"Wow Brooks look a Bear! OH MY GOSH BROOKS A BEAR A BEAR! WHAT DO WE DO WHAT DO WE DO?!?!" That's how our hike started out yesterday....
So Brooks and I have been doing a lot of hiking, running, and biking around Juneau. I have been a little concerned about the bears because they are frequently seen milling around town (hey everyone has to go into town at some point right?). She said to remain calm, look down and slowly back away. Of course all of the times I have been concerned about seeing a bear, I have been without Eli, which eases my fears a little. Yesterday we hiked the East Glacier trail which goes around the East side of the Mendenhall Glacier. It is a 5 mile, 2 hour, pretty intense hike. We start at the base of the glacier on the same trail that we ran a week ago. Of course this time, I have Eli strapped to my back. As we come to the first bridge we note that there are some beautiful looking fish in the stream. When I look up from viewing the fish, I see a huge black bear not 15 feet in front of us. BEAR IN FRONT OF US. Do I freak out? Do I start screaming? Do I run like a mad woman? NO! Of course not! My first thought is "oooh I'm going to get my camera out!" WHAT IN THE STINKIN' HECK?!?!?! I had told Brooks earlier that I really don't think I would be able to remain calm in the event I ran into a Bear. So instead of screaming, I want to GET MY CAMERA OUT. whaaaaat?!?!?! Of course that thought last about 1 second and my next thought was "OH MY GOSH I HAVE A TURKEY SANDWICH IN MY BACKPACK DIRECTLY BEHIND MY BABY AND THAT HUMONGOUS BEAR IS GOING TO WANT TO EAT IT!" So I say to Brooks "Oh my gosh a bear, what do we do what do we do" and she says "let's just keep walking, just keep walking, we gotta get out of here." So we do and Brooks looks back to see the Bear completely CHARGE towards us, but luckily he was more interested in the fish than us. (good thing my sandwhich wasn't tuna!) WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is a picture of me with the bear...
Okay so bear picture is FAKE, bear story is REAL. :) There have been SO MANY times on this trip that I wish I had a camera strapped to my head and this was one of those times! I wish I could plug a USB cable into my brain and download the image I have of us standing on that bridge looking at the bear, because it was seriously straight out of an adventure movie. Here is one that is similar to the bear we saw...
CRAZY INSANE. The rest of the hike we were TOTALLY FREAKED OUT of seeing a bear (at one point, Brooks says "oh look at the berries" and I said "WHAT?!" she says "berrIES Sarah not bears!"), but we braved the rest of it and I'm so glad we did because it was truly amazing. It is crazy to experience the immense beauty that surrounds us that we don't even realize is there, this is truly an amazing planet!
Towards the end of the hike, Eli fell asleep and it began to rain, so it worked out well that we ended when we did, I had so much fun! And BONUS! We burned 1,000 calories!
That was yesterday, this was today...
Boyd and I have been watching The Bachelorette (oh my goodness aren't Jill and Ed so freakin' cute!) and they go on all these helicopter rides. I have told Boyd many times that it would be so fun to go. So he planned a little surprise for me and...
Took me on a helicopter ride up to the Mendenhall Glacier! It was SO MUCH FUN! (Alicia I know you're totally bummed when you're reading this, I will make Cam take you next time you guys go to Alaska ;) ) I have never been in a helicopter before and it was truly breath-taking!
And what made it even more amazing and romantic, we got to wear these sexy shoes!
Refueling the 'copter (can I call it that?)
A top the glacier. How cool is it that last week I biked to the glacier (twice), yesterday I hiked around it, and today I FLEW ABOVE IT AND LANDED ON IT! WOWZERS!
HOLY MOLEY IT WAS COLD! Being that this was a surprise NO ONE TOLD ME it was going to be 40 degrees! (Note the people behind me in snowgear!) At least Boyd instructed me to wear shoes not flip flops (and he was wearing shorts, I don't think anyone told him either). Today was the nicest day I have EVER experienced in Alaska. It was almost HOT. NO CLOUDS, just pure insanity really (in a good way of course).
This is a stream on the glacier. Apparently there are thousands of them. The glacier is over 12 miles long and 1.5 miles wide. At it's deepest spot, it's over a mile deep!! Some streams run on top of the glacier and some run through it, it's so neat! The ice is denser than regular ice which allows light to pass through it in a different way, causing it to be a blueish hue. It's really beautiful!
When parts of the glacier melt, it creates glacier falls like this one, truly spectacular!
These are peaks and crevasses which are caused by the topography of the rocks under the glacier, as well as the glacier breaking apart. Some crevasses can fit multiple school buses! Boyd thinks they look like meringues! Good call honey.
Another stream
Guess what I'm doing? Drinking the glacier water! It was very yum! You may be noticing the dirt on the glacier and probably be a little grossed out by it, but it's actually the natural state of the glacier. As it moves (it moves about 1.5 feet every day! woah!) it scrapes off rock, dirt, and trees from the mountain which then become part of the glacier.
There are thousands of these holes, wells really, which are created from rocks heating up and then melting the ice. They are filled with water and really neat looking.
I almost fell into this gaping crevasse! Jk, it's only about 3 feet deep! :)
One small step for man... oh wait that's a different surface... :)
Another glacier fall
1 comment:
I'm glad someone got use out of those tickets! And maybe since you didn't go down in a blazing ball of fire Cameron will be more likely to consider the idea of us going the next time we make it to Alaska. Maybe...probably not though! Glad you guys are having a good time. Enjoy it while you can because it is VERY hot here. See you very soon!
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