Capturing the Moment

   As always with UnCruise, our itinerary leaves a lot of room for flexibility and inspiration. The group this week was really into glaciers after their opening day flightseeing trip over LeConte Glacier near Petersburg, AK. So our bold plan was to show them three glaciers on the last three days, all experienced in completely different ways.   Up first was Dawes Glacier. At the end of a beautiful fjord named Endicott Arm, a great tidewater glacier stands guard as it has for thousands of years. It slowly marches its river of ice down and through the mountains until ending in the ocean with a 200ft tall face that often calves great chunks of ice into the water. Here we took advantage of the calm, windless conditions to explore by kayak. We saw calvings, a shooter, and had a visit from a much appreciated cocoa boat serving hot cocoa with kahlua. Kayking through the ice and watching a glacier calve made the guests wonder what could possibly top this.   Next up...

  Five years ago we used to walk guests right up to this glacier and then up on top. It was a grounded glacier, receding away from the fjord it created. No one expected it to recede so fast that in just a few years time not only can we not walk on the glacier but we can hardly even see it. Now there is an expansive lake filled with dying chunks of ice, broken off from the glacier. This is the state that Baird Glacier, in Thomas Bay, is in today. See Baird Glacier 2 years ago during my first visit here . High Res Landscape Pictures  Despite the gloomy state of the glacier, if you can make it up to the lake it is a magical place of ice and tranquility. However, getting to the lake is no easy feat. A white knuckle small boat ride can get you into the glacial melt river which is ever present, cutting its way through the mud and rocks of the terminal moraine. The river is usually a few feet deep, however with all the glacial flour deposited in the river the visibility...

Rediscovering New Lands in Southeast Alaska Rebecca at the Baird glacier lake    The retreating glaciers of Alaska are leaving behind a moonscape land of boulders, silt, and minerals that have been scraped off the sides of the valleys or scoured from the valley floor. This jumble of dirt, rocks, and silt is left behind once the glacier starts its retreat and is called the terminal moraine. The constant melting of the glacier can build up a lake between itself and the moraine which is what you see in famous inland glaciers like Mendenhall outside of Juneau.    The terminal moraine provides a wonderful science experiment in plant succession. Recently uncovered land lies bare until the crypto-biotic soil provides enough nutrients for the pioneering nitrogen fixers to gain hold. Shrubby alder trees come in next and pave the way for bigger trees like spruce, hemlock, and cedar to follow. The whole process reminds me of Hawaii’s lava fields, new land which...

"Glacial Grey"   All season I have been hearing stories about the infamous Baird Glacier. Apparently as recent as two years ago we were able to drop passengers off to go hike up onto the glacial ice. But as the glacier gallops backwards in its retreat, it leaves the terminal moraine buildup with an uncrossable lake between it and the ice.    The first mate on board has been trying to talk me out of schedule excursions at Baird because of the fact that to get people up to the the landing area the small boats have to navigate a flowing glacial river complete with rapids and standing waves. But I was not to be swayed so I used my power to send the ship to Baird glacier on this week's trip.    Hiking to Baird Glacier    Since this was our first time here this season a few of us jumped in a skiff early in the morning to rocket out way up the river and figure our the logistics for the day. We made it to the landing point but just beyond that...