Monday, July 5, 2010.

We are still staying in Ninilchik at the RV park that sits up on the bluff. At night we can see moose grazing off the sides of the road and we are always seeing bald eagles watching us from the trees just next to us. At one point we wondered if the one would try to get our halibut cooking on the grill.
Jimmy and the boys went out to go hiking for a couple of hours and I stayed back to wash clothes. This park has only 1 washer and 1 dryer so it takes forever to do 5 loads of clothes. All four of us are signed up to go halibut fishing again to morrow; so I need to get the fish smell out of the clothes so they can be worn again. The halibut really stinks !!!
Across Cook Inlet to the other side is land called the "Ring of Fire". Under the water of Cook Inlet is the subduction zone where the Pacific plate goes under the North American continent. These tectonic plates move at the speed of a growing fingernail. This energy pushes up the areas mountain ranges causing frequent earthquakes. These were the moving plates that caused the 1964 9.2 earthquake that caused so much damage in Seward and Anchorage. There are 5 active volcanic peaks across from us: Mt. Spurr, Mt. Redoubt, Mt. Iliamna, Mt. Augustine and Mt. Douglass. Most of these are snow covered but they still erupt. Mt. Spurr is 11,000 feet high and erupted in 1953 and 1992. It spewed so much ash that Anchorage airport had to close. Mt. Redoubt is 6197 feet high and erupted on March 15, 2009 with the ash plumes rising 30,000 to 60,000 feet into the sky. When it erupted on December 14, 1989 it lasted until early 1990! The ash went 12 miles high into the clouds and disrupted the air traffic all the way to Texas! Mt. Iliamna is 10,016 feet high and is surrounded by glaciers. This volcano is relatively quiet. It erupted in 1741 and only several times since then. Mt. Augustine is 4134 feet high and on its own island. It erupted in 1883, 1908, 1935, 1963 - 1964, 1976, 1986, 2005 - 2006. This volcano poses a real threat of tsunamis. The island has a very irregular coastline which is evidence of frequent eruptions. The Alaska Volcano Observatory said 11 avalanches occurred in the past 2 million years. That comes out to one every 150 to 200 years. They say one is long overdue. Mt. Douglas is 7020 feet high and very hard to see except in the very early morning of an extremely clear day. It is hard to see behind the blue haze and clouds.