Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Mantanuska Glacier–a valley glacier–A walk on IT!

Sorry - I needed to change the publish date so the Kennecott's material would come together.

We were there when the door opened, We gave our money away and they opened the gate. We drove into the glacier area. It was great.

These shots were taken as Liz and I walked to Mantanuska Glacier. The "lobe" which is the black part primarily on the left is inactive. It is ice and is covered with rocks brought down by the glacier as well as the 'silt' that is blown around daily. It gets enough material to grow plants but it is still ice underneath as you will see from the photos.

















A "small" blue spot.


A larger blue spot.





Flowering plants are some of the first items to grow on a glacier that is melting down. These are enjoying their small life span.


So the next two have a question. Are the lines caused by 'ice worms'?



Herbie awaits our arrival and the fall colors are starting to pop out all over!!



The rock glacier across the valley behind us and in front of the valley ice glacier.



After the walk, we headed east on the Glen Highway. That was a drive, but we did get to my kind of highway.





It was downright warm today. I filled Herbie at the gas station and it was 81*. Now that is great as far as I am concerned. It's the second time I have been able to wear shorts. Liz was kind enough to document that for the records!


Tomorrow is a day trip out to the 

1 comment:

  1. A day trip to where??????? Some interesting photos. It's amazing how something can grow on that ice. I bet it was cold so it's nice that you have your shorts on now. Don't worry, there will still be plenty of time to wear them when you get back here. We have at least 6 weeks of real hot summer weather left.

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