Knik Glacier Ice

Hi there!

If you follow Fly on Instagram, then be prepared for an onslaught of glacier photos, because we just paid a visit to the always beautiful and majestic Knik glacier.

Since I’m practically dying to share the photos we captured, here is a synopsis of our day-long trip and a sneak peek at the icy blue photos that will be strewn across @flyexplores this coming week.

There are many ways to reach the Knik glacier: boat (summer months), airplane, fat tire bike, ski, walk (not recommended), or ATV.  For this trip, TheFather, Fly, and I drove out in our little side-by-side ATV, lovingly christened Turtle.  It’s green and low and slow – you get it, like a turtle.

We parked our truck in the parking lot that you now have to pay $5 to park at, unless you’ve paid for the annual parking pass (we have) – oh for the good old days when the parking lot was no more than a gravel pit and parking was free…

Anyway, it was a crisp 9 degrees Fahrenheit, but the air coming off the glacier and the wind created by driving the Turtle made it seem exceedingly colder.  I had to constantly adjust my scarf and goggle placement in an attempt to prevent my breath from fogging up the goggles and keep my face covered.  Fly alternated between running along side the Turtle and riding on it and TheFather and I took turns driving.

The trail follows the Knik riverbed all the way up to the glacier.  It is nearly impossible to get lost, just keep heading up river and in the direction of the giant glacier that is visible from time to time along the way: don’t go up the side of a mountain and you’ll get to the right place.  The river and Friday creek are moving around a lot lately, so the trail changes a bit each time I am out there.  It keeps things interesting.  Happily, it’s winter and most of the creek water is frozen, so crossings are easy peasy.

We spotted 8 moose during the day, a rabbit, and some type of bird of prey.  I was too cold to get a photo of any of them during our drive, sorry for my indolence.

As I mentioned previously, there are many modes of transportation out there and we passed a very cold looking guy on a fat tire bike near Friday creek and met two men on skis at the glacier who were in a hurry to return back to their vehicles.  We followed the tire tracks of some short wheel-based vehicle, maybe a Jeep, and several snowmachines.  Actually, in the photo below, you can see the snowmachiners amongst the icebergs.  Look verrry closely, because they look tiny.

The dark speck to the left of the dirt topped ice on the right side of the pic is a snowmachine.

Now for the cream: the glacier was bedecked in winter sunshine and the ice was super shiny and blue.  I especially loved the chunks that had stripes of dark blue ice layered in it.  Feast your eyes:

She's braver than I am to go under there.

Layers of blue - the color has to do with air bubble density.

Ice so smooth there is a reflection.

We found an ice shelf seat.

We explored for an hour or so and then it was time to head home, just as the sun was slumping down behind the mountains.  The trip lasted about 7 hours total and I’m glad we’d brought a thermos of hot cocoa and packets of hand warmers!

Thanks for reading, take care!