As I was writing the entry yesterday, I realized I missed our day at Exit Glacier. That is what happens when old folks get busy, the result is forgetfulness.
August 16th, started without rain, but there were very heavy clouds. We could mostly see the mountains, but not by much. We figures it didn't have to be clear to go visit the a glacier, so we went anyway.
You have to drive up through a canyon to the glacier and then walk up to see it closely. Below, is our approach view (note glacier in the background). What the glacier has left is glacial till (small rocky debris) which progressive vegetation has not overtaken yet. Eventually, small shrubs then trees will begin to take over where the till is. Because the National Park Service has been tracking this glacier since the 1800s, as you drove up, there were signs along the road with the years showing where the glacier was in that particular year. That is something a picture can't show, but from where we took the picture below, the glacier was there in 1850.
As soon as we got to the Visitor Center, the drops began to fall, but there was a short 3 mi. walk up to the edge of the glacier, so we went anyway. We had our gortex so we were ready for Alaska weather. It actually wasn't that cold and as soon as we start walking, we got warm.
On our walk to the glacier, we saw some of the many waterfalls created as the mass of snow living at the tops of the mountains found their way over the edge. Note: The waterfalls don't freeze in the winter! The falls slow down as the temps go down and the waterfalls stop in the winter, not freeze.
Then there was the photo ops.
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| There was another hike we wanted to do, but it was 8 + miles, round trip, to the top of this glacier onto the glacier fields. The glacial till is incredibly slippery when wet, so we didn't want to take the chance. It was also a 3,500 elevation gain in 3 miles over very, very slippery rock. We opted not to do this as the rocks were like grease. |
What I have found to be hard, it capturing the size of a glacier via photo. I guess the first photo of me up above, does the best job.
