Mendenhall Glacier (July-September 2021)
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Not far from Auke Bay, maybe five miles as the raven flies, is the face of Mendenhall Glacier. Iconic but receding, it is still physically impressive and graphically striking.
Like 37 other glaciers, Mendenhall Glacier descends from the Juneau Icefield. Since the Little Ice Age ended in the mid-1700s, it has receded about 2.9 miles from the point of its greatest advance. Its retreat since 1929 formed Mendenhall Lake. John Muir had named it Auk Glacier, after the local Tlingit Auk Kwaan (or Aak'w Kwaan) band, but it was renamed for Thomas Corwin Mendenhall, the U.S.G.S. superintendent in the late 1800s. The 5,100 acre Mendenhall Glacier Recreation Area is part of the Tongass National Forest.
The glacier may be the featured star, but the entire recreation area has many other scenic attractions. Lakes and ponds and trails near the visitor center are good subjects for thoughtful rumination and photography, despite the challenge of taking an image that doesn't repeat the millions taken before. Nugget Falls is a muscular torrent. The wildlife includes bears enticed by salmon in streams feeding Mendenhall Lake. Elevated walkways potentially protect visitors from the bears. Ravens, habituated to human food leftovers, opportunistically plead their case in the parking lots. The flora contrasts brightly with the surrounding evergreens.
The star attraction: The glacier (in a panoramic of stitched frames taken with a telephoto lens):
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The visitor center provides sheltered views on rainy days and space for lectures.
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A wide-angle lens misleadingly makes the glacier seem very small.
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The ice displays ranks of facets; threads of gravel vein the ice, dirt discolors it. As the light changes, the facets change, too, so that their blue intensifies, fades, and then intensifies again.
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A big iceberg, calved off the glacier, is melting away.
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A small iceberg floats in front of a water-level fog bank obscuring the lake's far shore.
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Not many years ago, crystalline ice floated in the lake and could be captured with a rake, providing cooling for ice cabinets before refrigerators and electricity reached the area. The ice, compressed and old, was nearly as transparent as glass.
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After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.