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The face of Dawes Glacier was the goal for the
day. This is another spot we had been leery of
because there is little information available
for cruisers. We asked around, got a little more
information, and decided to give it a try.
Take a look at this screen shot of the very
small scale (1:80,000) chart you have to work
with. You can see that the end of Endicott
Arm (on the right) is a blue blank and says “unsurveyed”.
That kept us away for a number of years. The
circle with a dot - at far right - is where we
ended up viewing the face of the glacier. Seeing
a charter boat leave that spot as we were approaching
demonstrated to us that is was possible to get
that close.
The question as
we started out, however, was: would we be able
to get all the way up the arm or would the
bergie bits (glacier ice in the water) stop
us before we could get that far?
Even if we couldn't
get to the end of Endicott Arm, we were seeing
lots of beauty along the way. This hanging
glacier peeked out as we looked to the north.
Everywhere we turned,
we saw amazing views. It was a hazy day, but
the views were still beautiful.
At this point we
were still asking, will we get to see it? Then
we turned this corner and there it was - off
in the distance. We were actually quite surprised
at how open the path was.
Now we were sure
we would be able to get quite close.
As we kept looking
around us, we were captured by this particular
waterfall.
Here's the view
of this waterfall that we liked the best. Look
at those huge rock formations that divert the
path of the water.
You might say I
was getting excited by knowing we were going
to be able to get really close.
Here's what all
the excitement is about.
The beautiful blue.
And we're still
two miles from the face.
Here we are at a
quarter mile from the face.
Beautiful, isn't
it?
More beauty.
And more.
We had turned away
to start our departure when I heard the crack
that sounds like gunfire. I grabbed the camera
and looked back. The glacier was calving.
Look at the big
swelling wave that emanates from the ice crashing
into the water.
We were finally
going to have to leave - with the Green Devil
bringing up the rear.
We were happy to
have seen Dawes Glacier.
The Royal Sounder
had made yet another "prudent
adventure".
We hope you liked
the glacier photos. Wait until you see the
fabulous breaching-whale picture that David
took as we next made our way through Frederick
Sound to Petersburg. We'll also have next, "What
It's Like to Lose Your Steerage in Wrangell
Narrows" tale to tell.
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