Showing posts with label Exit Glacier. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Exit Glacier. Show all posts

7/04/2009

July 3, 2009 – Exit Glacier

This morning found us taking a walk to Exit Glacier.

This glacier is 3 miles long and comes from the Harding Ice Field above it.  The Ice Field is a remnant of the Great Ice Age.  Currently it is 50 miles long, 30 miles wide, and no one is sure how thick it is.  About 150 – 200 inches of snow fall on the field yearly but then it is compressed into ice and continues to build.

Here is our first view of the glacier – it is impressive:

 07-03-09 A Exit Glacier 001

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We decided to do the hike to the side of the glacier first:

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The blue coloring – oh my!

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The designs and layers – another oh my!

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From there we decided to walk to the toe of the glacier.  When we were here two years ago, we could not get close because of the river but this year…..

This is looking at the toe from the side of the glacier:

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To get there we had to cross some of the streams coming from the glacier:

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Andy did well – I unfortunately got wet – LOL!  And let me tell you – it was COLD!!!!

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Up close and personal with water that may be THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD:

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More of the toe:

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Look at that blue and the designs – Mother Nature at its best:

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The melting waters from the glacier:

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Our last look:

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We took the nature trail back – what a beautiful walk.

It turned out to be a beautiful day here at the Bay:

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And even seals came out to play:

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We went to the Legion for supper – Steak Night – MMMMMM and had a great time talking with the locals and visitors.  Back at the MH, we had a campfire and waited for the fireworks display at midnight.  Our neighbors in the back joined us – and here is a picture of the beach at around 9 PM:

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We watched a cruise ship leave:

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And the fireworks at midnight – yes, it is still light – :-)

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To all:

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

7/31/2007

July 31, 2007 – Exit Glacier

Today we saw another glacier up close – Exit Glacier. We took the guided tour (3 miles) and learned about the area and glaciers.

Some pictures:




Notice the people in this picture:

Exit Glacier is 3 miles long and about 300 feet deep. Some of the crevasses are over 100’ deep. This glacier as well as all the glaciers in Kenai Fjords National Park is feed by the Harding Icefield. This Icefield is 50 miles long, 20-30 miles wide and possible 3000’ thick (they are not sure).

There was a hike to the icefield but it was labeled as strenuous (straight up the mountain for 3.7 miles – nope not for us!!).

Notice the blue:

The reason the glacier is blue is because the ice absorbs all the colors of the spectrum and only the short wavelengths (bluish) are reflected back.

This was really amazing to see.

And this afternoon, we are at the Yukon Bar enjoying a beer and I am uploading the blog. If I owe anyone an email, please send me a reminder. Wi-Fi access is few and far between right now (can you tell I am in withdrawal - :-))

Just a bit more info – we now have some darkness – the sun sets at 10:30 and rises at 5:30.

Tomorrow we will be going towards Homer...stay tuned.