Lake Ann

We did it! Fourteen Trailblazers made it to Lake Ann and watched some calves coming off the glaciers. As you can see (click to enlarge), it was sunny and hot, nothing like last week's slog through the rain. Linda and Ward are standing in front of Lake Ann. The thing that makes this a hard hike is not only that you gain and lose 2,000 feet of elevation, but you start out going down into a valley for 1,000 feet and then hiking up to Lake Ann for another 1,000. This of course means that we reverse it for the return, with the last part being uphill!! I'm pretty tired today.
Here we are at our lunch spot, with the Shuksan ridge behind us through the trees. After lunch, some of us decided to hike over to take a look at the glacier on Mt. Shuksan. Here's a closeup with me in the foreground (below), my fellow gawkers looking at the glacier behind us. We walked about a quarter mile, and while we were hiking, we heard the glacier making noise! Losing parts of itself!
This is a closeup (below) taken with my trusty telephoto of the glacier just over my shoulder in the picture above. It was amazing to see the huge streams of water coming down from them, and I couldn't help but wonder when they would be gone, no longer a glacier, but just rock. Not too long, I suspect, but it was such a privilege to see it now!
Four distinct times we heard what sounded like thunder, but it was the glacier "calving" (losing parts of itself). I didn't actually get a picture of one in process, but this one (below) was obviously pretty recently calving. One wag (Bob) said it's not often that you get to see a glacier giving birth!
When I returned home after a very long day, I discovered that my internet connectivity was gone, as Clearwire's tower has lost its signal. After two hours on the phone with them, and a promise that they will try to get out by Tuesday (!). I gave up trying to post this and went to bed. When I got up this morning, hoping for a connection and being disappointed, I headed out to an Internet cafe (thanks, Swan Cafe!) to download some pictures and write this post. I may be here later today in order to read all my blogging friends, but for now I'm heading off to the gym and the sauna to soak my sore muscles.
:-)