During a hike on Saturday I noticed that the ice had finally melted off Mendenhall Lake, the terminus of the Mendenhall Glacier( http://www.snowcrest.net/geography/field/mendenhall/glacier.htm). I've been somewhat of a saltwater snob since moving from the shores of Lake Michigan to the to the wild shorelines of the Inside Passage in SE Alaska, but the idea of paddling next to the 100 ft high wall of ice easily swayed me to make a fresh water exception :-) The next day brought clear skies and a 10-15 knot wind blowing down the glacial valley. COLD wind. The put-in was deserted when I arrived at the southwest corner of the lake, but was soon assaulted by an apparent wedding party - I tried to hurry as I donned gear and outfitted the kayak because I didn't want to distract from the beauty of the setting for these folks. As I pushed away from shore in the icy waters, (33F) the 1 foot chop held my attention momentarily until that moment came when body and kayak became one and began to work in concert with the waves. It's a funny thing, sometimes it takes only a minute or two, sometimes longer, but I'm never immediately in the "zone" when I push off from shore. Perhaps it's just my mind trying to catch up with the transition from a land-dwelling mammal to marine mammal<grin>. The natural beauty of this lake is absolutely incredible, surrounded halfway around by steep, towering, snow-covered peaks and a massive glacier feeding it, and in the distance to the south the peaks of Douglas Island. In early spring, the waters are full of icebergs that calved from the glacier last fall and then were caught in the freeze-up. Well, perhaps not full, but there were perhaps 20 or so bergs in the 20-50 foot size range floating in the silty waters of the lake. Paddling directly into the wind felt good and I played with the Skerray in the waves as they approached, trying occasionally to bury the bow deeply enough to send a splash of spray into my face. Occasionally my paddle would tinkle off of a small piece of floating ice, sculpted into fantastic shapes as they slowly melt away and flow away to the sea. I like to stop sometimes and take a bite out of the little ones - they're startlingly clear and it's fun to think about the fact that I'm eating ice that may be 500 years or more old. I paddled into the wind for about an hour before finally nearing the glacier, all the while being treated by ever-changing perspectives of the massive ice river. This thing is so big that I tend to lose a sense of perspective when looking at it. It's huge!! I usually stay about 20-30 yds away, which in reality is too close if a big chunk of ice were to calve, but so far I've been OK and the lure of the iridescent blue ice is transfixing. The glacier is on the move nearly constantly, the water at its face punctuated by falling rocks as the ice melts and shifts. Some of the rocks that the glacier has torn from the flanks of the surrounding mountains are quite large - car or truck size - yet another reason to stay away from the face at least a little way! The face of the glacier is quite irregular, split vertically in places, soaring to 100 feet or more and then dropping almost to the water level in others. I've read that the ice extends nearly 100 feet below the water also, but I'm taking that one on faith, I have no desire to take a swim in these murky waters full of glacial silt - the visibility is about 6 inches. As I paddled along the length of the face I finally reached the far side and pulled out on a small moraine of recently deposited rock and "glacial flour". A quick break for water and leg stretching under the shadow of a 50 foot high wall of ice only yards away. A steady trickle of rocks dropped into the narrow inlet of water at its base. Nearby a waterfall nearly 200 feet high splashed into the waters of the lake. In the summer when things are really melting up high in the Icefield this waterfall is raging, pumping an enormous amount of water, but early in the year the flow is much more moderate. I approached the falls giggling like a 12 year old, keeping the kayak steady in the restless currents formed as the crystal clear waters met the gray-brown lake, and paddled right into the falling water looking up into a blizzard of falling water sparkling in the sun. It's doing silly things, and slightly dangerous I admit, like this that are one of the reasons that I often paddle alone - it must have looked and sounded a bit odd after all - a 38 year old man laughing and smiling insanely while surfing the outwash of a waterfall like a lunatic. Hoo Boy! - Good Fun indeed!!! I was WAY too busy to get any pictures so there's no evidence that can be used against me!! After that little episode I was drenched, but warm, dry and comfortable in my paddling jacket. I decided to head back towards the take-out following a course on the opposite side of the lake than I had taken on the approach. There were several massive and intricately sculpted bergs floating along my course and I ran out of film trying to capture the magnificent shapes and colours for friends and family who live Outside and simply cannot imagine such things until they visit and experience them first hand. The course chosen presented the wind on the starboard rear quarter and I decided that it would be a good place and day to go 'skegless' - a little exercise that I try to practice regularly in both of my sea-kayaks - paddling without skeg or rudder in conditions where they would make things easier. Hopefully the day never comes when I lose a rudder or skeg (at least until I finally buy one of Matt & Cam's kayaks) but I like to be prepared for all eventualities. A spare rudder cable isn't going to do much good in the middle of an open crossing far from friendly shores. The paddle ended as the Skerray's bow slid onto the rocky shore and I stepped gingerly out of the boat and dipped my wet-suited body into the lake for my obligatory dip to check the clothing/temperature balance. I had skipped that part of my pre-paddle routine because of the wedding goers - I just thought that I would be too distracting to see the strange guy in the kayak take a headfirst dive into the icy water! A wonderful and exhilarating paddle - a perfect spring day on the water in a beautiful place that I'm fortunate enough to call home. Dave Seng Juneau, Alaska *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:33:12 PDT