After spending six weeks in the Alaskan wilderness this summer, regrettably, my girlfriend Aubrey and I are back in civilization. In fact, we have been for almost a month now, but I’ve been too busy to write up our adventures until now.
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Before continuing, I want to announce my 2015 Calendars! This year I am doing an “adventure series,” to share some of the images I’ve made during my adventures over the past few years.
Click to pre-order your 2015 Art in Nature Adventure Series Calendars now
Order by Oct 20th to get 15% off
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Our extended trip started in Juneau, where we spent a few days with friends. We arrived on my birthday, in a torrential downpour, and wondered if we’d made a big mistake leaving sunny Seattle for the notoriously wet climate of southeast Alaska. Fortunately, the weather did clear and we took advantage of a beautiful sunny day by hiking out to the now-famous Mendenhall Glacier ice caves.
The ice caves have formed by the slow melting of the ancient crystal clear ice by a small stream that passes underneath the glacier. The resulting cave is a mesmerizing and almost impossibly blue palace of ice, which is melting rather quickly. Like many of the glaciers in the world, the Mendenhall is retreating – over 150 feet per year since 1958. Just a few weeks before our visit a large collapse threatened to destroy the ice caves, and before long, they will disappear entirely.
Stay tuned for the next two installments: ten days of kayaking in Glacier Bay National Park, and two weeks of backpacking in the Brooks Range!
Click any image for larger view!
Tags: ice, juneau, mendenhall glacier, southeast alaska