Day 31: Exit the rain!

We had too much rest – so it was time to hit the road and start hiking again. We headed to the only part of the Kenai National Park that is open to the public by car – Exit Glacier. As we turned from Seward HWY, we ran into a Moose female and two baby Moose cabs. The Clouds continued to be heavy and low, but it was not raining at that time – and we could see two-thirds of the glacier from a distance. We hiked towards the Icefield trail – passing through Meadows outlook – where surprisingly the cloud cleared – and we saw great views of the glacier and people hiking on the ice. With this bit of optimism – we decided to take one more leg of the hike to the top-of-the-rock overlook. Wrong decision! 10 minutes into the 2nd leg – the clouds blew into the mountains; we hiked in the fog and saw nothing when we got to the outlook (at least we got to meet a marmite from up close. Worse – it started to rain again as we hiked down – that made it cold and not so much fun. Nevertheless, it is a great hike – and we should do it one day – if we ever get there again and if it is ever not raining in the Seward area.
For that, we had to exit the rain and drive towards Homer. Soldotna was a bigger residential area than we expected- and had all shopping needed to stock up. It was also home to 2 small breweries that looked very lovely. The beer, service, and backyard of Kenai River Brewing were a great stop to refresh on the beautiful way to Homer. A beautiful place – at the end of the round with a fantastic spit surrounded by water and glaciated mountains. It is also a home for many bald eagles – that are coming up close to the many many RVs that are parking on the spit.