Alaska Part VI
Jun. 28th, 2007 11:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
leftyjewThis is taking a while. But it's good to remember things this way I think.
So at about 8, we head to Exit Glacier. I have to say that a big part of the reason I wanted to stop in Seward first was to let Tim separate from us if he wanted to (he seemed a bit annoyed with us, but that could just have been my impressions). I enjoyed![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arctic_alpine's trail information. I can see that it could have worn on someone who's less of a dork, though. Anyway, Tim opted to stay on with us to Exit Glacier. As we approach, we notice a sign that said, "Caution! Dangreous conditions ahead! Don't proceed without winter weather gear, etc. etc." I pull over and think about what to do, while another car comes by. We ask if it's safe to go ahead and they said it was fine, so we go.
We get there and stop in the gift shop-cum-nature center (a lot like Dickey Ridge in Shenandoah). There's a book which I considered getting for Maya called Turnagain Ptarmigan about the ptarmagin (state bird of Alaska which turns color from snowy white to spekled brown based on the season). I love evolution :) I decide against the book both because I have no clue where I'd put it and because I didn't want to buy much of anything on the trip. We get a trail map and head out of the nature center toward the trail heads. There's an easy a medium and a hard, but the easy provides the closest views of Exit Glacier. We opt for that one first, then the hard one (which is still closed from winter snows at the high elevations).
There's a small trail that basically goes really close to Exit Glacier itself at the base. It's pretty. This was my first real life glacier. I was excited and awed by it beauty. The blue is just stunning and the runoff water is a whitish (thanks to all the minuscule silt that the glacier pulls from the mountainside.arctic_alpine and I decided to taste the glacial runoff (since we assumed it was pretty ancient and therefore not unhealthy). Our decision was okay, but later we learned that glacial water can still give you Giardia. On your way to the glacier, there are signs with numbers on them: 1840, 1872, etc. Turns out these are marks for how large the glacier was in those years. It was rather surprising the little impact that humans have made. The space between 1800 and 1850 (pre-industrial revolution) seemed about equivalent to any post-revolution span of 50 years. I was trying to prove otherwise, but Tim managed to convince me I was wrong.
We also noted some signs that warned of $5000 fines and 6 months prison time for crossing the "stand back - calving glacier" rope. We figured that meant it must have been quite a view from the other side and was probably worthwhile (but didn't actually cross the line). There were folks who crossed the line, though. No arrests.
After finishing our ogling, we headed over to the Harding Ice Field Trail to complete as much as we could to be home at a reasonable time. We wanted to be back by sunset, so since it was about 9, we decided we'd walk until a bit past 10pm and then head back.
To be continued...
Tuesday - Exit Glacier
So at about 8, we head to Exit Glacier. I have to say that a big part of the reason I wanted to stop in Seward first was to let Tim separate from us if he wanted to (he seemed a bit annoyed with us, but that could just have been my impressions). I enjoyed
arctic_alpine's trail information. I can see that it could have worn on someone who's less of a dork, though. Anyway, Tim opted to stay on with us to Exit Glacier. As we approach, we notice a sign that said, "Caution! Dangreous conditions ahead! Don't proceed without winter weather gear, etc. etc." I pull over and think about what to do, while another car comes by. We ask if it's safe to go ahead and they said it was fine, so we go. We get there and stop in the gift shop-cum-nature center (a lot like Dickey Ridge in Shenandoah). There's a book which I considered getting for Maya called Turnagain Ptarmigan about the ptarmagin (state bird of Alaska which turns color from snowy white to spekled brown based on the season). I love evolution :) I decide against the book both because I have no clue where I'd put it and because I didn't want to buy much of anything on the trip. We get a trail map and head out of the nature center toward the trail heads. There's an easy a medium and a hard, but the easy provides the closest views of Exit Glacier. We opt for that one first, then the hard one (which is still closed from winter snows at the high elevations).
There's a small trail that basically goes really close to Exit Glacier itself at the base. It's pretty. This was my first real life glacier. I was excited and awed by it beauty. The blue is just stunning and the runoff water is a whitish (thanks to all the minuscule silt that the glacier pulls from the mountainside.
arctic_alpine and I decided to taste the glacial runoff (since we assumed it was pretty ancient and therefore not unhealthy). Our decision was okay, but later we learned that glacial water can still give you Giardia. On your way to the glacier, there are signs with numbers on them: 1840, 1872, etc. Turns out these are marks for how large the glacier was in those years. It was rather surprising the little impact that humans have made. The space between 1800 and 1850 (pre-industrial revolution) seemed about equivalent to any post-revolution span of 50 years. I was trying to prove otherwise, but Tim managed to convince me I was wrong.We also noted some signs that warned of $5000 fines and 6 months prison time for crossing the "stand back - calving glacier" rope. We figured that meant it must have been quite a view from the other side and was probably worthwhile (but didn't actually cross the line). There were folks who crossed the line, though. No arrests.
After finishing our ogling, we headed over to the Harding Ice Field Trail to complete as much as we could to be home at a reasonable time. We wanted to be back by sunset, so since it was about 9, we decided we'd walk until a bit past 10pm and then head back.
To be continued...
