After driving about 5,000 miles from Florida on a trip that took six weeks, we arrived in the port of Valdez, Alaska. We spent some time catching salmon and coasting our bicycles 10,000 feet down the mountain into town, Now Mrs. Phred wants to Kayak around a glacial ice field. Neither of us has been in a kayak before. The water temperature in the Prince William Sound is around zero centigrade. What could go wrong?

It's a two-hour boat ride to the Columbia Glacier Icefield from Valdez, Alaska. After an hour, we pass Bligh Island, where young Bligh and Captain Cook looked for a Northwest passage. Bligh Island is where the Exxon Valdez hit the reef. They spent $20 billion on cleanup and recovered 11 percent of the spill. Exxon lost the lawsuit over the cleanup costs 20 years ago, but the case is still on appeal.

We see Orcas hunting seals and salmon. As we kayak through the icebergs, several seals pop up to take a look at us.

The icebergs from the bottom of the glacier are brilliant blue. The ones from the top are so dirty gray that we mistake them for rocks. The only bad thing that happened is that one of the kayaks caught fire and sank. I guess the old saying, "you can't have your kayak and heat it too." is still true.

On our second trip to the Icefield, ten years later, the icefield has retreated another seven miles due to warmer water.

Here's a funny video of the kayak in the bergs.

Phred Firecloud

27.04.20 Front Page

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