Mt. Edith Cavell Glacier
July 26, 2009
As we headed out on the trail at Mt. Edith Cavell, we got this view of the glacier above us. With two wings, it looks like a bird in flight. Or an angel - the name of this glacier is Angel Glacier. Cavell Glacier is off to the left of it and high on the mountain.
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Brenda and Mark are out on the trail above left, and Ashleigh and Jordan are running ahead on the trail above right. This is a view of this lower trail taken later from the high trail above. This trail leads to the rocky moraine and pool below the glacier. |  |
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Brenda reaches the rocky moraine area in view of the glacier pool with the collection of icebergs. Darla and Elyse approach that area on the trail.
 | Mark, Elyse and Darla have traveled some distance over the jumbled rock of the moraine to reach an ice tunnel which extends at least 50 meters back under the ice field. |
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Jeff is setting up rock crosses for our worship service here in view of the ice wall and glacier pool, this being Sunday. We had talked about a place for a devotional and had decided on this unique place.
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Darla, Jordan, Ashleigh and Mark come in by the ice cave and over the rough jumble of rock. Mark helps Brenda over the treacherous jumbled rocks. It was like doing penance on your way to the place of worship. And what a unique place for a devotional - not only in view of the glacial pool and ice wall, but under the glacier itself. Jeff read from Psalms and provided a devotional appropriate for looking to God's creation for inspiration rather than anything manmade. He asked me to pray the benediction, but as I did so, there was a clap of thunder, perfectly timed, so we all looked up at the glacier.
 | We left Jeff's crosses in place as we moved on down toward the glacial pool. Note the people at the water's edge to give some scale to the distance. |
 | Jeff and family were dressed appropriately for the temperature of the day, but it was much cooler here than out on the trail that led here. The streams shown below are off higher glaciers just to the left of where they were.  |
 | Ashleigh examines the small ice floes that have floated in from the ice wall on the opposite side of the pool. You can see some floating ice pieces near the ice wall in the above photo. |
Ashleigh and Jordan found a big ice chunk and decided to pick it up. But they found that it not only was heavy, it was smooth and slippery! But they finally managed to get it picked up - a victory for teamwork!
 | Ashleigh and Jordan in front of the bay of icebergs. The scale is larger than it looks, as you can tell from how small the people look in the distance. |
The girls decide to build stone towers on top of a big flat rock next to the iceberg pool. They are very serious and dedicated to it. They enlist Uncle Mark's help and are hard at it.  Jordan jumps down to go get more supplies. |  |
 | They ambitiously decide to add pieces of ice to their constructions, so Jordan hauls a big chunk of ice to the big rock and Uncle Mark helps her get it up to the top. |
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A few days later we asked the girls which of the places we had been that they would like to visit again on our final day, and they chose this place. That surprised me, but looking back at these pictures, this was a place where they enjoyed taking initiative to accomplish something they had chosen and wanted to do. Then it was not so surprising that they wanted to come back.
When we did return, we found that the water had risen and their creations were surrounded by water.
 | We said goodbye to this area for now and headed up the upper trail. It gave us a very different look at the area. We could see the lower trail we had come in on, and could see more clearly that the area above the ice wall was a thick ice sheet. The new perspective on the glacier itself and its relationship to the pool was also very interesting. |
 | From this upper trail we could see the lower trail across the valley and could see beyond the trees to the lake further down.  |
 Jeff and Elyse pass a guy with an alpine horn, which we heard him blow later. | 
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We found a nice picnic area in the valley for lunch, with a stream for the girls to play in and a glacier providing the view above us. Who could ask for more?
 | The girls had a bit of time to play in the creek and build a dam while we were relaxing after lunch. 
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| Hike up Mt. Edith Cavell trail |
2009