The Mendenhall glacier flows for 12 miles down the Mendenhall Valley to its terminus near the visitor center. The ice flows forward at an average rate of 2 feet per day, but at the very same time, it wastes away at a slightly faster rate. Waste occurs through melting or when large pieces of ice break off the face of the glacier. When the rate of melting exceeds the rate of flow, a glacier recedes. The Mendenhall glacier has been receding since the late 1700's and currently retreats at a rate of 25-30 feet per year.
Mendenhall Glacier as seen from the rear of my campsite at Mendenhall Lake campground in the Tongass National Forest. The full face of the glacier cannot be seen from this vantage point because it is blocked by the bit of land jutting out from the left.
The view from the Visitors Center. We are seeing only a very small portion of the glacier as it extends 12 miles back down the valley.
A little bit closer.
An awesome waterfall flows down from above. Another waterfall can be seen in the far distance to the right of the glacier.
A ride on the lake gets you a little closer to the face of the glacier.
Some of the larger icebergs floating in Mendenhall Lake. Icebergs are created when the glacier calves (chunks of ice fall off the face of the glacier).
I couldn't resist picking up a chunk of glacial ice that was floating close to the shore. It was crystal clear and many, many years old. And it was cold...
The Sandhill cranes are big birds about 3 feet tall, gray with the bright red spot on top of their head. Cranes, as well as the geese, migrate down from their nesting areas in Alaska and Canada in the fall to winter along the Rio Grande River, mostly at the Bosque del Apache Refuge which is about 2 hour drive south of us. There are a lot of these birds that go to Texas to winter, too. They usually start arriving here in November. In late winter, about now, they start their migration back north to the nesting grounds. There used to be so many of these unique birds that it was unbeleivable. My grandmother told me of watching them in the fields especially of doing the stange dance they do when mating. I have seen this at other times but none were doing it on this day. The sandhills almost were gone at one time but they came under the protection of many bird groups and now there are lots of them again. If you are lucky and I mean very lucky you might see one of the extreamly rare hooping cranes in with the sandhills. The hoopers are almost white and taller. I did get to see one at a distance in the Bosque del Apache Refuge a long time ago. We had planned to go there but decided it was to far on this day. Link to the Bosque del Apache http://http://www.friendsofthebosque.org/Friendsindex.html#whatsnew
This state park of New Mexico is set on the edge of the Rio Grande River in an older section of the city of Albuquerque about 20 miles from my home. The nature center is home to many native plants and animals and lots of birds. There are many people who enjoy birding that come here to see the birds that live here and the ones that are just passing through as were the geese and cranes that we saw yesterday when we went there. It has been about 10 years since I have been here but not much had changed except then it cost $1 to get in and now it is $3 per car. We didn't see any of the sandhill cranes in the park but did in a field as we were leaving. One of the most interesting birds we saw was way off at a distance and I didn't get a close shot of him. It was a Kingfisher bird which I had never seen before.
