Knik Riverbed, Glacier, and Scenery (15 img)

coldclimb

Tracy and I headed out Monday for a little nibble of outdoor adventure, planning to walk up the Knik River and see how close we could get to the Knik Glacier without much difficulty. We took off to the end of the road early in the morning, and as the sun rose over the mountains we drove by a couple Canadian Geese paddling around a partially frozen pond, still as glass and very picturesque. We didn't stop for that, but when we found a porcupine crossing the road just a little further on, we had to pull over and break out the camera. :rofl He ran up a tree real quick, but I managed a couple shots even in the tricky light.





The riverbed is a huge flat valley without much for vegetation except in little patches here and there. Spruce trees and little shrubs have tried moving in, but there's nothing real big on the valley floor.




Glacial silt blows around the area regularly, so when the snow melts it forms a layer of grey over everything. Last year's leaves turn colorless and vague.




The Knik Glacier greets us as we round a bluff on the hillside and reach the straightaway.




We didn't see anyone else all day except the folks going a bit faster and higher than us. At one point we came across a couple guys who landed their plane for a bit of shooting, or blowing something up, or something similarly loud.:wink




The walking is pretty easy and the view only gets better and better.




Here's a stitched pano of Tracy taking it all in.




Moose tracks are the most plentiful of those along the riverbed. We expected to see some wildlife along the hike, but the biggest thing we saw was a single squirrel. It's about the time of year for the bears to come out of hiding, and I've seen wolves in the area as well, but we didn't get to see a single sign of them this trip. The glacial silt holds tracks from who knows how long ago, since we haven't had rain since last summer (and BOY did we have rain last summer :rofl)




I was kind of disappointed with this shot. At full size this is a stitch of 81 images, so the resolution is great, but the sun went away and the light was less than spectacular for me. This was as close as we got to the glacier, some two miles or so away. The main channel of the Knik River winds all over the valley, and touches our side of the flatland for the fourth time here. We had to hike up into the wooded hillside three times to get around the water, and that takes a lot more time than walking the flat, so we decided not to push all the way through to the glacier.




Leaves fallen on the silt leave their marks.








On the way back, a flowering bit of mossy plant lives comfortably in a crack in the rock.




The rocky ground of the riverbed doesn't seem like the prime place for sprouting growth, but I guess one grows where one is planted. Actually, most of the riverbed is covered with a low sort of fuzzy lichen that just coats the gravel and holds some silt together. It's a kind of interesting effect visually, because your mind thinks it's gravel until you get a closer look.




This was my favorite piece of trail along the way. One of the wooded bluffs we had to traverse to get around a bend in the main channel had this very thin bit of trail clinging to a cliff face that dropped off into the water some seventy feet below. Roots from the spruce trees clinging to the face seem to be all that holds the dirt in place. It was cool!




And lastly, this hillside that was completely deforested by a beaver, with no stream to dam up and nowhere for the fallen trees to be taken. The animal really went to town, clearing about a half-acre completely of living trees. The dead trunks were fallen all over the place just taking up space, which made travel a bit tricky. Looking at this spot, one is very happy that beavers are not as plentiful as humans! :wink




I don't know how much ground we covered, but I think it was something around 10 miles total. No wildlife to speak of, and nothing too eventful, but we had a great time and saw some beautiful scenery. Hope you enjoyed a bit of it too!

PHOTOempt

nice series - thanks for sharing. i really like #11, the composition of the silt cracks and leaf, and #12, the mossy plant thingy in the rock. it looks a bit like sedum, with the red part being 'hens and chickens' ? whatever the botanical info is, nice image. as you said the light was not being totally sympathetic for big landscapes, so the detail images really paid off. cheers, sarah

schmoo

John, what a sweet, wonderful journey! Sometimes the light doesn't work in your favor but the scenes are still really gorgeous.

I love the detailed shots in particular, like the leaf impressions. It's the little things like that that really make up the experience.

coldclimb

Thanks guys! And yeah, I was happy with the photos overall, just wished it could have been sunny for the one pano.

scole

Hiking in Tevas in April? You Alaskans ARE tougher than the rest of us.

I love the two photos of leaf imprints in the silt. Good eye!..