The secrets of this earth are not for all men to see, but only for those who seek them
Posts tagged Whalewatching
Back to the Ice Age – Alaska Glacier Bay
Jan 26th
Had he been interested, Captain George Vancouver, who charted the waters of Icy Strait in 1794, could have seen all of Glacier Bay in about an hour. In those days, however, the 5-mile-long indentation in the 100-mile (160-km) long, 20-mile (32-km) wide, and 4,450-ft (1,350-m) thick Grand Pacific Glacier was considerably less intriguing than it became over the next two centuries. By the time John Muir reached the site in 1879, that indent had grown to about 31 miles (50 km) long and today, due to further melting, Glacier Bay now stretches about 72 miles (115 km). More >
Kenai Fjords National Park – Alaska
Aug 24th
Only a geologic heartbeat removed from the last great period of the Ice Age, the immense Harding Icefield dominates the moonscape face of this park. Pierced only by peaks of granite called ‘lonely peaks’, the Harding Icefield covers 700 square miles and is nearly a mile high and hundreds, perhaps thousands, of feet deep.
Robbing the Kenai Mountains in snow and ice, it is the reservoir for the spectacular glaciers here that rumble towards the sea. In this park, nearly three dozen named glaciers and a host of unnamed glaciers dangle in high mountain valleys, spill down rock faces, and plunge into the headwaters of fjords. More >
