Tuesday, July 27, 2010

27 July 2010


We finally got some sun today off and on. I was able to get a full solar charge during the day. After 3 days of rain and clouds that is a change.

Sun Today

We went to Exit Glacier after lunch today after we had picked up some propane for $3.25 per gallon. That is the cheapest we have found in Alaska.
Exit Glacier must have melted before we got there. Just kidding of coarse. We walked the trail and climbed the hills for 1.2 miles to reach the glacier to find they had it roped off about 100 yards back from it because they said it was to dangerous to get near it. The claim was you could walk up to it and touch it. Several folks were probably pretty disappointed about that.

Along the way we head talk of how alarming it was at the rate of glacier recession. This got me to thinking about the deserts in Arizona that I walk all the time and find sea shells. It took a heap of evaporating to dissipate hundreds of miles of water that once covered those areas. I find sea shells all the time out in the middle of the deserts in the Southwest. They were once covered with seas. They make current day glacier recession look like a speck in the scheme of things.

Along the way up to the glacier, recession year posts are there showing recession progress from back in the earlier 1900s. It is clear to me the current day recession may be faster than back in the early 1900s because the slope of the land is more steep today causing faster ice melt. It is like tilting my solar panels on the RV roof toward the sun instead of leaving them flat on the roof. They get more sun. In the first half of the 1900s the lay of the land was much flatter where the glacier was then. But, who am I? I don't have anything to sell to make money off of in the field of global warming.

The thought process goes on with me when I think about all the areas that were once covered with glaciers in Colorado and are now completely gone and those areas have cabins and lodges. I've decided one can go insane thinking about this stuff. So here is a picture of Exit Glacier.

Exit Glacier Near Seward