The Worthington Glaicer is one of the few glaicers in Alaska which you can easily
hike to.
It is only 28 miles north of Valdez so we went there twice. Once when it was cloudy
the second time when it was sunny.
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The glaicer as seen from the viewing platform.
The glaicer is a good mile from the platform. Two of the white dots near my
hat are people climbing up to the galicer.
The wall chart explains how they measured the glaicer movement.
They went up to the middle of the glaicer and, using a hot water drill, drilled
a hole vertically down
to bed rock. By placing a camera down into the hole, they were able to measure
the glacier movement at its base. Then they verfied that the hole was vertical.
They made measurements on May 1, June 1, and July 1. The base moved 5 feet each
month. On June 1 and July 1 they noted that the hole was no longer vertical.
The top of the glaicer moved 8 feet each month.
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Because the hike to the glaicer was over rocks, streams, underground streams, and
mud, Mom did not want to climb all the way up to the glaicer. I went ahead and broke
off a piece of ice to bring back to her. You can see other people in the background.
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I went back and talked Mom into slowly climbing to the glaicer.
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It was nice and cool next to the glaicer.
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Resting before heading back down.
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