Glaciers of Alaska

We had planned on going to the glacier on Sunday afternoon, but the weather on Saturday was clear, so went while the going was good.

The sun came out to illuminate the beautifully rugged Alaskan panorama.

On our way we saw these two brown bear cubs on the side of the road. Minutes later they followed their mom across the road. When we passed we saw one cub that was marooned on a little mound, while water swirled around him (it was on a flooded plain.) It was crying and whining so woefully. We hope his mom found him later.
The sun came out to show off the lovely fall colors.

We had a picnic and started a campfire. We had the cookies, graham crackers, and everything but we forgot the marshmallows. Dang! Ian roasted red licorice anyway.

After our little lunch we went over to Childs Glacier.

We spied an ice shark patrolling the frigid shore.

Here I am with my dad, who is a great tour guide and ambassador for Alaska.

The ice in a glacier gets compacted so dense that it reflects this beautiful bluish color.

We spent quite a while at the glacier and we would hear a periodic boom from the calving of the glacier. Big chunks of the glacier fall off and make an impressively loud thundering sound. It's quite impressive to see the ice crashing down into the river as well.

We passed over the infamous "Million Dollar Bridge" which was completed in 1917 for the transport of copper. A section of it collapsed in an earthquake in 1964. Just a couple of years ago they repaired the bridge. It is truly a bridge to nowhere. Two miles after passing the bridge the road just ends.

If you look closely you can see the new black section of the bridge isn't even aligned with the main bridge, necessitating the use of the yellow arrow signs.

This is a photo of Sheridan Glacier which we passed by as well. You can see the top of the ice flow in this picture.
Here is Miles Glacier. It was named after U.S. Army Major General Nelson A. Miles, but we don't know who he is, so we dubbed it Miles Glacier in honor of our very own Miles.