Portage Glacier Valley

On Tuesday of our vacation we drove out to the Portage Valley to see Portage glacier and then we decided to take a little 3/4 mile trail up to the Byron glacier. On the drive there we could see this range of snow covered mountains that were just beautiful. Michael and Megan said that you couldn't always see them, so it was exciting to be able to get such great pictures. The second one is my favorite picture from our whole vacation.

I am not sure if this is the Portage glacier or not. It seems to me that glaciers come in groups. Whenever there was one there was at least 2 or 3 more. If you look at the glacier it looks blue and that is because the glacier really is blue. We learned from a Forrest Ranger that glaciers look blue because the ice crystals are so small that they absorb all colors of light except the blue rays which they reflect so that the ice appears blue. Also we learned that for a glacier to be in fact a glacier it must cover 25 acres.

Here we are in front of Portage lake and the glacier is back behind us. This lake was carved out by the Portage glacier and the glacier in the 1800s was actually were we were standing.

Here is a zoomed in shot of the Portage glacier across the lake.

A stream ran along side the trail up to the Byron glacier. I assume that the water is from the glacier. It was very cold. Here Chris is letting Hannah feel the icy water.

When we got up to the glacier we were surprised to find that we could actually walk right up and touch it which was so exciting. Or so we thought. Later when talking to the Forrest Ranger we found out that this is actually a snow field from an avalanche off of the glacier. Since it came off of the glacier I will continue to say that I walked up to a glacier and was able to touch it. He didn't say how long ago the avalanche occurred, but it has been many many years. There was a cave carved out of the ice by the stream that was tall enough to walk back into, if you are the adventurous type. It was really awesome to be able to see it so up-close.

Here is picture of Michael and Amelia standing next to the "glacier".

Hannah reaching out to touch the ice.

And then to taste it!!!! When do children out grow the need to explore and experience everything by taste?

Family picture! If you look at this picture the ice has a blue hue confirming to me that it is okay to say that it is still glacier :)

Here you can see the blue of the ice a little closer and Hannah's cute little finger. Who knew that a finger could look so cute pressed up against ice! (Sorry my Mommy-ness is coming out)

Looking up the side of the glacier it was really beautiful!

Hannah had the most fun just playing with rocks along the stream. And yes there was even tasting of the rocks.