Davidson Glacier, Glacier Point

Our planned trip while in Skagway was to Davidson Glacier and to get there we travelled by a small (fast) boat and picked up from the beach by an old school bus.

It wasn’t so much of a lovely, sandy beach, it was heaps of small dark pebbles and small broken rock - we found out later it was made up of sediment and broken pieces taken from their original location by the slowly moving glacier.

From the beach landing we were driven past their city centre, a small hut where the nine inhabitants lived for their 6 month stint in Glacier Bay, to another camp area. There we were fitted out with warm, wet weather clothing and life jackets needed for our canoe ride on Davidson Lake to get to the base of Davidson Glacier.

There was general banter and laughter and some looks of ughhh when the toilets were pointed out and that this was everyone’s last chance to go before returning from the glacier. There they were, the old fashioned, outdoor thunderbox complete with a seat over a hole in the ground.

To get to the canoes we first had an easy walk a few hundred metres through a wooded forest primarily of Spruce trees. Emily, our guide for the day explained that if we came across a bear on the way, we shouldn’t look them in the eye, just hold our arms high in a collective group, look really large and tell the really nice bear we were just tourists who don’t have food and wanted it's photo – NO flashes!

Once kitted out in our new gear (Emily lent me a spare, bright purple beanie – clashed with my eye liner, but there you are…) we headed for the lake. The pathway to the canoes took us through quite tall trees without any signs of bears, but a beautiful little shaded forest none-the-less.

When we arrived at the lake Emily checked our life jackets, gave instructions on how to safely get in and out of the canoe and divided us into canoe sized groups. Small world indeed, the other four people (two couples) were from Perth, but travelling on another NCL ship in port at the same time.

As we paddled towards the glacier, Emily commented on the amount of ice in the water that wasn’t there the previous day - obviously a large piece of the glacier had fallen off within the last 24 hours. She managed to retrieve a couple of pieces of ice for us to hold, pass around or lick and said that the pieces of ice would be between 250~800 years old.

The day was perfect again, chilly but loads of sunshine and a perfectly still morning. Emily said that in her 6 month stay, which was to end another week after we were there, she had never seen the lake and reflections look better. She wished she had her camera there, but didn’t so we will be forwarding our pictures to her.

Emily pointed out the changing size of the vegetation - the closer we came to the glacier, the smaller and more sparse the vegetation - this was due to the age of the exposed rock/ground due to the melting of the glacier. Davidson Glacier is melting at a rate of 1 mile/50 years.

The lake itself has only been formed as a result of the glacier melting and is apparently between 100~150 feet deep. The depth of the water varies by a few feet and the day we were there, the water had dropped by 4 feet over the past few weeks. It is not tidal, but as the water is melted water from the glacier, the water level is dependent upon the ambient weather conditions.

As we neared glacier, it became apparent the ice was very dirty and we thought it may have been caused by pollution. Not so; Emily explained the vertical lines are called Medial Moraines. A moraine is a glacially formed accumulation of soil and rock being ground off the supporting valley. This debris may have been plucked off the valley floor as the glacier advanced or it may have fallen off the valley walls as a result of frost wedging or landslide.

Moraines may be composed of debris ranging in size from silt-sized glacial flour to large boulders. Emily pointed out a huge boulder that had been captured and relocated by the moving glacier. The boulder was extruding from the water at least 2~3 meters – depth below the surface?

The climbers are tiny dots towards the
bottom left of the photo

To give a perspective of the scale and size of the glacier, we saw two climbers practicing on the ice. We were taken quite close to a rock wall on the side of the lake, the grey colour is slate and the white, marble. Emily told us to look at the horizontal grooves which had been gouged out of the wall by the moving glacier - and they were very clearly visible.

Sections of the glacier looked quite blue and we learnt that this was due to the density. Snow is about 10% frozen water and the rest is air – due to compression within the iceberg, most of the air has been expelled and the bluer appearance is due to there being about 10% air and 90% water.

Our time there passed very quickly and we headed back in reverse order. As we were driven back to the beach to meet our boat, we were shown Glacier Point International Airport – a section of compacted road the width of a car – mmm, glad we’re going by sea!

Next port tomorrow, Prince Rupert