Surfing In Alaska | Lost & Found EP.12
Hey everyone! Welcome back for episode 12 of Lost & Found! This episode is near and dear to my heart!
Side note: Are you intrigued by Alaska? Do you want to see wildlife, glaciers, and Denali but don’t know where to start? May I suggest coming to Alaska with us?!
We’re hosting a group trip to Alaska next summer (2023: Jul 21 - Jul 26) where we’ll be covering a lot of ground together. On our six day journey you'll view wildlife and sea glaciers on a cruise of Prince William Sound (which happens in this episode if you’d like a little preview), trek across Matanuska Glacier, take in views of Denali from Denali State Park, and a few other things along the way. We’d be overjoyed to explore one of our favorite places on earth together! If you have any questions about it, don’t hesitate to ask!
MAK & Greg walking out to the water
MAK coming back from attempting to catch the bore tide wave
Our episode picks back up in Girdwood, Alaska as I prepare to try to surf the bore tide again. While we were elsewhere on the peninsula I had been studying the tide charts in preparation for our return. In a previous episode, I touched on the fact that I’ve wanted to surf this wave since I learned of its existence as a teenager. To be in Alaska with a real possibility of making that dream a reality was surreal.
In total I got in the water five times but only truly surfed one of those times. I was far from upset with my performance. How you could you be when you’re surrounded by so much beauty!?
The conditions in the Turnagain Arm change rapidly. In just 24 hours the silt on the bottom moved so much causing the wave to brake on opposite sides of the waterway. I think that what I loved most about that wave was that it forced you to study your surroundings and the way the water moved to better estimate where to catch the wave.
I was able to successfully catch and standup on the wave after being gifted a hand-me-down Wavestorm from Greg, a fellow traveler. The board gave the buoyancy I needed to be able to catch the small wave. It was a proud day for me when I finally caught and surfed the bore tide. I made a younger version of myself so very happy proud!
Our boat out to the sea glaciers
After surfing the bore tide we ventured back through the tunnel and into Whittier. We’d been to the town briefly earlier in the summer. We wanted to go back to try to see a sea glacier in the calm and protected waters of Prince William Sound. After our rough day on the water out of Seward, we knew that this was the best chance to make it out to a sea glacier. Not only are the waters of Prince William Sound protected, the boat is a catamaran making it incredibly stable on the water. The perfect boat to prevent sea sickness!
Owen soaking in his first glimpse of Mendenhall Glacier - 35mm
Insanely windy on the deck of the boat
In addition to being stable, the boat was also FAST! It could travel at speeds of up to 40 mph. Despite the boat having a heated interior cabin space, Owen and I spent the vast majority of our time out on deck unable to pull ourselves away from the view.
The tour was 5 hours long and they provided us with a meal. Owen and I opted for the salmon chowder which was surpassingly delicious. It was also nice to have a hot meal after spending hours outside (by choice) in the rain and wind.
Our first sea glacier, Blackstone Glacier
In total our tour took us past 26 glaciers. Blackstone was the first one we actually stopped at. I’m sure these glaciers are beautiful on a bright and sunny day, but there was something special about how the ice and atmosphere blended into one another, contrasting the dark black rock the ice clung to. It felt like we were visiting these glaciers in a dream world.
Seagulls in a cliffside rookery
Sea lion rookery
While commuting to our next glacier we passed a sea lion rookery in the middle of the bay. Nothing more than a pile of rocks sticking out of the water, the rookery was home to countless sea lions and their young pups. A rookery is a place animals like seals, sea lions, and sea birds use to raise their young. They spend the first months of their life feeding, growing and playing with fellow pups.
The last glacier that we stopped at was called Harvard Glacier. It was one of the most impressive things we’ve every had the pleasure of seeing.
MAK in front of Blackstone Glacier
Owen taking in the view
With ice up to 300ft thick and covering over 120,000 acres of Chugach National Forest Harvard glacier was a thing to behold. As we were looking out over the glacier we saw slabs of ice calving off and crashing into the water below. The sound tore through the air like thunder. There was even a cave in the ice that appeared to be the outlet for water runoff coming from within the ice.
After having to be persistent and try multiple times to see a sea glacier, we were over the moon to have finally marked it off of our bucket list!
Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of Lost & Found! Hard to believe there are only three episodes left! See you next week, same time, same place!
- MAK
Thank you to our sponsors
These brands made it possible for us to document our travels through Alaska and turn it into this series. Without their support none of this could happen. We are forever grateful to have brands we already use and love on our side to help us create something we’re proud of!
Our work life is powered by Battle Born. They make the best lithium batteries on the market and are a crucial part of our power system that enables us to work from the road! It took an incredible amount of power to create this series, and we have Battle Born to thank for making it possible.
Power and power management are key to living and working full time from the road. Our mobile lives run on a Redarc Manager 30. It’s a state-of-the-art battery management system that charges and maintains auxiliary batteries by incorporating AC, DC and solar inputs. We’re not sure where we’d be without it!
We’ve now been living out of our flat-bed Four Wheel Camper for 3 years. FWC builds comfortable and durable campers that can fit on any truck. We can confidently say that our FWC is the most comfortable and livable rig we’ve had in all our years on the road!
Maps are your best friend when you’re on the road. On X makes it easy to find open routes and trails no matter where we are. On X allows us to access saved maps offline so we can locate ourselves in the wild when there’s no service.
Main Line Overland is the shop that built our rig, Roxanne. They are incredibly knowledgable on everything overlanding. We chose to work with them because they build thoughtful, reliable and durable vehicles that can get you anywhere you want to be!
Tires can be some of the best insurance when you are out in remote places. We love and trust our Toyo ATIII’s to get us in and out safely, no matter the terrain. They’re amazing in mud, moon dust, loose rocks, slick rock, you name it!
We’ve trusted our Jetboil cooking systems for years. Our favorite, the Flash Cooking system is lightweight, compact and perfect for any trip!
