Day 9 Anchorage continued

                                                 Sunday 9/1/2014

New Church built in 1962

Our plans are to stay in Anchorage for another night before heading to Seward early Monday morning on the train. This morning we are off for a hike to Thunderbird Falls and Eklutna Historical Park to see the Spirit Houses, old log Russian Orthodox Church,and new Orthodox Church.  It's about a 30 minute drive north of Anchorage. The old St. Nicholas church was           

Old St. Nicholas Church

constructed in Knik around 1870   although it may have been done as early as 1830. It was moved in around 1900 to Eklutna where it was actively used until it was replaced by the new church. It  is the oldest standing building in the greater Anchorage area. It is kept up for historical purposes and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

How's this for a Burial  Monument!

The interior of Alaska is home to the Athabaskan Native Peoples. Specific to the Eklutna area are the Danaina or Tanaina, Athabaskans. These colorful spirit houses are a uniquely Athabaskan tradition; according to cultural beliefs. Spirit houses were built by the family after the person’s death. A wonderful and unique mix of this native tradition with the practices and beliefs of Orthodox Christianity can be seen in the cemetery. The graves of the Athabaskan people are marked not only with their traditional spirit houses, but also with an Orthodox Christian Cross. There are also graves marked only with crosses, honoring the resting places of the Orthodox non- native members of the church.  

   Next up on our itinerary is Eklutna Lake,  just a short distance further on a twisty turny road (other than the main highways, there are a lot of twisty turny roads that climb up the mountains!) Alaska doesn't believe in guardrails! On the road in, Kim got to see her first moose! A bull moose, we weren't able to get his picture but he was pretty darn big! 

Eklutna Lake, the largest lake in the Chugach State Park, is the City of Anchorage’s Reservoir. 

Glacier Fed Eklutna Lake

Terry and Kim

There are no motors allowed on the 7 mile long, 200 feet deep glacier and fresh stream fed lake, since it's Anchorages main source for drinking water!  Eklutna Lake also provides hydroelectric power. Anchorage Municipal Light and Power  and two other power companies own all of the water in the lake.  Eklutna Glacier which feeds the lake is shrinking,like most Alaska glaciers. A photo taken in  1915, the year after Anchorage was founded, showed the glacier’s terminus jutting from the gorge. By comparison, a photo in 2010 showed the glacier had receded substantially, more than 1-1/2 miles.  

Eklutna Glacier 1915

Eklutna Glacier 2010