Hi all, I just wanted to post a trip report in case it's helpful to anyone that reads my original questions. Thank you so much to everyone here for the very helpful advice along the way!
We flew in to Anchorage from Seattle in the evening, and enjoyed the views along the way for most of the flight. Clouds moved in about 30 minutes from ANC, though. We phoned the Microtel Inn shuttle and were taken over to the hotel. Arrived just in time for warm cookies and milk, which was a nice touch. We were pretty tired and didn’t have a car, so ate sandwiched we’d made earlier. Grey, cold drizzle was the main description for the little of Anchorage we saw.
Friday morning, I took the shuttle back to the airport to rent a car. OK getaway from Anchorage.
Stopped to get some groceries along the way and then drove to the Matanuska Glacier. We’d read a lot of conflicting information about it, so here’s my thoughts in case they’re helpful to anyone else: There is an overlook at Mile 101 on the Glenn Highway. That has toilets and picnic tables and you can see the glacier off in the distance. If you stay more than 30 minutes, you need to pay the daily parking fee. There are also a number of very reliable companies that can take you out on more extensive hikes onto the glacier. They get great reviews online and if you want a half-day trip, probably worth going with one of them.
However, we decided to take the advice at
http://www.alaskahikesearch.com/Hike...skaGlacier.htm and do it ourselves. Basically, the glacier is privately owned, and if you follow the directions in that link, you can find the shop to purchase tickets. When we visited it was $25/person (NOT per car, which I’ve seen reported somewhere). We parked and followed the path which was fairly clearly marked. Once we got to the icy bit, we slowed down but followed several other people who were out on the ice. None of them had crampons or helmets, and were clearly on their own. We walked around for probably 30 minutes on the glacier, which was beautiful. Then got a bit lost coming back and had a scary moment sinking into some mud that seemed to be acting as quicksand! We moved quickly and turned around and were soon back on a familiar trail. When we got back to the edge of the ice, we noticed a sign saying you shouldn’t go past this point on your own. However, the sign had been covered by a group of people so we didn’t see it. That would explain the lack of proper trails on the ice, but I don’t feel bad that we did it. The half day hike would have been too long for us as they moved at a really slow pace and took ages to set off. Was pleased with the way we did it.
We stayed at the Hatcher Pass B&B in a smaller cabin and were very pleased. It was perfectly clean, with nice cozy bedding and thick curtains. My husband didn’t like that the bathroom wasn’t totally partitioned off from the rest, but was only minor.
Saturday we drove up to Summit Lake on Hatcher Pass, on the B&B owner’s recommendation. Once we drove to the lookout, we walked the path and then kept going and were very pleased to catch a glimpse of said Summit Lake, which was otherwise hidden. Very cool. We then drove back through Anchorage, picking up more groceries along the way, on our way to Girdwood/Alyeska. We decided to do the Winner Creek trail, which includes a hand tram over a gorge. Couldn’t actually find the trailhead at the resort, so went to the other end. Worked great with team work moving the tram, and was a fun little hike. Checked into the cabin at the Alyeska Hostel and it was OK—too dirty for me, but nothing fatal.
Sunday we woke up to pelting rain and cold weather. We drove over to Portage and after watching the crashing surf on the icebergs for a while, put on our waterproof clothes and did the Byron Glacier trail. Hardly anyone out there, but it was pretty cool and the weather was nicer—sheltered in the valley, I guess. We then wanted to see the bore tide, and having read that it was best seen from Hope we drove over there, to find the aftermath of a big amateur run, including the raffle (prizes including guns and chainsaws!). It was very pretty out on the shore (although grey and drizzly), but unfortunately we didn't see the tide, so we headed for Seward. We stayed at Renfro’s, which was a great option for us, nice big cabin, clean and warm.
Monday we got up fairly early to head into Seward to Liquid Adventures for our sea kayaking trip to Aialik Glacier. Got there to find it would just be the two of us and our guide, Jeff, which was good. Got fitted for waterproof boots, and then headed down along the beach to the boat, which we were sharing with two other couples doing overnight trips and their guides.
Awesome journey out to Aialik glacier - saw (and heard) humpback whales and orcas, and also sea lions on the rocks. Got dropped off on the next beach over from the glacier, and kayaked over to it, which took about an hour. Lots of ice (from the glacier) in the water. We could hear the noise of the glacier calving from some distance away, and when we got closer we could see the large pieces falling off - amazing! We had lunch on the beach in front of the glacier (after walking through the glacial river), and then wandered over to take some photos closer up . Then we kayaked back to the original beach to get picked up by the boat at 3:30 (we'd been dropped off at around 10:45). We were the only passengers on the boat this time, and had a relatively speedy trip back (a little under two hours, including time looking at puffins). This ended up being the only paid/guided tour we did, which suited us.
Tuesday we drove out to the Exit Glacier parking area, having read some reviews about the Harding Icefield Trail that made us decide to try to tackle it. We set off at a fast pace and overtook a lot of people at the bridge. Usually we end up finishing hikes in ½ to 2/3 of the time suggested by guidebooks, and figured we’d be on this hike for 5 or maybe 6 hours. Once we past the bridge, we were on our own mostly for quite a while. Gorgeous views, very glad we did the hike up to there. We got to the icefield and it caught us by surprise as it was 75F and sunny. The snow was melting on the top, so very slippery and wet, and somewhat steep. Was really glad to have two trekking poles each. We decided to turn back because my husband’s knee was bothering him—I think we were probably .75 miles from the end? But at the pace on the snow that would have taken us best part of another hour to get there. I don’t regret turning around, the views were stunning where we were. I’m sure they got better, but was satisfied with what we did. We were out for about 6 hours altogether. We enjoyed a campfire at our cabin when we got back and did s’mores as a reward for a nice hike.
Wednesday we were pretty exhausted from the long hike the day before and kayaking on Monday. We were staying back at the Alyeska Hostel, and decided to drive into Anchorage to see the bore tide and try to hike flattop mountain. Unfortunately, as it was a gorgeous day, so did everyone else in Anchorage. We couldn’t find a parking spot and ended up leaving. Did see the bore tide at Beluga Point (at least we think we did), but can’t say it was worth the effort. The hostel was a bit cleaner on this stay, but still a bit gross.
Thursday we got up and returned the car and checked in. Our flight schedule had changed since it was originally booked, so we ended up doing ANC-PDX and PDX-SEA. Didn’t really need the hassle of the extra leg, but had to get there somehow. Wasn’t dazzled by Alaska Airlines in terms of flights on either leg, but considering the normal cost and the fact that we booked on AA miles, couldn’t really complain.
Overall a great trip and many great memories and photos to look back on.