Matanuska Glacier 2009

Last summer Maree and I took a camping trip to the Matanuska Glacier. I hadn't been down on the glacier or a couple of years and i'd never gone camping there. It was a fun trip. We got a spectacular camping spot on a dirt bluff right in front of the glacier. It was nice to be there at sunset and not have to worry about the 100 mile drive back to town.

Following are pictures of the trip. Going back to the glacier is always interesting, as it's always remarkably different every time you go. There's been a lot of melting in the front edge, and now you have to walk much farther on metal planks across quicksand and icy mud to get to the toe of the exposed ice. The lake that's been there for years is much lower now and the impressive seracs above the lake are not so impressive anymore. I'm surprised how long they've endured.

This is the lake, much lower now. Last time Maree would have been underwater.

This "river" comes out of the lake and winds through this canyon.

 This channel blocked us from making any more progress to the west part of the glacier.

 I don't think i'd ever noticed this old boat before.

The next morning we were awakened by C-140's flying low overhead. On the way back to town we stopped near the old Buffalo Mine so i could show Maree where i'd found a bunch of fossils of ferns and leaves and a few summers back. It looked like a rockhound had found the site and had completely excavated the layer of exposed rock out from under the bank where it was located, leaving trees dangling above. It was too bad, especially since the guy probably just did it to sell to shops that sell those kind of things.

This is the view from our campsite at 4am.

Sunset. A good area to train a young Batman in melee combat.