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: A Public Defender's Life in Alaska

So, Tustumena glacier. We finally made it! And, more importantly, I figured out how to do it. There is simply nothing on the internet about how to get to this glacier. I had this brilliant idea of finding the outermost glacial braid and using our waders to cross it. I thought we would dump our waders and change into hiking boots once the stream consolidated into one. The problem is we got into the water and it got too deep. Too fast. It would have been easy to get swept away and someone hurt. So we turned around. We used the boat to find the outermost braid. on the right. We found a 'trail' beside the braid that we followed for perhaps half a mile. It was overgrown in a few places. But after that the walking was easy. We just followed the old river bed all the way to the lake where the glacier ends. We were all glad to see it because we were expecting a 5 mile hike. It turns out it is only about 3.14 miles from that outermost braid up to Arctic lake. So what did we do? Well Bill found a piece of 10,000 year old ice floating in Arctic lake. So I put it in the whiskey.
The ice was so clear it was amazing...I don't think that ice could be made that looks like that today. We made a fire to warm up. Other than the beginning where we fought through brush (not necessary as we learned on the way out), the only place where you fight some bush is at the end where the alders are thick. The alders were wet because it has been raining ( of course...this is the summer where it never stops). We made it back okay and vowed to pack some rafts up there sometime to explore the glacier and float back down the creek. All in all a good trip. I know now how to do it! For those of you who will be visiting me in the next few years, be prepared....it is amazing up there. P.S. This is where we camped.

Full post as published by A Public Defender's Life in Alaska on July 25, 2010 (boomark / email).