The life of ice

There is nothing quite as effective as a glacier to shift your sense of time and place. Glaciers in southeast Alaska take us back 12.5 million years, to the pleistocene age. The Tongass National Forest website provides lots of information about the life and times of glaciers. It even explains that the eerie blue color of glacial ice is a result of the volume and density of the ice that squeezes out the oxygen that would otherwise make the ice reflect white.

But nothing could prepare me for a low flight over the ice fields. Butch Williams, a veteran bush pilot, took us on a thrilling ride over the icefield and through the valleys that the ice has carved out. Knowing that these monsters cover thousands of miles did not prepare me for actually seeing the swirls and colors and sheer scope of their power. Somehow it puts so many of life's smaller concerns into perspective.

Images taken in Tongass National Forest, July 2006.