Perseverance Trail Hike

Last month, Jonny and I decided to try the Perseverance Trail. It was a really rainy day, and we had a lot of fun! If you would like to see some of the drive, click the link below!

Click here to see the rainy drive through town!

Because the day was so rainy, and I only had my phone to use as a camera, I had to put it inside a plastic ziplock bag. These photos aren't the best quality, but you get the idea of what the trail is like.

Here's the trail head!

This trail is right downtown, and you can see a lot of old mining ruins along the way. 

We're all ready to go in our rain gear!

A spooky old abandoned mine shaft! 

Here's the different routes you can hike.

We had a lot of late snow this year, so the trail was still pretty snowy. You can see the huge avalanche chutes and mudslides along the sides of the mountains.

Jonny walks ahead on the trail.

More snow!

Some of the plaques have old-time pictures from the mining days. Here's one of some people driving along the road. This road was built in 1889 to extend the route into Silverbow Basin to allow for better access to the gold mine.

Because of all the erosion and slides along the treacherous road, it has been rebuilt several times. You can see more slides here.
 

A waterfall from snow melt along the sides of the rocks.

A huge rockslide blocks the trail. We had to climb over it to continue.

Jonny stands next to an avalanche.

The rest of the trail was pretty snowy. There were still several feet on the ground, and it got worse the higher we hiked.

Jonny post-holing along the trail. The snow here is up to our knees!

It was getting pretty hard to continue at this point!

Eventually, we just had to turn around and go back. The snow was too deep and we weren't prepared for it! We'll have to try this trail again later. Hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Whales and Trails

The tours have started, and there are lots of beautiful things to see out in the forest and on the water! I've decided to post a sample of some of the things that I get to see every day.

The sunlight is beautiful as it streams through the spruce trees on the East Glacier Trail.

An insistent Steller's Jay often follows us on our tours, waiting for snacks.

On the water, the humpbacks are returning to their feeding grounds. Watching them dive into the deep never gets tiring.

This whale is lunge feeding. Lunge feeding is when a baleen whale lunges its body forward with its mouth open, filtering the water. This whale is lunging on its side along the surface. You can see its ventral pleats, tongue, and even some baleen on the roof of its mouth!

He was having a grand old time and didn't mind us watching him eat one bit. Here's another lunge! See how large he is compared to a nearby boat?

If you would like to watch the whale doing a lunge, just click the link below!

Click here to see the whale lunge feeding!

Keep checking back for more! :)

Mendenhall Ice Caves

I know it's been a while since I updated. I've been having some problems with my camera. But enough about that.. Some things have changed and it turns out that Jonny and I are both going to be naturalist guides this summer! To get us ready, we decided to kick things off with another hike to the ice caves. The last time I went there, it was summer and most of the caves had already collapsed. This time, things were much different.

On our way there, we spotted what looked like an animal hide. As we approached, we saw a dead mountain goat lying on the rocks. You could even still see its hooves attached. Wolves are spotted frequently near the glacier, so we think that's what happened to the goat.

Here's the Mendenhall glacier!

Jonny climbed up onto the ice for a better look.

It really turned out to be a beautiful day!

Last summer, the caves I found were more like tiny crawl spaces beneath ice ridges. This spring they're entirely different. These caves were large, round, and very long! We could stand up and walk from one end to the other!

But what ARE ice caves, you might ask? Well, let me tell you! An ice cave is formed by water that runs through or underneath the glacier. Heat transfer from the water can then form air-filled cavities. If you know where to look, you can find these air pockets underneath the glacier. They're beautifully crafted out of the densest, more azure glacial ice.

Here I am standing in front of the entrance of the first cave we explored. It was about 75ft long.

The blue ice that I was encircled by was absolutely amazing.

Jonny gets dripped on by the melting ceiling of the cave.

We made it through and went on to explore the face of the glacier for more caves. 

Standing next to something so large can really make you feel tiny!

Jonny stops for lunch.

Here's the interior of the second ice cave. This one was about 200ft long.

Jonny reaching for the ceiling of the cave.

Here I am feeling the ice.

Having a great time together.

The end of the tunnel.

The different textures of the ice are so beautiful that I decided to take some close-ups.

The sunlight streaming down through the ice made everything look so blue inside!

Examining the silt on the ice.

Here's one end of the tunnel.

 And here's the other.

We also took some walkthroughs of the tunnels. If you'd like to see them, click on the links below!

Click here to see walkthrough 1.

Click here to see walkthrough 2.

After we had explored the tunnels and had decided it was time to go back, something extraordinary happened. We were walking away from the glacier when we heard what sounded like roaring thunder. When we turned around, we saw a huge chunk of ice the size of two cars break off from the face of the glacier and splash into the lake below. Ice scattered everywhere into the water revealing a brand new deep blue section of ice on the glacier's front. Several waves then shot out and quickly carried the smaller pieces into the middle of the lake. We were so mesmerized that we couldn't do much more than stare with our mouths hanging open. But I did manage to record a bit of the aftermath right after the calving occurred. 

Click here to see the aftermath!

After all the excitement, it was time to start the long hike back.

We sure had a great time! What an incredible first hike to the glacier for Jonny! Enjoy the pictures and videos we took from my phone. I hope to get a new camera in the future that can take better pictures. Make sure to check back for our next adventure!