Anchorage to Glennallen (2 June)

We were promised a scenic drive and glaciers. We were not let down.

Soon after we left Anchorage we were confronted by mountains, trees, water, ice. Imagine living in a place where such views are an everyday occurrence. Of course, you also have to live with 21 hour days in summer and 21 hour nights in winter, freezing temperatures, and high prices because so much stuff, especially fresh produce, comes from out of state.

Just occasionally you encounter people.

We were looking for glaciers.

In particular, we were looking for the Matanuska Glacier, the largest glacier accessible by car in Alaska and beginning at about 4,000 meters and over 40 km long, it's a big one.  Was this part of it below?
 

As we got closer we could see a large glacier ...

... that came around a corner and left a sizeable terminal moraine ...

... and looked really big. The signs confirmed that this was Matanuska.

Later we climbed higher, back to a land of frozen lakes and boreal forest.  These next two pictures show just how wet the boreal forest can be.

At the risk of appearing obsessed, the boreal forest fascinates us.  Sometimes called "taiga", it is the world's largest biome apart from the oceans. In effect, a single forest covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental USA while it extends to most of Sweden and Finland, much of Norway, some of the Scottish highlands, lowlands of Iceland, much of Russia,Siberia, Mongolia and even northern Japan. It is experiencing more warming than most of the globe, especially in winter, and this is already affecting which species will grow in it. For example, plants that reflect heat are reducing in number while plants that absorb it are increasing, thus hastening the warming process. Something to think about.

Suddenly there were caribou with velvet antlers. If they were in Scandanavia, we would call them reindeer.

Glennallen, our destination today, lies somewhere between the photographer and the mountain.