Part of a popular trail to Reflections Lake off the Glenn Highway between Wasilla and Eagle River is washed out and impassable, according to Joe Meehan, coordinator of the lands and refuges program for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.
Over the weekend, high tides breached a berm supporting the trail at the west end of the lake. Visitors to the refuge can still walk halfway around the lake, but it's difficult to bypass the washed-out trail. Repairs may take weeks.
"We're still encouraging the public to use the site," Meehan said in a press release. "The boardwalk and wildlife viewing tower are still accessible and open to public use."
The $300,000 viewing tower opened a year ago to offer refuge visitors an elevated view of geese, swans, sandhill cranes and moose.
Reflections Lake, which attracts an estimated 50,000 visitors annually, was created in 1963 when a gravel pit was opened to construct the original highway across the flats. The pit filled with water after area lands sunk during the 1964 Good Friday earthquake. When the Palmer Hay Flats State Game Refuge was created in 1974, it included Reflections Lake.
Glacier Bay stamp part of special National Park Service series
To commemorate the National Park Service's centennial, the U.S. Postal Service is offering a set of 16 Forever Stamps highlighting 16 of our national parks.
Among them is a stamp depicting Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, which covers 3.3 million acres of rugged mountains, glaciers, wild coastlines and sheltered fjords in Southeast.
The image on the stamp is a photograph by Tom Bean of Flagstaff, Arizona, described in a postal service press release as "stunning."
"We are honored that Glacier Bay has been selected, and look forward to working with the Postal Service in highlighting our national treasures as part of the NPS Centennial," Glacier Bay Superintendent Philip Hooge said in a press release.
The first-day-of-issue ceremony for the National Parks Forever Stamps will take place at New York City's Javits Center at 11 a.m. June 2.
"Images of individual parks were selected for regional diversity and variety of flora and fauna," said Mark Saunders with the U.S. Postal Service. "This particular image captures many elements of the park and works well as a stamp. "The residence of the photographer was not part of the criteria for this project."