6/11/13 Portage Glacier
We decided we wanted to see Portage Glacier and got two glaciers for the price of one.
The trail to Byron Glacier is before the parking area for Portage Glacier so we decided to take the short hike, along Byron Creek, to see the glacier up close and personal.
Byron Glacier descends from the same ice field that feeds both Portage Glacier on the lake and Blackstone Glacier in Prince William Sound. After out hike to Byron Glacier, it was on to Portage Glacier.
Portage Glacier completely covered its lake and reached into the valley in the 1800s. After steadily retreating over the 20th Century and exposing a chilly, 600-foot-deep lake between sheer mountain walls, Portage finally slipped from view in the 1990s. Its face is now behind the left-side mountain, about three miles from the lakeside parking.
Scientists say it appears to be currently stable and has not retreated much since 1999. Still, Portage remains a very active glacier, with its face regularly shattering and dropping great hunks of ice into the lake like a giant conveyer belt.
Read MoreThe trail to Byron Glacier is before the parking area for Portage Glacier so we decided to take the short hike, along Byron Creek, to see the glacier up close and personal.
Byron Glacier descends from the same ice field that feeds both Portage Glacier on the lake and Blackstone Glacier in Prince William Sound. After out hike to Byron Glacier, it was on to Portage Glacier.
Portage Glacier completely covered its lake and reached into the valley in the 1800s. After steadily retreating over the 20th Century and exposing a chilly, 600-foot-deep lake between sheer mountain walls, Portage finally slipped from view in the 1990s. Its face is now behind the left-side mountain, about three miles from the lakeside parking.
Scientists say it appears to be currently stable and has not retreated much since 1999. Still, Portage remains a very active glacier, with its face regularly shattering and dropping great hunks of ice into the lake like a giant conveyer belt.