Stumbling upon a Glacier
The bus slowly winds its way up the mountain pass, just squeezing past the rocks in some locations and the loud horn sounding to warn oncoming traffic that we are approaching. Our final destination on the bus is the top of the pass which is at about 1950m and both Karen and I are glad to finally be stretching our legs. The bus has dropped us next to a small shop, which we walk past and are immediately on the walking track which is slightly muddy. The temperature up at this altitude is fairly cool so our walk is brisk to get some warmth into our body. We have intermittent stops during the initial part of our walk as the blue berries are in season and are a delicious treat to pick off the bush.
Behind us some clouds cling to the opposite mountain but where we are walking the skies are clear, making the colours of the landscape stand out; which consists of many shades of green and the grey of the rocks. In the distance off the track I spot the blinding white of a small patch of snow, smile a little sheepishly to Karen and say that I am sorry but I have to go and touch the snow. She gives a little acknowledging smile back to me and we are heading off the track. The snow itself had seen some days of sun so was a little closer to ice crystals but I still run my hand across it with a childlike joy.
We are at the base of a small rise and it seems that we both have the same idea – ‘it looks interesting up there so let’s continue to walk off track’. We come to the top of the rise and before us in the distance are a lake with a glacier at one end that runs up a valley and it is backed by a steep mountain. We both agree that this is the ideal location for lunch and take a seat on whatever looks comfortable as the rise is covered in small to medium sized rocks. Karen and I share a simple meal observantly watching over the glacier. The sun is now warm and yet again I find myself amazed to be looking upon a scene so unique, so special and to be sharing it with great company. What is even more special is that Karen and I are the only two people and there are absolutely no signs of any other human activity; Karen remarks that we could be on the moon.
We slowly gather our things and start to move again, although I know that we both would have been happy to spend the day simply appreciating. Once again we have decided that it seems more interesting to continue off track so we head in the direction of the lake and glacier. We continue to walk along the small rocks and as we approach the lake we are fairly high above it. Before too long we start to hear cracking sounds and the sounds of rocks falling into the water. After a few more steps we realise that we have in fact stumbled upon the glacier and are now walking on it. Actually in that moment it is the first time in a very long time that I felt a little nervous, a little uneasy. This was heightened somewhat as we had been walking fairly close to the edge and we were next to a perched pool of water, which was obviously the glacier melting and would have been a fault line that could have given way at any time. The glacier also seemed to be very busy as there were always sounds coming from around us.
After realising we were on the glacier we made our way back from the edge and then walked down to the shore of the lake. We then had a very good view of just where we were standing and my nerves (perhaps intuition?) had been right as where we were walking was undermined by the lake to the point that I would say we were walking on an overhang. The view across the lake with the ice-bergs floating in the foreground, backed by the glacier and ultimately the mountains were stunning.
I would not have described the glacier as a ‘clean’ glacier as there were a lot of rocks mixed into the ice but there was still a depth of blue in some places that just seemed to grab my attention. I walked up to the edge of the lake and picked up one of the smaller pieces of ice that was floating close to the shore. I then bit down feeling the crunch of the ice and the cool fill my mouth; I could not help but to wonder how long the water that was now cooling my throat had been frozen for. As I stood there, starting to feel the sting from the ice in my hand, listening to the melting glacier, I pondered what are the legacies that we have left?
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