Glacier Walk Photos

Hey Everybody,

It's been about 100* each day since I've been in Montana, so I have decided to revisit the glacier walk to cool off! I should also confess that I walked to the local lake yesterday for a swim. That doesn't sound like a big deal [I know], but when you consider that I have been making fun of this little lake since I lived here for college it is kind of a big deal that I jumped in it for the first time ever... The water isn't as warm [or as clear] as the Gulf of Mexico, but it was warm enough & pretended I was at the beach. I have no doubt I will do it again soon.

Anyway, back to the glacier walk....and the disposable camera pics. The first thing I have to tell you is that this wasn't a black/white camera. It just looks that way. It was raining on & off, the ice is dirtier than other glaciers I've seen because of volcanic ash. But it's a glacier.....I got to play on it & lived to tell! :-)

This is the best example I have of how the top of the glacier looks. It is not flat at all. It sort of reminded me of waves as they roll in at the beach. The crevasses range from very shallow to very deep. And the only blue ice we saw was in the cracked areas.

 

This is the high point of our hike. It was also the only point during the entire walk where we could see the upper glacier. It is barely visable in the photo, but it's there.



I didn't just learn how to use an ice ax and crampons...I learned about glacial cones too. These cones can be seen at various points along the most melted sections. When the dirt/ash forms a thick enough coat on the ice it works as insulation. So, there is some pretty blue ice under this dirt cone & it will eventually melt. Kinda cool though, huh?

  

At last....solid ground. This is a view from the dirt path as we were leaving.

And, finally....this has nothing to do with the glacier walk. My snorkel pics from Silfra are pretty lousy, but I'm posting one anyway. At the end of the snorkel through the fissure we entered a deep lagoon. This is part of the continually cracking earth floor. You really have to see it for yourself....it's much cooler than this looks!

Hope all is well wherever this finds you. I hope to sneak off to Glacier National Park for a quick visit in the next week or so. First, I REALLY should finish my laundry. After that I should be able to let you know where I'm headed to next.

Thanks for visiting!!