Eagle River Nature Preserve, Eagle River, Alaska

Since we are armed with a car and it being our last day in Anchorage we thought it might be fun to do something other than shop at local grocery stores and Walmart. ( I always feel I should be shot for treason when I go to Walmart ).

View of glacial-carved mountains from Eagle River Nature Center in  Chugach State Park which covers 295,204 acres. 

Alison testing the very cold waters

The Albert Loop Trail located by Eagle River Nature Center in the Chugach State Park  was our destination for the day.  We were a little leery of anything too steep so soon after Flattop Mountain, plus we thought the ride north of town would be interesting.

It was a beautifully groomed trail that had views of glacially –carved mountains , about 3.5 miles long. Unfortunately it had a detour loop away from the water’s edge to avoid the recently flooded area.  We all noticed the almost eery lack of any visible wildlife for a nature center- perhaps they were all by the water, avoiding the public.  We walked along, enjoying the day and the easy exercise.

So far, other than Dennis being attacked by mosquitoes ( which are the size of hummingbirds, by the way ) while he stopped a minute bike riding, they have not really been a problem.  I think spraying our clothing with Sawyer’s Permethrin spray has been working.

This scene was just too beautiful not to share

The rangers here at the Nature Center were extremely knowledgeable and willing to look at our pictures of things we found on the trail and explain what we saw.  One picture was of what we excitedly thought was a large, partially buried animal, but we were told it was merely some degraded material they use to hold the path together.  We felt just a little stupid. They explained which animal tracks we saw ( I guess that means they were there somewhere ) and confirmed the species of animal poop we saw.  Yes, that was bear “scat”.

Norm's had finding a Beaver long on his Bucket List.  Was it because he was looking for a long-lost relative?  Hmmmmm I do see a resemblance, there.

There was another hike further north up Glenn Ellen Road called Thunderbird falls that we decided to check out.  There were many cars in the lot which usually, in the lower 48 states, means it is not a very long walk, and the rewards are typically good.  This, however, was not the case.  It was several miles long, and very very steep.  The falls were off in the distance and not that impressive.  Oh well. If nothing else, it was more exercise. You would think we all would be loosing weight.                                              
Unfortunately, there were a few more items to pick up so another trip to Walmart.  We were all starving because we didn’t bring our lunches and tried to get into  Kinley’s Restaurant  at 4:30 but it was not opened yet.  After running to our suite just down the street to change, we were the 1st at the door when they opened.