Our Matanuska hiking day was our first Big Adventure of the trip. There was
only 1 tour company that I found that allowed for children Ollie's age (let
alone Fynn's age haha) so after some quick vetting I booked with
https://glacier-tours.com.
Interestingly, you can only book via phone or text. I texted the number and
after some quick back and forth had the tour booked. No confirmation number.
When we arrived, they had us down for the wrong day. But it was no problem- it
all worked out. That was a big theme of the trip- we had multiple minor (and
even major) mishaps, but each time it all worked out. Our experience with
Alaskans and the Alaskan transplants who work in the tourism industry, is that
they were very kind, very flexible and very, very helpful!
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| This kid was a HUGE help in guiding Fynn and I over some tough terrain. |
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| Climbing over "quick mud" |
All I knew about this tour is that we would walk on the glacier and that
everyone in our party was allowed to go based on age. Zooey and Ollie had
walked on the Columbia ice field before near
Banff but it was a very short
explore after a ride on a very cool snow vehicle. Adam and I had walked on a
glacier an through an ice cave in New Zealand pre-kids. I really didn't know
what type of tour we were going to do here in Alaska.
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| My milk monster |
Well, it was awesome but it was quite a bit more intense that I was expecting.
It was over 3 hours of walking and standing without breaks (Ollie was a
trooper! This was pretty long for him.) We walked right along ice cliffs and
climbed directly up some steep ice areas with no handholds. We had to step
over many deep, deep, who knows how deep crevices. Thankfully we were wearing
crampons which Ollie called "polar bear feet". It was all very doable but Adam
was quite busy keeping tabs on Ollie who did a great job of paying attention
(I think he realized this was a somewhat risky situation) and Zooey was quite
busy helping me and Fynn, choosing the safest footholds on the cliffs and over
the crevices. Fynn's Baby Bjorn carrier was very
comfortable and great on flat paths but any sort of stair or climbs were a bit
challenging because his legs were dangling just below my waist so I had to
take a more wide legged stance. It's tricky to walk and maneuver like that. However, his location in the carrier was absolutely
perfect for nursing and I would estimate the little guy was nursing during
about half of this 3 hour glacier walk. Believe it or not 7 week old Fynn did
not have the record for youngest tour participant. A local Alaskan mom had
brought her two week old the prior season!
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| Polar bear feet |
Highlights of the tour included learning about the glacial silt laden mud
which has the very unique property of being a non-Newtonian fluid, similar to
oobleck. This means it firms up when you move around in it, but liquifies when
it does not have pressure on it. This results in a sort of quick sand or
"quick mud" property and people have been stuck and even perished when they
were not able to be rescued in time from the much, especially along the
Turnagain Arm when the tide comes in. More on that in my post on Girdwood (add link). The glacial silt mud is so gray and so soft. It gives most of the rivers in
the area a very gray appearance, so pretty. The highlight for the kids were
the ice pops we were able to chip off the glacier and the glacier water we
were able to drink. The cleanest water there is, straight from the
glacier!
Overall I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the tour. We spent the nights before and after at
the Eklutna Lake Campground which was a good base for this tour. The drive
is about 2 hours but it's beautiful. We stopped at a restaurant for lunch
after the tour and all three kids enjoyed the down time on the drive back. We
often find that a car trip after an adventurous morning is actually really
great for forcing relax time for all. Definitely check out the Matanuska Glacier!
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