Seldom A Dull Moment!: Making Memories in Alaska Day 3: Glaciers and Glamping Get us Grooving

So Day 3 was a big day! We woke up in our VRBO in Denali and went to sleep in a tent 7 hours away. The day started with finding a great breakfast buffet that opened VERY early. We arrived at 5:30 am and were on the road before 7.

It was a beautiful day for driving, so different from the exact same path 3 days earlier in the pouring rain.

Again, lots of road construction during the summer months in Alaska.

We found lunch and got to our destination about 30 minutes early. We were scheduled for a 30 minute Matanuska Glacier trek with our own private guide at 3:00. We had time to relax and enjoy the beautiful weather. We traveled with MICA Guides in Glacier View, Alaska and they were fantastic.

We then got fitted for our helmets and our crampons (spikes that will be on the bottom of our shoes) to be able to walk on the ice.

This is the glacier that we would be hiking on with K-2 (our guide's nickname). She was fantastic and definitely pushed us out of our comfort zone. We hiked for 3 hours on the glacier. This first picture is from our starting point and the rest of the pictures below are when we were moving towards and then deep inside "Mama Mat" as K-2 called her (the Matanuska Glacier).

There was a lot of hiking at th beginning on the moraine before getting to the "white ice."

Then we begin trekking around on the white ice. It was crazy! The spikes on our shoes prevented us from slipping at all and we were taught to STOMP as we walked on the ice rather than tread lightly. It goes against everything that we've been doing our whole lives when walking on ice.

K-2 took Carleigh and Elisabeth on their own adventure. She took them on a little walk through some of the glacial water and it got a little deep in some points. They got a little damp. Here, Elisabeth is dumping some of the water out of her boot.

We also filled our water bottles with pure glacier water...on the glacier! What a treat!

3.9 miles later we made it to "Rainbow Road." Yes, for Mario fans, that is what the guides have nicknamed this bridge that you have to walk back over to get to the other side at the end of the trek K-2 was telling us that about 2 weeks ago, this bridge wasn't needed. You could walk right off the glacier back to your starting point. And there is so much movement on the glacier with melting, erosion, rain, weathering that it is changing on a daily basis.

K-2 (our guide) with Carleigh and Elisabeth.

These are some of the pictures that our guide took on the adventure!

After 4 hours of walking 4 miles on ice, we were exhausted and ready to relax. Luckily our "Luxury camping" was right around the corner from our glacier experience. Actually, Alpenglow Luxury Camping works together with Mica Guides. So it was nice not to have to go anywhere but around the corner, We got checked into our tents and headed to a quick dinner down the road at Sheep Mountain Lodge, It was pretty good.

Back to the tents....Don and I were in Wickersham and the girls were in Sgt Robinson. This set up was amazing and I highly recommend if every in Glacier View, Alaska.

You walked up the path to your tent.

You had a nice staircase and a raised platform that the tent was constructed on.

We had mountain tents and the view was amazing, We actually looked out on Matanuska Glacier where we had been just a few hours earlier.

The bathrooms with running water and flushing toilets were a short walk from our tents.

The inside was very nice. A king size bed and another for a possible third person. No electricity and a wonderful down comforter and comfortable sheets.