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| Margerie Glacier often puts on a show as huge chunks break off |
With apologies to Texas, when
it comes to states with the biggest and the most, Alaska stands above all.
Even though
we got the land for a little more than 2 cents an acre, Alaska cost the U.S.
$7.2 million in 1867 because it covers more than 375 million acres.
It has the
most bald eagles, brown bears, black bears totems and volcanoes of any state.
So it should
come as no surprise that when it comes to glaciers, Alaska tops that list as
well.
On our recent
trips over the past few years to the land they call “The Last Frontier,” we
have viewed:
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Sawyer Glacier in the Tracy Arm Fiord from the
deck of the Norwegian Cruise ship, Jewel
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| Shakes icebergs are a photographer's delight |
—
LeConte Glacier from the friendly confines of
an Alaska Charters and Adventures’ jet boat – www.alaskaupclose.com/
—
Shakes
Glacier off the Stikine River from good friend Earl Benitz’s boat
—
Margerie
Glacier in Glacier Bay from the deck of the Norwegian cruise ship, Pearl,
Margerie put
on a show with chunks of ice calving (breaking off) much to the delight of the
camera-toting tourists.
The Sawyer
Glacier wasn’t as active. In fact, only a few of us at the stern got to see it
shed some of its ice as the Jewel was making a tight turn before heading to its
next port-of-call.
While those
two glaciers calve chunks of ice, the water in front of them is relatively free
of icebergs — at least what one can see above the surface.
It’s quite
another story at LeConte, the southernmost tidewater glacier in the United States
and Shakes off the Stikine River.
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| Icebergs calved from Le Conte fill up the bay |
LeConte
empties into a bay of the same name between the island towns of Wrangell and
Petersburg.
The bay is
most often filled with icebergs calved by the glacier.
It’s much
the same story for Shakes except that over time sediment has built up to the
poiint that the icebergs spawned by Shakes can’t make it out of Shakes Lake and
into the Stikine.
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| Sawyer Glacier is impressive up close |
It took
several years before I was able to get past the bockade of trapped icebergs and
motor the two miles through the lake to glacier’s face.
Apparently
the difference is that ice that breaks off Margerie and other glaciers in
Glacier Bay comes from the face. At LeConte, the giant chunks that break off to become icebergs separate below the
waterline and bob to the surface.
How high a berg floats
depends upon its size, the ice's density, and the water's density. Bergs may be
weighed down or even submerged by rock and rubble. A modest-looking berg may
suddenly loom enormous – and endanger small craft – when it rolls over. Boaters
and especially kayakers should keep in mind that what one sees is “just the tip
of the iceberg.”
One thing that glacier
experts can agree on is why the ice is blue. The density of the ice produces
the color. The denser the ice, the bluer it will appear.
Rangers who boarded the Pearl
to help visitors enjoy Glacier Bay passed along a tip for photographers. More
often than not, the snapping off a huge chunk of ice is preceded by a loud
crack or pop. Picture taking is a lot easier when the photographer has inkling
that something is about to happen.
Hundreds of
thousand visit Glacier Bay each year, but the vast majority never set foot in
the national park. Instead, they view the bay and surrounding glaciers from the
comfort of a cruise ship, spending a few hours in the bay before heading off
for another port of call in Alaska.
For more on Glacier Bay,
visit www.nps.gov/glba. For information on the others, just plug the name
into an Internet search and browse away.
