The face of the Root Glacier - at least the part we can see. There is a light covering of dirt and small rocks at this point but scuff you feet and the ice is right there!

A view back down the valley - 180º from the view to the right. The moraine to the right with underlying ice and dry moraine on the slope to the left. (Looking back toward Kennicott.)

Closer, you can see the ice under the debris - several hundred feet of it - very dangerous to hike on. (Looking back toward Kennicott.)

Back on the Glacier - truly an other-worldly landscape. Donoho Peak in the background.

Lesley contemplating a leap across a crevasse. "Hmmm. Do I jump across and risk falling a hundred feet or not?" Shortly after she decided to jump, we tried walking up the slope to the left - that was not happening without spikes on our boots!! Who'd have thought ice was so slippery!

Out here at the ends of the earth, the only thing you hear is the faint sound of water under your feet. Each of these crevasses carries a stream of melt water - each running under the 6 mile moraine and eventually joining to form the Kennicott River -
which flows into the Nizina River,
which flows into the Chitina River,
which flows into the Copper River,
which empties into the Gulf of Alaska near Cordova.

If you stand quietly and concentrate, you can hear and almost feel the grinding of ice on ice under the tortured landscape as the Glacier thaws, collapses and retreats. Mother nature at work.

Is the retreat of our glaciers because of "global warming?" Perhaps, perhaps not. Because of us? Perhaps, perhaps not. But consider that if it weren't for the global warming cycle that started eons ago, we'd still be in an ice-age. Is it a normal macro-weather cycle? My guess is yes.

Lesley on the trail back to Kennicott. This is the same bridge pictured in #13 with the guy in red crossing.

The Powerhouse - somehow it didn't look this interesting when we came from the other direction. The moral? If you're out shooting pictures, always look in your rearview mirror!

Main Street Kennecott.

And a parting shot. I'm standing on the runway of the McCarthy Airport (a reasonably smooth grass strip) shooting north toward the Wrangell Mountains - Mount Blackburn is in the center at 16,390 feet. Donoho Peak is to the right in the mid-ground (almost a silhouette). The Kennicott Glacier is that long slab of ice winding down through the middle of the picture.

Next, Tok & Chicken, Alaska and Dawson City, Yukon

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