Capturing the Moment

  Beauty in the ice at Lamplugh Glacier What an incredible day. It was low tide at the Lamplugh Glacier, and the hiking groups had gone out already. I was ready to take out an adventurous group of kayakers to explore the glacier. The weather was beautiful and the wind was calm, so I was eager to get the group going. Because a small boat had snaked out usual anchorage, we did a live-boat drop, where we are adrift, instead of anchoring. This put us in a position to explore deeper down the coast than usual. We even made a few landings just to explore some beautiful looking rocky beaches. Wildflowers abounded and bald eagles hung out in the nearby trees and rock ledges. Then we cruised further down the coast for the big reveal of Lamplugh Glacier. I thought we were only going to be able to kayak outside of the moraine, and gaze at the glacier from afar, but to my surprise the outflow river from the glacial lake was flowing slow enough that my entire group could paddle up it and made it...

   I watched an interesting movie the other day about the record retreat of many of the world's glaciers called ' Chasing Ice .' James Balog, a National Geographic photographer placed time lapse cameras in strategic positions looking over sixteen different glaciers. The resulting footage of these multi-year glacier time lapses give a striking visual to what scientists have been trying to say for decades. Lamplugh Glacier 2015 Lamplugh Glacier 2017    Inspired by this idea I have been trying to do my own glacier time lapses, albeit on a much smaller scale. While running trips with UnCruise in Southeast Alaska I have the opportunity to visit the same glaciers year after year. I try to get pictures from similar location and angles to allow a better understanding of the shifting face of the glacier at its terminus. Dawes Glacier 2015 Dawes Glacier 2017   Here are a couple of glaciers with pictures from over the last 3 years. Lamplug...

Sitting on the edge The terminus of the now grounded Lamplugh  This hike is for the extremers, the 'go get em' bunch that doesn't mind some dizzying heights, near vertical scrambles, and some steep dropoffs. If that sounds like you then keep reading. If not then maybe check out a calmer post about my first visit to Glacier Bay National Park three years ago.   In the heart of Glacier Bay National Park there is Lamplugh Glacier. I have heard about the ridge hike which starts from the lookers left side of the glacier for years, but until recently I had never gotten a chance to tackle it myself. Last week I took a hard charging group of hikers from my boat, the Safari Quest, to see just how high we could make it, and what kind of views we could get. Human Totem Pole at the top    For parts of the hike there is a worn trail. The views of the glacier expanding below you, and of all the mountain range extending as far as you can see are more and more ...