Glacier Hike at Wrangell-St. Elias Nat. Park - 6/23/12

We are at the small mining town of McCarthy in the middle of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska. It took us 60 miles of dirt road with many many potholes and fording of two streams to get here. Took us 5 1/2 hours to go 60 miles. With all the bouncing, Rita lost screws from a window, cabinet door and the air conditioner but we found them on the floor and put them all back.... We hope.

I took Sally on a self guided tour of the Root Glacier yesterday.

 Free vs $150 dollars. They had ice axes and crampons vs our trekking poles.   As we climbed into the glacier area, we were met by the cold air that flows out of the mountain down the glacier and into the valley. We doned our jackets and vests and trekked up onto the glacier.

 It was quite slippery getting to the more level areas, but once we got there the going was easy. Sally was worried about falling in a crevass but we could not find any, and I think she felt safer after awhile under my expert guidance. After about 15 minutes we saw a group of young men come trotting down the glacier..... No shirts on... So much for the cold wind.

  We hiked another 15 minutes and a young man and woman came running up to us all excited. They said there was a lake in the glacier a little ways up and that the guy had been swimming in it. We said we did not believe it and they showed us the pictures. When we got to the lake neither of us were tempted. People are crazy.

There was also a wedding scheduled for 3:00 pm yesterday at the Kennicott Lodge and it was 2:00 pm. when we were on the glacier. For us we were about an hour from the hotel. Three young women came running down the glacier toward us and asked where the trail was to the lodge. We pointed them in the correct direction and they ran off. All of the guests were very athletic as they were trail running and going on long hikes. The women looked very fit. Later we learned they were Olympic skiers and friends for the bride.
When we got back down from the glacier and hiked into the town, the wedding was going on. We did not quite expect to have so much activity in the middle of nowhere. We heard later that the bride and groom got engaged here and wanted to have their wedding here. We also heard that the parents were Not pleased about having a destination wedding in such a remote place. Many of the guests flew in from Anchorage in small prop planes and the rest had to drive this incredibly bad road.

Speaking of the bad road . . . We are driving out tomorrow morning. It has rained a little today. Hope the streams we have to ford are not any deeper.