The next stop along
the way was Skagway. I’d wanted to do a “big” excursion while in Alaska – and
the one that really stood out to me was a helicopter trip to the top of a
glacier, but I really didn’t to do it alone. Fortunately, one of the guys in
the group had already booked this exact excursion – so I chatted with him, and
I excitedly signed up so we could go together.
Since he’s a super-geek that works for IBM (and I work at
Adobe), we immediately had something to talk about – which made this excursion
with a stranger/new-friend so much nicer. And Jae is really a nice guy – we
talked a bit, and we texted to coordinate where to meet to head off to our
adventure.
The ship docked early, and everyone headed in different
directions. As the time we’d booked approached, a shuttle came and picked us up
at the pier and drove us to the Heliport in Skagway. Step 1, along the way, was
to watch the Safety Video “in the event of an emergency” – which no one wants
to really think about as you’re boarding a helicopter. Then, upon arrival to
the heliport, we headed inside the building to get a Safety Vest (since we’d be
flying over water), and to empty all but our essentials into a locker. Camera,
yes. Camera bag, no. Only the basics were allowed on the helicopter – so I put
my camera lens and a few essential items into my pockets, buckled up the
super-stylish safety vest, and slid on the rubber over-boots (with extra grip
for walking along a glacier).
Then we headed outside to wait for the helicopter. It was
really windy in Skagway, so the Alaskan air cooled us down really fast – but
within a few minutes we could see the helicopters returning to the base. A
quick fill-up of gas (always a good idea), and we hopped into the ‘copter with
another couple and our pilot – and then we were off.
We flew quite high, so much so that the cruise ship looked
tiny below us. And we were flying over millions of acres of trees and vast
wilderness. Skagway isn’t very big –
just a few blocks each direction, so it was pretty quickly that we were far out
of town and heading up to the Meade Glacier.
As we got higher, the winds got stronger, and our helicopter
was doing quite a bit of bouncing around mid-air. Amazingly, all of us had been
in helicopters before – and our very calm (and quite cute) pilot assured us
that Skagway was always windy and this was a very typical ride. It was 20-30
minutes up to the Glacier, and he pointed out the areas we passed – including
Chilkoot Inlet, the river that flows down from the glacier, and a number of
waterfalls. It was immediately apparent that the only way to get to this
glacier was by helicopter – it was incredibly remote.
Getting closer to the
glacier, we could see the miles it covered currently – and the hundreds of
miles of shoreline that it once covered. In the distance we could see a yurt
and a flag, indicating the place we would land and meet our guides. As we
touched down, one guide met us, opened the door, and instructed us on climbing
out safely and carefully heading across the ice – we had actually landed ON the
glacier! It was also immediately apparent why we had been given the over-boots
for walking on the ice, but fortunately they did their job well, and it was
pretty easy to walk.
A few other helicopters had landed, and soon we had a small
group together – for a brief overview. Then we were invited to take a walking
stick to aid us along the very uneven surface – as our guide headed across the
glacier to show us some of the beauty hidden within.
First noticeable was the streaks of dirt and rocks on the
ice, gathered as this mass of ice moved along the surface of the land –
constantly moving and shifting, and picking up debris along its path. Many of
the rocks were the size of a fist, while others were quite large boulders –
clearly demonstrating the incredible power of nature.
She took us to a few of the deep openings in the ice. The
deeper the ice goes, the bluer things look – and from the edge of the crevice we
could see quite deep into the glacier. As we moved to different opening, we
could see some that had small streams flowing through them, and again the
immensity of the melting of billions of tons of ice became incredibly apparent.
At a few of them, she dropped a rock in – so we could hear it bouncing into the
distance as it fell to the bottom of the crevice. One boulder was as big as she
could carry wrapped in both arms, and we heard this large rock bounce off the
sides as it fell to the bottom far below our feet.
At one of the streams
flowing along the top of the glacier, she invited us to kneel down and drink
the fresh flowing water, directly from the source. Knowing this was likely my
only chance to ever drink from a glacier, I knelt down – and immediately froze
my fingers in the recently melted ice. It was incredibly clear, fresh, and
cold. Cold fingers for a few minutes was a small price to pay for the
experience.
We walked around on the glacier for nearly an hour, before
heading back to our landing spot for our trip back. Then another 20+ minutes
back, and our incredible experience was over – but definitely one for the
books. Jae and I both agreed that although it had been a bit of a splurge to do
this particular excursion, it was definitely the highlight of the trip – and
one we’d not soon forget. One neither of us will EVER forget.
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