After shopping at Fred Meyers this morning, then having a long look at a truck for sale, my Mountain Boy and Jamie and I took a drive out to Mendenhall Glacier.
When we arrived we were one of only a small handful of vehicles in the parking lot.
I couldn't help comparing this morning to so many other times that I had been out to the glacier this past summer, when the parking lot was filled with not only local cars but also long lines of cruise ship buses, long lines of tourists waiting to catch buses back to town, and rows of seasonal workers barking orders and receiving instructions from two way radios.
Today was very quiet, very grey, slightly above freezing, and Mendenhall Glacier was covered in snow and ice.
We first, as we usually do, walked to the overlook right beside the parking lot so that we could enjoy the easily accessible full view of the glacier.
The glacier looked raw, the lake was frozen and covered with snow and ice and we could see a few people already walking on it.
360 degrees around us was mountains...........
The small and beautiful pond just to the right of the overlook.
In the summer this pond is always very very calm, and the mountains and trees reflect perfectly in the water.
I have photographed it often because each and every time I see it I fall in love with it.
And today, I fell in love with it again...........
We walked along the snowy and icy sidewalk thankful that we were both wearing Yak Traxx, and headed towards the walk way leading to the Visitors Center and closer to the glacier.
The glacier is beautiful of course from the overlook, but it is a place that compels you to move closer to it, and we headed closer.
Just before turning onto the walk way I saw a snow plough heading towards the parking lot..........
Within only seconds of taking this picture someone turned the lights out........
A view of the overlook from the walkway leading to the Visitors Center........
I have been into the Visitors Center only once, this past summer when people I knew from Tennessee came to visit Juneau with one of the cruise ships.
It is a really nice place to learn about glaciers in general and Mendenhall Glacier in particular, and in the winter entrance is free.
It is also a really nice place to learn about the fish and bears and goats and wolves and eagles that all coexist in this area.
Today LC and I just wanted to walk in the snow and enjoy being outside, and we chose not to go into the Visitors Center..........
My beautiful Tennessee Mountain Boy and my beautiful Tennessee dog.
There are times I remember our life just a year ago and wonder exactly how the heck we got here.
Life is so different now.
I would never have been able to foretell this future a year and a half ago.
If anyone had asked me what I envisioned for my life only a couple of years into the future back then, I would not have come up with the life we have now.
Not in a million years..........
People are now walking on all of the lakes in Juneau.
But I would not ever think to stand on top of, or crawl underneath the overhang of an iceberg in a glacier fed lake.
I saw both today..........
As we continued past the Visitors Center and along still more of the walkway, we eventually made our way to another overlook.
At this overlook you can see the glacier even closer, but here the world also seems wide open.
You are right beside the lake, overlooking the mountains, and even though today was grey the clouds were very high in the sky, and the world seemed very big to me.
I liked it.
Unlike some people I do not find Juneau claustrophobic, but it still feels very good when you can look out over the lake and see wide open space.
On a high-cloud day you can see forever.
The snow covered everything, and rather than seeing small rivers and lakes and pieces of land and sand bars, all I could see when I looked out, was one very vast field of snow...........
From this second overlook we could see the huge waterfall close to the glacier, that in the summer is only one very large, fast, noisy waterfall.
When LC and I first saw it today we thought that it was completely frozen, until we realized that we could still hear rushing water.
It was only partially frozen, and even though we had initially planned on only a short and quick visit to Mendenhall Glacier we decided to wade through the field of snow to get closer to the waterfall.
A picture of the falls from the overlook..........
And the glacier from the overlook.........
More frozen lake walkers..........
If you click on this picture you can see that one person is crouching underneath the iceberg.
Eventually the second person followed suit................
The Visitors Center from the overlook.
This center is not only lovely on the inside, but it is also lovely on the outside.
It is built directly into the rock, and just seems to "fit" where it stands............
Another shot of the walkway leading to the overlook.
A very free form shape, it flows like water.........
Heading onto trails that were not ploughed we found ourselves in deeper snow.
The walking was tougher, but we were having a very good time, my dog was having an OUTSTANDING time, we were heading further away from the few people who were at the glacier which was more than fine by me, and scenery all around me was more beautiful than anything I had ever seen..........
Still wading through the snow making our way to the falls...........
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