Lowell Point to Tonsina Point
Sean and I made a plan to go visit Lowell point.
I saw a blog post about it a few months ago and it's been on my mind to go there ever since.
You have to plan ahead because the tide factors in to how you visit.
There was a bit of traffic on the Seward Highway due to road construction, but it gave me the opportunity to catch this photo:
Once we arrived in Seward, I wasn't sure we were actually going to be able to go the the park.
The road said it was closed and local traffic only.
We just continued on behind the boat in front of us.
On this dirt road, something in the water caught our eye, so we pulled over and hopped out of the car.
We saw this sea otter (he jumped out of the water right where we were standing), but we also spotted a very large sea lion.
The sea lion went by first and I didn't get any good pictures of it.
Millie looking all grown up. Where is her dress?
Of course we need a jumping picture.
Autumn and Millie.
We made our way to the lower parking lot of Lowell recreational site and from here there were two choices.
You can take a short quarter mile walk to the beach OR go into the forest.
We walked into the forest for about three seconds and then decided it was off to the beach with us.
It turns out this is my favorite picture from the day.
When we go back, we would like to check to see if this little island is accessible at low tide.
Shells.
Same little island, just a different view.
Me.
We headed back to the car because we knew we needed to get going on our trail.
We decided to move the car to the "upper" parking lot, because we didn't want to make things easier for the girls.
We were not really sure how long we would be out hiking, but I do think we could have just left the car in that lower lot.
It wouldn't have added a whole lot to the hike.
Anyway, we got going in the rainforest portion of our hike.
The rain forest portion of our hike was roughly 2 miles.
There was a little bit of elevation gain (728 feet).
There were some switch backs.
Overall, not an extremely difficult walk.
Occasionally we would venture off trail, but there are steep cliffs and some places felt really sketch.
We saw all this moss on all the trees.
When I saw this one though, it looked like a hairy leg that needed to be shaved.
The little side trails were so incredible!
This is one of those sketchy spots. The "edge" isn't always so clear, but the ground felt like it would start moving under foot.
But look at the incredible view!!
OK, photography secret..... I angled myself properly, but down there on that beach, someone was building a home!
Mushrooms are my favorite.
Dingo does a lot of running back and forth when we go hiking.
He gets hot.
Millie did an excellent job on this hike.
I am pretty sure she only fell one time.
Autumn doesn't always want her picture taken, but every so often, she'll ask for a photo.
This was right about where the switch backs started.
The perfect sitting tree.
Millie started to go stand there first, but Autumn mentioned a spider web and Millie freaked out! HA!
I really like the color of the old trees.
Mold? The green was so bright!
It was great that there were boardwalks every so often.
I think it helps with erosion (caused by human traffic).
It wasn't terribly muddy though.
Millie says it looks like it is smiling.
I think you can see some more of that moss in the branches.
From the bridge.
We made it back to the beach.
We saw this rock and Autumn says, this looks like the rock in the Little Mermaid.
I said you are right! Let's get a photo!!
So, here you go, Ariel Autumn.
Our beach finds.
I found this one and gave it to Autumn bottom.
There was so much wood on the beach.
More sea life.
I love the ripples in the sand from the tide going out.
Surprisingly, this was easy to walk on.
Sean and I decided that this would be called a grotto.
Millie for comparison. It was pretty tall.
These barnacles were on the back side of the wall in the grotto.
Cairn.
Before we leave the beach, one last photo.
I took this photo from what looked to be a camping site.
I think I would love to go back and camp there!
Back into the forest we go.
More mushrooms.
I lichen these guys.
Can you hear me now?
We stayed in this area for some time.
Girls were skipping rocks.
Sean and I were exploring.
Sweet Millie. I cannot believe she will be double digits soon!
I love the clearness of the water and the brightness of the green on the rocks.
Back into the forest we go again!
Autummn.
Devil's club... it really is the devil!
There was a perfect little chair for her to sit in!
I want to be a sloth!
Autumn too!
One last look at the trail before we reach the trailhead.
I don't know why, but I just liked this sign.
Overall, we did 8 miles today.
I'm so proud of the girls and what a great job they did.
Millie cried when she dropped (and thought she broke) her cell phone, but outside of that, she did a great job!
Everyone was tired and hungry.
My face was burning from wind burn I think.
We were able to call the restaurant, Apollo, from the car at the trail head and order a large pizza and bread sticks!
We left straight from there and picked it up.
Woofed it down in the car.
We took our time on our way home.
We stopped at Johnson Pass Trail, Granite Creek Campground, River Trail Campground.
River Trail Campground had a River that I felt like I could kayak.
It was also on Kenai Lake which had some INCREDIBLE views.
