Byron Glacier on the 4th

This year on the 4th, we drove down to our favorite trail to hike the Byron Glacier trail. That week was in the upper 70s and low 80s, so getting out of the house was necessary!

**All photography on this blog are property of the user.**

Rainbow Creek

Last month we planned a trip on one pf the few sunny days in June to drive down to hike one of our favorite trails with our friend Stef - Byron Glacier. Just a few miles onto the Seward Highway, our plans changed, as the highway traffic was backed up for a bad car accident. Thankfully Andrew saw a sign for the Rainbow Creek and Turnagain Pass trail heads, so we turned in there and took a short hike on this trail we had never hiked before.

It was a nice, shady hike with a few good view spots. We only hiked a few miles in since the trail's scenery wasn't very varied. On the way down we heard more sirens after the accident had already cleared up. When we got back to the car and checked our phones on the drive back we discovered that a hiker had been mauled by a bear a few miles away from us on the Bird Ridge Run!

It was nice to get out, but scary learning how close we were to that tragedy.

**All photography on this blog are property of the user.**

Merry Christmas 2016 from the Gichards!

Merry Christmas 2016 from the Gichards! We had a very memorable year with some traveling to California for a wedding, and a side-trip to Disneyland in October; hiked around Alaska (including trips to Byron Glacier in May and Eklutna Lake in July), and Andrew harvested his first caribou in October! We are so blessed with wonderful family, friends, and church to be with us in the good times and bad.

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season and wonderful new year!

Clockwise, starting top right: hiking at Byron Glacier, hiking at Eklutna Lake, on the beaches of Southern California, hanging out with Minnie Mouse, and Andrew and his first caribou

Hot May & Byron Glacier

Last week has been quite hot for May in Alaska - we got up to the upper 70s last weekend! Anticipating this great, but hot, weather, I realized I wanted to be outdoors, but not dripping in sweat. So... we decided to do one of our favorite trails, Byron Glacier. This trail is notoriously chillier than most since it ends at the glacier itself. It turned out to be the perfect hike for such a hot day - and my mom got to come with us too!

On the drive down, we stopped and took some photos at Beluga Point.

Byron Glacier trail:

***All photography is property of the author of this blog.***