Global Academy Hikes Emmons Glacier

               

In September, our class took a trip to the Emmons Glacier.  If you don’t know what a glacier is, the article given to us before the trip says they are “perennial masses of ice that are large enough and heavy enough to flow, like a very thick fluid.”  The hike to the view point we were heading towards was only about a mile long.  On our way we saw beautiful streams and waterfalls, along with gorgeous and lush greenery.  While hiking, I thought to myself, “If this is just the hike, I wonder what the view from our stopping point will be like?”

               
One mishap we did have was that half of our class missed the turn we were supposed to take and ended up traveling up the trail for another mile or so.  Poor Mr. Collette, the new Global Academy English teacher, had the pleasure of running all the way up to the top just to find the kids that had strayed from the path.  The groups that got lost didn’t get a chance to view the valley.  We stood on the lateral moraine, a ledge/ridge that’s along the side of the glacier, looking into the valley.  We saw the lake which was filled with glacial melt, evidentially named Glacier Lake, just below us.  The water was such a pure blue that it almost looked unrealistic. I, just a novice hiker, was not aware of the things you can see from spots like that.

              
Our group, the students that didn’t get lost, was very lucky to see something like this now because it won’t last forever.  The glacier is retreating more and more each year.  The valley we saw was where the glacier had passed through.  We visited the glacier while it’s in its “ablation season,” the time when the glacier loses more of its ice than it gains, which begins around June and ends near September.  Overall, this hiking field trip was a blast and I would recommend making the hike to see the valley and lake. It was well worth it and the trail is just as beautiful.

Guest Post by Caroline M., Global Academy Student