If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 403

Mendenhall Glacier, Alaska

The Mendenhall Glacier shown on this week’s postcard is located about 12 miles or 19 km from Juneau.  This is another Mark Kelley Images of Alaska card and has the number PC119 on the reverse.  Mendenhall Glacier is in the Tongass National Forest and it and surroundings are protected.
 

The glacier as it was in the late 1950s or early 1960s

Our friends drove us out to the glacier where there are a few trails to view points.  We chose to go on the Nugget Falls trail that gave us opportunities to take pictures of the spectacular falls as well as the glacier and Mendenhall Lake.  My parents visited here in the late 1950s and early 1960s and this undated photo is for comparison.  The glacier has receded significantly.  It used to be up near the visitor center and is now about ½ mile or more from the center.  

 Approaching the glacier and waterfall on the Nugget Falls trail

 Almost down on the beach . . .

 On the beach

View from the parking lot near the Visitor Center

The glacier as it is today.  The glacier ends in the Lake but in the future it is expected that the glacier will retreat from the Lake and another beach will be exposed closer to the ice.  The further back one stands the intensity of the blue in the ice seems to increase.  The glacier extends back about 13.6 miles or 21.9 km from the lake.   As the glacier slowly advances and retreats it exposes rubble and dirt that can be seen in the photo as dark patches in the ice.

Mendenhall is one of several glaciers found in the Juneau Ice Field.  All the glaciers in the ice field are and have been retreating.  The Juneau Ice Field Research Program has been monitoring them since 1942.  Currently the cold ambient temperatures at the head of the ice field are still causing precipitation to fall as snow rather than rain, and that will continue to offset the amount of melting until temperatures climb and it will no longer be cold enough to cause the snow to fall.  People living near the glacial areas depend on the glaciers for their fresh drinking water so once the glaciers are gone they will out of their main source of water.

Nugget Falls

Impressive Nugget Falls, sometimes called Nugget Creek Falls, is 100 ft or 30 m wide and drops in two cascades for a total of 377 ft or 115 m onto a sandbar in Mendenhall Lake.  The fresh water lake drains into Mendenhall River and eventually into the Inside Passage, salt water.  Before the glacier retreated as far as it is now, the falls dropped directly onto the glacier.  The waterfall was sending out tons of spray when we were there.   

In 2012 a discovery was made when the glacier had retreated enough to reveal tree stumps with roots and bark attached that date back between 1,400 and 2,000 years ago to a time when a forest existed there prior to the glacier’s advance.  Scientists hope to uncover information about the pre-glacial ecosystem’s past from the remains of these trees.

Looking up from the trail at the Visitor Center

 The U.S. Forest Service, as part of the Tongass National Forest, operates the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center.  Programs are offered throughout the year for both children and adults.  The center was built in 1962 and renovated in 1999.  It has a restaurant, gift shop, and lots of windows that afford views of the glacier.  

Panorama view from the beach showing Nugget Falls, Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall Glacier

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendenhall_Glacier
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nugget_Falls