Hubbard Glacier

First of all, I'd like to say that words and even pictures do no justice to the wonder, and power of this place!

Hubbard Glacier is NA's largest tidewater glacier at over 75 miles long, 7.5 miles wide at its terminus, and up to 1,400 ft. thick at it's deepest point. The terminal face above the water line is over 350ft tall and it calves off huge icebergs regularly throughout the summer. It is surrounded by the highest coastal mountain range on Earth; the St. Elias Range. 9 of the 16 tallest peaks in NA are located here within Wrangell-St. Elias NP. Throughout the summer I went out on a pilot boat; the "Survey Point", boarded ships, and gave interpretive programs to the 1400 passengers aboard. They do not dock in Yakutat, only cruise into the head of the bay where Hubbard's terminus is located. Another ranger, and myself spend about 6 hours on the ships each time. The would slow to 12 knots and the "Survey Pt." would pull up against the side as we climb in on a rope ladder. Usually only about 4 steps, but big swells make it more exciting! Today is my last day of work, and Saridus and I finished our last ship over a week ago. I figured it was certainly worthy of one last good post! Some are from the 30 different ships we worked on, and some are from trips to the glacier with friends and such.

This place will humble even the proudest man!

Standing on an iceberg, but not for long!

Mt. St. Elias 18,008' -from Yakutat Bay as we approach the ship.
The Rotterdam

Hubbard in the fog

It has this deep blue color because the dense, glacial ice aborbs almost all colors of the visible spectrum except blue. Our eyes see the reflection, Walah.

Our lovely escort aboard the Zandaam

My favorite -Jeanette

Thankfully I don't have to wear this hat all the time!

This pretty lady is from Charlotte! Small world.

On the bridge, or navigation deck w the Cap'n . I speak from here on a mic.

My view

Made friends with everyone as usual! Gonna miss my boys down on the "Lido Deck!" They sure fed us well!

Calving

Flight over the glacier

This was in May

September

Harbor Seals

photographer, hard at work! Ha

Looking back out of Yakutat Bay to the Gulf of Alaska

Take that!

He switched up on me!

Another ship approaching Hubbard
Sardius and I

Its a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.

Another lovely day at work

Stellar Seal Lions

Big Boy

Cormorant

Well, time to go once again :-( I tried to stay on the ship a few times but eventually they threw me overboard.

Our signature

This was the last one. Adios Amsterdam!

I never could have imagined that someday I would end up in Alaska with an experience like this. I thought about it the other day, and i must have spoken to over 40,000 people over the entire summer. I really loved what I was doing, and I was genuinely passionate about the subject at hand, so it was such a positive experience for me and people really seemed to enjoy the way we presented. It's hard to tell how many different photo albums I'm in now from all around the world. I'd say this was probably the closest I'll ever come to being famous and I definitely don't have a problem with that. I had some really good moments with good people, just staring at one of the most amazing things we had ever seen in our lives. Then, all of a sudden you hear a loud crack and boom like thunder. You watch, as a piece of ice the size of a 30 story building crashes into the water and sends out a tidal wave that will even rock a cruise ship!

Get out and see the world you live in!