OR: In Which You Learn More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Glaciers
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We took a boat across the lake in front of the big lodge. The boats have been in continuous service since the 30s, which is cool...Granny and Uncle Dennis on the balcony of the hotel before we took off.
From the foot of the trail. Glacier National Park is named for the way it was formed, not because there are glaciers here. Park rangers estimate that if the glaciers continue to decrease at the current rate, there won't be any more left here by 2030. You can tell a glacial valley by the U-shape...like in this photo...see?
Katherine, Aunt Sarah's hair, Uncle Dennis, my dad and my Aunt Dottie all at the start of the trail.
I had to do it. I'm not going to tell you who it belongs to, though. And it's not an Aunt or my sister. Or me. Or my dad.
Sooo pretty! Okay, so are you ready to learn why it's such a bright blue-green color?Great! When the water melts off the glacier, it pulls tiny pieces of the rock and minerals with it and smashes them up into what's called glacial flour (NOT glacial cornmeal), which is so fine it doesn't sink in the water, it stays suspended in the top couple of feet of the lakes and just happens to reflect this aquamarine color which makes it look like a fake technicolor version of a lake.
Me and my sister...because you might not be able to tell that we're related.
It's just a dead tree hanging over the trail.
Uncle Dennis being silly on the waterfall. This was one of many waterfalls on our trail.
Another one with these cool steps! Really scary to go down, seeing as how it's kind of wet and slippery and there's nothing at all on the down slop side for a couple hundred feet.
My dad being the king of the mountain. Katherine got a great shot of Aunt Sarah on this rock.
This is out of order...switch it with the one below...and only if you want a little lesson in pre-Cambrian rock. Such a nerd.
And this is what we call STRAIGHT DOWN
It's kind of hard to tell, but where the grass is? That's the last of the flat. The rock you see is actually a seven-foot face that happens to stick out six inches.
Crazy hair from up halfway.
To get some perspective on how high we went...this is right before the climb to the glacier. The lake looks just a little smaller, right?
The chain of three lakes.
This is what's left of Grinnell Glacier. It doesn't look quite like I expected a glacier to look, but as we found out, to be qualified as a glacier, a patch of ice and snow doesn't have to actually be a mountain on its own, it has to be at least 100 feet thick (the jury's still out on whether that's an average or a one-point measurement), at least 25 acres of area and has to be moving. Some glaciers in the world move thirty feet a year, but the ones here move inches per year. Once they lose one of those characteristics, they get downgraded to a snowfield and from there it's a seasonal snowfield and then that's the end of it.
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This is at water level at the glacier's pond. The water is incredibly cold! We could only keep our feet in for thirty seconds.
Me and my sister...because you might not be able to tell that we're related.
It's just a dead tree hanging over the trail.
Uncle Dennis being silly on the waterfall. This was one of many waterfalls on our trail.
Another one with these cool steps! Really scary to go down, seeing as how it's kind of wet and slippery and there's nothing at all on the down slop side for a couple hundred feet.
My dad being the king of the mountain. Katherine got a great shot of Aunt Sarah on this rock.
This is out of order...switch it with the one below...and only if you want a little lesson in pre-Cambrian rock. Such a nerd.And this is what we call STRAIGHT DOWN
It's kind of hard to tell, but where the grass is? That's the last of the flat. The rock you see is actually a seven-foot face that happens to stick out six inches.
Crazy hair from up halfway.
To get some perspective on how high we went...this is right before the climb to the glacier. The lake looks just a little smaller, right?
The chain of three lakes.
This is what's left of Grinnell Glacier. It doesn't look quite like I expected a glacier to look, but as we found out, to be qualified as a glacier, a patch of ice and snow doesn't have to actually be a mountain on its own, it has to be at least 100 feet thick (the jury's still out on whether that's an average or a one-point measurement), at least 25 acres of area and has to be moving. Some glaciers in the world move thirty feet a year, but the ones here move inches per year. Once they lose one of those characteristics, they get downgraded to a snowfield and from there it's a seasonal snowfield and then that's the end of it.*
This is at water level at the glacier's pond. The water is incredibly cold! We could only keep our feet in for thirty seconds.
1 comment:
SOOOO incredibly gorgeous, and I bet Paul wishes he were there with you. (soon enough my dear, soon enough) I LOVED the video tutorial. Thankyouverymuch.
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