look mom- it’s a glacier!

look mom- it’s a glacier!

When people say things like ” You can hike a/to a glacier” you take it with sort of a grain of salt, thinking oh sure- that sounds awesome. Then you get to the glacier, stand in front of it and your jaw hits the ground. You keep blinking your eyes because you don’t think what you’re looking at could possibly be real:

It’s real! (Yes, that’s ice in the water close, near my feet that had broken off and floated the way to the sand I was standing on!)

Welcome to the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska.

When talking with other travelers who were reveling in the gorgeousness like me, someone said that these glaciers looked like giant frozen tidal waves. I think that’s a pretty perfect description. It’s one thing to see these glaciers in photo books or on a typical chilly overcast day in Alaska, but if you’re lucky enough to have a sunny warm day with blue skies to experience something like this in person?! The brilliance is beyond explanation or that in which my poor little Nikon camera could ever capture. I hiked the east loop that day. Near the trail head got this photo. 200-plus years to travel 13.5 miles? Now that’s some slow and steady moving:

I regularly comment what I have said here before about the trees, green and general lushness. It’s like living in some fairy tale. I mean, Shrek almost popped his head out to say hi here:

Here’s a funky fungi of some kind; I enjoy the randomness of shots like these:

Video from mid-way up:

Broken off floating parts and pieces:

A view from near the top looking away from the glacier:

And one more from my way down that gives sort of a close up look. See? Doesn’t it look like a slightly dirty frozen tidal wave? Incredible:

I have a plethora of photos, I look forward to sitting with some of you to share more. Nature at it’s finest to say the least. This was a once in a lifetime hike for me, or at least that first time you see something like this the wow factor is simply mind boggling. I’m not usually a quiet person, but I spent so much speechless in awe time while in Alaska it was fantastic. Sometimes it’s a welcomed surprise to not be able to say a thing and just look. This day was one of those for me.