Juneau part 2 - Herbert Glacier

I mentioned in Juneau part 1 that I stayed in town because I was too much of a chicken to go up the mountain on the tram. Wellll, I actually got into the helicopter to ride up to Herbert Glacier for a little stroll. Not without a fairly decent amount of panic, mind you, but I went. I actually really enjoyed the helicopter and would not hesitate to do it again.

Our ride

Flight crew

 We had to wear boot things that slipped on over our shoes and were equipped with spikes to keep us from slipping around the glacier when we landed. The lovely ladies helped us get ready and gave us moral support and instructions while we waited for our pilot. They were a lot of fun. 

Taking off 

Off we go...

 The only problem I had being in the helicopter was being over the water. I had a bit of motion sickness there that went away immediately after we got over land. Weird.

Glacier from above

We flew around a bit both before and after the glacier visit. The sights were spectacular!

One of many waterfalls

Another glacier

Herbert Glacier

 The line down the center is all the dirt that the floes have pushed together as it has moved through and around the mountains.

The same dirt from the ground.

The blue is amazing!

 There is actually water in some of these pools. We couldn't resist giving it a try, after all when would we have another opportunity to drink glacier water. It was extremely cold and very fresh. 

Our ride sitting on the glacier.

The snow had melted so there was a clear delineation between the glacier and the mountain. There is a light layer of dirt on much of the glacier.

Evan - the pilot

 The people pictures all got a little wacky when I uploaded them here, but we all had a great time. They told us it was only about 10 degrees colder on the glacier than it was in town that day. They lied!! It was pretty darn chilly and windy up there. I think we were all so in awe of the whole thing we didn't really care.

 Waterfalls were not in short supply on this trip. The were all over due to snow melt.

 One of the first things Evan, the pilot, told us was to be careful around the crevasses because , "it's really hard to get you out if you fall in". So of course what do we do???

Yep, stand right next to it, jump over it, straddle it to take a picture. We are great listeners;-)

View looking from the glacier toward the water.

There are so many colors.

The boots

At first glance this is a picture of boots. The blue is amazing and it shows we are all there. What it doesn't show is that this is a moment we are remembering our friend Barbara and thanking her for the wonderful opportunity she gave us. She was with us the whole trip and we never forgot.