We signed up for the advanced trek with Mica guides, a guiding company founded by the woman who I lived with in Haines, Alaska. She very kindly hooked us up with a day trip, a full day of glacier exploration: visiting crevasses, moulins, deep canyons, blue pools.
Read MoreOur first steps on the glacier ice were aided by rope and crampons. One by one we climbed up a short incline to reunite with our guide who acted as our anchor on the short climb. This small gain in elevation brought us on top of the glacier. Now we stood on an expansive field of solid white ice.
Read MoreAfter the two introductory moulins and blue pools, we began to make our way though ice corridors towards the largest blue pond of the day. Earlier in the summer this valley had been a lake. Using the photograph above will give you a point of reference, we were standing at the bottom of an old lake, the bottom of a bathtub.
Read MoreOne by one we climbed up ropes established by our wonderful guide to reach the top of the glacier. From here we searched for our final stop of the day, a waterfall. We walked across the ice in what had become our usual formation, a single file line like ducklings following their mama.
Read MoreThe way in which the Mint Hut reveals itself to you will leave you giddy, because you’ll be very glad to have concluded a nine-mile hike, but most of all because this little hut is a character. Similar to how a car sometimes appears to have a face, sometimes even wearing an expression, the Mint Hut has personality.
Read MoreSometimes mornings are the hardest part of camping: prying yourself away from the cocooned warmth of your sleeping bag, putting on cold clothes, trying to make coffee as quickly as possible, digging your morning cat hole. Morning time in the Mint Hut was warm, dry, and peaceful.
Read MoreFrom the Mint hut we started up a trail, a well defined thin dirt line carving through bright green mountain grass. This was the way to the first of two lakes. Despite some serious digging I haven’t been able to figure out if this first lake has a name, so I will continue to call it the first lake.
Read MoreIt never gets old to take those final few steps, up and over an incline, that reveal an epic view. This was the second lake sitting at the base of the Mint Glacier, a snake of ice carving its way down the side of a moody looking rock peak.
Read MoreAs we stood by the lake at the base of the Mint Glacier, quiet rain drops began to fall, so discretly they were only noticeable on the surface of the lake. It was no great surprise, all morning the scent of pending rain lingered in the air, fresh and chilly.
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