Northwestern Fjord Sea Kayak Trip
June 23-26, 2005

Our big kayak trip for 2005 was Northwestern Fjord in the Kenai Fjord National Park. This area is unique for it's rapidly retreating glaciers and stark landscape.

Our water taxi ride was smooth and we encountered some Dalls Porpose who took pleasure in riding our bow across Aialik Bay.

I asked the Skipper if he would stop at Cataract Cove which I had read about.

It wasn't long before we realized how remarkable this place really was. The Fjord is dominated by Straitation Island, a bare rocky outcrop with no landing beaches. This island was covered in ice in the early 1940s which shows just how much the glaciers have retreated in recent times. This Fjord is changing so quickly it's possible to walk or paddle where no human has ever been.

As with most tidewater glaciers in Alaska the Harbor Seals were plentiful.

Here you can see Northwestern Glacier which in 1894 engulfed this entire Fjord all the way to the moraine.

The glaciers height and clean color was noteworthy.