We are already thinking about our next trip to the Kenai.
The Jordan's
I saw a blog post about it a few months ago and it's been on my mind to go there ever since.
You have to plan ahead because the tide factors in to how you visit.
There was a bit of traffic on the Seward Highway due to road construction, but it gave me the opportunity to catch this photo:
Once we arrived in Seward, I wasn't sure we were actually going to be able to go the the park.
The road said it was closed and local traffic only.
We just continued on behind the boat in front of us.
On this dirt road, something in the water caught our eye, so we pulled over and hopped out of the car.
We saw this sea otter (he jumped out of the water right where we were standing), but we also spotted a very large sea lion.
The sea lion went by first and I didn't get any good pictures of it.
Millie looking all grown up. Where is her dress?
Of course we need a jumping picture.
Autumn and Millie.
We made our way to the lower parking lot of Lowell recreational site and from here there were two choices.
You can take a short quarter mile walk to the beach OR go into the forest.
We walked into the forest for about three seconds and then decided it was off to the beach with us.
It turns out this is my favorite picture from the day.
When we go back, we would like to check to see if this little island is accessible at low tide.
Shells.
Same little island, just a different view.
Me.
We headed back to the car because we knew we needed to get going on our trail.
We decided to move the car to the "upper" parking lot, because we didn't want to make things easier for the girls.
We were not really sure how long we would be out hiking, but I do think we could have just left the car in that lower lot.
It wouldn't have added a whole lot to the hike.
Anyway, we got going in the rainforest portion of our hike.
The rain forest portion of our hike was roughly 2 miles.
There was a little bit of elevation gain (728 feet).
There were some switch backs.
Overall, not an extremely difficult walk.
Occasionally we would venture off trail, but there are steep cliffs and some places felt really sketch.
We saw all this moss on all the trees.
When I saw this one though, it looked like a hairy leg that needed to be shaved.
The little side trails were so incredible!
This is one of those sketchy spots. The "edge" isn't always so clear, but the ground felt like it would start moving under foot.
But look at the incredible view!!
OK, photography secret..... I angled myself properly, but down there on that beach, someone was building a home!
Mushrooms are my favorite.
Dingo does a lot of running back and forth when we go hiking.
He gets hot.
Millie did an excellent job on this hike.
I am pretty sure she only fell one time.
Autumn doesn't always want her picture taken, but every so often, she'll ask for a photo.
This was right about where the switch backs started.
The perfect sitting tree.
Millie started to go stand there first, but Autumn mentioned a spider web and Millie freaked out! HA!
I really like the color of the old trees.
Mold? The green was so bright!
It was great that there were boardwalks every so often.
I think it helps with erosion (caused by human traffic).
It wasn't terribly muddy though.
Millie says it looks like it is smiling.
I think you can see some more of that moss in the branches.
From the bridge.
We made it back to the beach.
We saw this rock and Autumn says, this looks like the rock in the Little Mermaid.
I said you are right! Let's get a photo!!
So, here you go, Ariel Autumn.
Our beach finds.
I found this one and gave it to Autumn bottom.
There was so much wood on the beach.
More sea life.
I love the ripples in the sand from the tide going out.
Surprisingly, this was easy to walk on.
Sean and I decided that this would be called a grotto.
Millie for comparison. It was pretty tall.
These barnacles were on the back side of the wall in the grotto.
Cairn.
Before we leave the beach, one last photo.
I took this photo from what looked to be a camping site.
I think I would love to go back and camp there!
Back into the forest we go.
More mushrooms.
I lichen these guys.
Can you hear me now?
We stayed in this area for some time.
Girls were skipping rocks.
Sean and I were exploring.
Sweet Millie. I cannot believe she will be double digits soon!
I love the clearness of the water and the brightness of the green on the rocks.
Back into the forest we go again!
Autummn.
Devil's club... it really is the devil!
There was a perfect little chair for her to sit in!
I want to be a sloth!
Autumn too!
One last look at the trail before we reach the trailhead.
I don't know why, but I just liked this sign.
Overall, we did 8 miles today.
I'm so proud of the girls and what a great job they did.
Millie cried when she dropped (and thought she broke) her cell phone, but outside of that, she did a great job!
Everyone was tired and hungry.
My face was burning from wind burn I think.
We were able to call the restaurant, Apollo, from the car at the trail head and order a large pizza and bread sticks!
We left straight from there and picked it up.
Woofed it down in the car.
We took our time on our way home.
We stopped at Johnson Pass Trail, Granite Creek Campground, River Trail Campground.
River Trail Campground had a River that I felt like I could kayak.
It was also on Kenai Lake which had some INCREDIBLE views.
We are already thinking about our next trip to the Kenai.
The Jordan's
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