Redoubt volcanic ash hits Kincaid beach

Yesterday started out as an innocent trip to Kincaid beach – after about an hour it turned into a volcanic ash showdown! Ash from Redoubt volcano hit Anchorage and came in off of Cook Inlet right at Kincaid beach.

You can see the ash starting to choke out the sun as it roars in from the inlet… The air instantly started to stink of sulphur as little ash pellets started to plink off of my hat and accumulate on my camera. I had to get out of there quickly as the ash continued to rain down at a quicker and quicker pace. Soon the cloud was directly overhead nearly blocking the sun…

As I moved swiftly back to my car (which was a good 30 minutes away) I could feel the ash between my teeth when I bit down.

I stopped to snap a shot of the ash particles starting to accumulate where the ski-groomer had recently perforated the snow.

I got back to my car to find about 1/8″ of ash already covering it… it was time to get the hell out of Kincaid! I got back home and set up some collection canisters and this morning woke up to about a teaspoon of ash in one. Job well done, until next time Redoubt…