Alaska Part 2

The Alaskan trip was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. We had so much fun, we laughed, and we really enjoyed ourselves. My daughter and I loved our hikes especially the one up the Savage River in Denali Park. We were in awe of the beauty of Kenai Fjords and the trip out on the boat. The glaciers were incredible. I was in awe of the size of Ailik Glacier. We saw porpoises, a puffin a sea otter, stellar sea lions and a few other things. We did not see any whales, my daughter was saddened by this. She also had terrible sea sickness during the trip. She has no plans on getting on another boat any time in the foreseeable future. I had looked forward to seeing colonies of puffins. I was surprised and disappointed that we caught a glimpse of just one The guide said that they just didn't show up in large numbers this year. The stellar sea lions are endangered and numbers keep dwindling. They aren't sure why, but are thinking that killer whales may be responsible.

While in Kenai National Park we hiked up to the Exit Glacier. On the drive into the park you see signs that mark where the edge of the glacier was in that particular year. It started a mile back from its current position in the early 1900's. The receding of it was gradual for most of the past century. Is is accelerating as it gets closer to current days. It will be gone it just over 20 years if things don't change. I was so sad when I left the park that day. Over the next few days I really noticed and thought about how climate change is impacting the northern regions of our planet even more than the southern regions. Here in Texas we had a very hot summer and we broke a few records. The drought has been the worse I have seen. There has been some impact on migrating birds and wildlife but not as apparent as it was in Alaska. The impact on all of the glaciers has been dramatic. Tidal glaciers that once covered entire inlets are now over a mile back into the bay. The water rushing down the mountainside from others fills the streams and rivers. I feel like it is too late to make the changes to stop this environmental disaster. Can we even slow it down?