Patterson Glacier

After leaving Baird Glacier, we went over to the south side of Thomas Bay and hiked up the Patterson River.  After a 6 mile hike, we found ourselves at the end of the road, and the river kept on going up, but at a slow pace.  We found a canoe hidden in the bushes and borrowed it for the afternoon, and paddled up the river to the lake that is in front of the glacier.  We saw a few mountain goats, shedding their winter coats and looking pretty scraggy.  The glacier doesn't calve into the lake anymore, but sits along a terminal moraine, so we beached the canoe and went for a walk.  I got up on a little hill and took this picture of the weird landscape: the steep angles probably have ice under the dirt and there are muddy lakes and holes in the ground.  It looks like the surface of another planet.

We hiked up a bit further and onto the glacier itself, and there were a lot of patches of moss everywhere.  We looked a bit closer and found that the moss was in small balls: Glacier Mice!

Mostly they stay in groups, but sometimes they are alone.

Further up the blue ice shone through, and meltwater streams flowed down.  

And we found a tunnel

Of course we had to go into it.  It was very wet and drippy in the tunnel, also slick.  But the ice was the most amazing blue color.  

Here's a shot of me in the tunnel.

On our way back out we found a moose and a baby.  We had a bit of time to watch them before they went into the woods.  The baby is all legs!

I had never been up the river that far before and it was a great trip, but we covered 18 miles that day and it took 11 hours.  It rained all day too, so we were soaked and hungry and cold and tired.  And happy.