We spent the entire boat ride back outside hunting for wildlife. Miles and miles of gorgeous mountainous shorelines were now visible to us that were hidden on the trip out. And we had tons of whale sightings, with some tails lifted high into the air very close to our boat. It was a great afternoon on the water. 

It was certainly difficult to leave this remote wilderness lodge, our new friends, the sunshine, the mountains and the yet-unclaimed kayak destinations. The only logical answer was that we would need to return again! The Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge is truly a special place. But back in Seward, we already had our sights set on our next destination. We reclaimed our car and headed on the 2.5-drive north to Anchorage, just in time for pizza and beer at the Moose’s Tooth pub. Our trip was only half way done and there were still many adventures to come!