Glaciers

Over the course of the seven days, we saw many glaciers, but two stood out in particular.  They were the Hubbard Glacier and the Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau.

The Hubbard Glacier

From its source on Mount Logan in the Yukon territory, Hubbard Glacier stretches 76 miles to the sea at Yakutat and Disenchantment Bays. It is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska, with an open calving face over six miles wide and as high as a thirty floor building.

The Mercury sailed into Yakutat Bay in the early afternoon, and the glacier was soon visible, along with the growlers in the water.  

What was not so obvious was the sheer scale of the glacier.  The ship continued to sail straight towards the ice wall for ages, and the glacier just continued to get bigger and bigger.  Eventually we stopped around a third of a mile from the sea wall.

We were also lucky enough to see some minor calving from the glacial face.

It is difficult to convey in photographs how impressive the Hubbard Glacier is in reality.  For my money, it's up there with the Grand Canyon, Arizona and Uluru, Australia as one of the most impressive natural sites I have been lucky enough to visit.

The Mendenhall Glacier

The Mendenhall glacier is around 13 miles from downtown Juneau.  Whilst not as large as the Hubbard glacier (it's only 1.5 miles wide and 12 miles long), it's just as impressive in it's own way.  It's also much easier to get to!