September 7 glaciers

Happy Labor Day to all of you. Are you ready for Glacier 101? I floated by the Spencer Glacier and then down the Spencer river on Saturday. The weather this weekend was 70 and sunny. I got a bit sun burned but oh well. I have included a lot of photos for you. I hope they show up in correct order. Glaciers form when the accumulation of snow and ice exceed ablation (melting). There are many types of glaciers but the guide talked so fast I could only write down so much on a float trip. We were near a Valley Glacier (cirque) because it filled the valley of two mountain ranges. I still can understand why a glacier is right next to a forest. How come it isn't all cold or all forest? I don't remember the stats on this particular glacier but the Mananuska Glacier (Monday's hike/climb) is 1500 feet deep (ice). That is deep and very cold. The first photo is the cute guide (Heather). If you look at her left elbow you will see the part of the glacier that just "calved" fell into the water. It sounded like a clap of thunder. The texture of this newly fallen glacier is like a snow cone (ice crystals on the outside). My luck has been good in Anchorage. I saw a calving and a "roll over". The next photo is a different glacier piece that rolled over. Remember when you see a glacier you are only seeing 20% of the glacier (the rest is below water). So the next glacier has a different texture (shiny). That is because it just rolled over and this was the part that was below the water. It doesn't have crystals formed on it and it is so shiny. Really neat. Then on Sunday I went to EagleRiver Nature Center (Chugach Mountains) and followed the guide. As we were viewing something a baby black bear came out of the bush! The guide said stay still and he rang his bear bell. I would have rung my bear bell but I was inching myself to the back of the group so if we had to run I would be the first running!!!! The Chugach Mts and the Tonga Mts are the largest mountain ranges of the USA. I said what about Yellowstone and Grand Canyon, he replied, "Those are National Parks and we are forests". Silly me. Now I know!!! Then on Monday I trekked and climbed the Mananuska Glacier. This glacier is about 2 1/2 hours NE of Anchorage towards Canada. The first picture is the fall foliage in Alaska. It is in full bloom with yellows, golds, greens and orange. It lasts about two weeks. Isn't it near to see those beautiful colors next to a blue sky!!! The next picture is nearby glaciers. Everything has a name but I can't remember them. I can barely remember the names of my students!! The next photo is the Mananuska Glacier. I know it doesn't look like much but just you wait. The next photo is our group member climbing. The slope is really steep and I should have worn shorts and sleeveless shirt. I was sweating up a storm! or should I say Glacier! The next is the "feet" of Wonder Lake. Do you see the reflection in the water? Then there is me. The lake behind me is 3/4 mile wide. The next photo is the top of the glacier and see that little flip of ice (30 feet by 40 feet and a couple hundred pounds in weight). That calved while we were down by the lake. Holy cow was that loud. I jumped behind the guide very quickly. The splash made some big waves in the lake. Then we hiked up around the lake and up the glacier near the crevasse that just calved. Crevasses on this glacier can get as deep as 1000 feet. I didn't get too close - I want to experience more of Alaska! The black striation marks are called ogives. These are formed from the seasonal movement of the glacier (forward with rocks and retreat with melting). Pretty neat. And as you can guess, we hiked 3 miles up this glacier (in 3 hours plus the climb) and now it is time to hike back to the van. Let me tell you, hiking down is a lot harder than hiking up. The 3 rules for glacier hiking is - keep your feet wide, step higher than you think not to trip, and to step flat footed so all the spikes of the boot will land in the ice. I did well on the way up but I fell on the way down. I was a bit wet and couldn't wait for the cold wet pants to dry out. COLD! Did I mention the glacier is at 32 degrees!!! So on our way down I had to take a photo of the frozen rocks. This is a small pond with rocks frozen in the ice. The ice is about 3 feet deep. I think that was so neat to see. Our group tried to break the ice to free the rocks but it wasn't going to happen. I saved my favorite photo for last. Next time David wants me to put high heels on to get sexy I will put on my crampons!!! These babies give high heels a whole new name. They made me 2 inches taller. They are extremely sharp. The make walking on ice a piece of cake. I may have to purchase a pair for walking from the parking lot to the school. I hope you enjoyed these photos. I enjoyed the adventure.

I want to close with a "Sheryl" moment. I prepared for one of my classes last week. I made some great visuals, prepared a velcro board and I was ready. I asked the students questions and they placed the pieces on the board. So I get to Christina. She kept nodding her head as I taught so I thought she was really with me. I went to her and asked her to select a piece, place it on the board and tell us why she selected this piece. I asked her several times. I was really confused because she kept nodding her head which I took as "I understand". After a few seconds, which felt like minutes, one of the teaching assistants came over with a smile and whispered in my ear: "Sheryl, Christina is blind". Go figure. No wonder she was nodding her head!!! I asked the assistant why hadn't someone told me. They thought I read all the medical forms and knew this bit of information. See, somethings never change. I live and learn.

Enjoy the rest of this week. Remember, it is only 4 days long. Yahoo!!!

Sheryl