Meandering Runoff

   Alaska Cruise Trip Day 5 – Heading out of the Endicott Arm.

Along the way, we saw many places where spring runoff was carving paths down the mountains.

Dawes Glacier

  Alaska Cruise Trip Day 5 – The Dawes Glacier.

Thirty miles from the beginning of the Endicott Arm Fjord, we arrived at the Dawes Glacier.  

Yes, the scenery was beautiful, but I was expecting something else.  TV shows always show zoomed-in views of glaciers, highlighting their majestic size.  But what my eyes showed me when we arrived was a Minnesota shopping mall parking lot at the end of March after a very snowy winter.  Except the "snow" at the glacier wasn't dirty gray with shopping carts sticking out of it.

About the time I was thinking these thoughts, the ship narrator reminded us that we were still half a mile away from the glacier at this, our closest point in the journey.  Our perspective was distorted.  In actuality, that wall of blue glacier is over 600 feet tall and half a mile wide!

As the ship was slowly turning around to leave, we heard cracking noises from the glacier.  One giant piece calved off, and my husband saw it just as it hit the water.  

Blue Beauty

 Alaska Cruise Trip Day 5 – Nearing the Dawes Glacier in the Endicott Arm Fjord.

The sun was out, and the ice was more plentiful the closer we got to the glacier.  This was the view behind us.

Here is a close-up of the chunk of ice floating in the middle of today's scenic view.  It is such a pretty blue color, especially with the sun shining through it.

Side-swiped

     Alaska Cruise Trip Day 5 – Nearing the Dawes Glacier in the Endicott Arm Fjord.

If you look closely at the rocky surface of the mountains, you will see deep scrapes, like they were side-swiped.  Well, they actually were!  Those are the marks the glacier left behind when it passed through this area many moons ago.

Chunky

  Alaska Cruise Trip Day 5 – Approximately 24 miles into the Endicott Arm Fjord.

As we approached the glacier, we saw increasing amounts of glacier flotsam floating in the fjord. This was an especially large chunk with an interesting honeycomb pattern.