Lakes

lake with Chihuly glass and Koi in Columbus, Ohio

Mono Lake is a large, shallow saline soda lake south of Reno and east of Yosemite in California.  It was formed 760,000 or more years ago in a basin that has no outlet to the ocean.  This fact causes high levels of salt to accumulate.  The very weird rock forms are called tufas (too'-fahs).  Tufas are formed of limestone in an uncommon way.  There is a reaction between the lake water, rich in carbonates, and water from underground springs rich in calcium.  Calcium carbonate--or limestone--is thus formed.   The limestone precipitates out of solution around the springs forming towers over a period of many years.  These towers grow exclusively underwater.  So many can be seen today because of water diversion from the lake.

Lower Grinnell Lake as seen from the trail to Grinnell Glacier.  Glacial flur (flour), a suspension of fine particles of limestone ground by movement of Grinnell Glacier, causes the lake water to be turquoise.

LINKS:

Dale Chihuly website

tufas  

blog post with photo of Upper Grinnell Lake and Grinnell Glacier

map of Grinnell Glacier hike

I'm linking up with my favorite teacher, Ms Jenny Matlock, as we work our way through the alphabet.  Please do go visit the other students, for you never know what gems you may find--humor, poignancy, information, visions of far away places, stuff you've never even dreamed of!  Check it out HERE.  You may even wish to join in yourself!  This week our letter is "L." 

photos by me © 2005, 2008, 2009  all rights reserved

Grinnell Glacier Lake

destination of a hike in Glacier National Park (Montana) in August this year--This is upper Grinnell Lake below Grinnell Glacier and Salamander Glacier.

"...a man who keeps company with glaciers comes to feel tolerably insignificant by and by."

~Mark Twain, A Tramp Abroad 

Grinnell Trail is 7.6 miles round trip with an elevation gain of 1600 feet.  First we took a boat across Swift Current Lake, hiked a short distance to Lake Josephine and took a boat across that lake.  This trail had just opened a couple days before our hike, having been closed due to bear activity.  (grizzlies!) 

This is an amazing hike!  Stunning are the vistas of the surrounding mountains and alpine lakes.  Yellow, pink, violet, and creamy white wildflowers abound against the iron-and-chloride-rich red, green, and buff-colored rocks.  Milky turquoise lower Grinnell Lake nestles startlingly into the surrounding mountains below cascading waterfalls.  Bears, mountain goats, and big horned sheep graze contentedly.

 

Grinnell was at its largest in1850 at the end of the Little Ice Age, measuring 710 acres.  Today it's probably around 400 acres or less.

Around the world, a few glaciers are increasing in size, but most are decreasing.  This is an indication of climate change.   A number of organizations monitor glaciers using photography (on the ground and aerial), remote sensing, and on-glacier surveying. 

LINKS:
◄Glacier National Park information

◄Shawn Coggins' site (information and photos)  including USGS photos from 1938 - 2006 showing the melting of Grinnell Glacier.  Predictions say that most of the glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone by 2030.

I'm participating in Jenny Matlock's Alphabe-Thursday.  Come and join in the fun!  You will be charmed and even enlightened in a delightful way!  See more entries HERE. This week our letter is "W."  W is for WATER!




photo by me © 2011 

escape

mountains....

Ophir Pass, Colorado, on the road between Telluride and Silverton through the San Juan Mountains

Wild Goose Island, Glacier National Park, Montana

LINKS to other photos:

http://http//www.flickr.com/photos/8206650@N02/2274277701/

http://http://gonw.about.com/od/photosmt/ig/Glacier-National-Park/Going-to-the-Sun-Viewpoint.--1k.htm

Glacier National Park, trail along Logan Pass to Hidden Lake http://http://www.takemytrip.com/06glacier/06_16a.htm


 

Grinnell Glacier, Glacier National Park

Grinnell Glacier, Glacier National Park

This post was inspired by Chrisy's blog post "Escape" at Sophism Press: http://sophismpress.blogspot.com/2009/02/escape.html

These are places of wonder and awe. I have been to many of the national parks in the US, but went to Glacier for the first time last September. It is a magnificant, majestic place. There are no words to describe its awesome beauty.
 

LINKS (Glacier National Park):

http://http//www.glacier.national-park.com/

http://http//www.nps.gov/glac/

http://http//gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_national_park/mt_glaci.htm

Grinnell Galcier: http://http//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grinnell_Glacier

some outstanding photos of Grinnell Glacier: http://http//www.terragalleria.com/parks/np.glacier.7.html

A glacier forms when more snow and ice accumulates than melts. This accumulation of ice and snow presses down on the more flexible layers below. This flexible layer allows the ice to move. Depending on the amount of ice, the angle of the slope, and the pull of gravity, the ice may start to move downhill. Once this mass of snow and ice begins to move, it is called a glacier.

The distinctive blue color of glacial ice is actually created by the slight absorption of red light.

LINKS (about glaciers):

http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaciers

all photos taken by me 'cause I was there--© 2007-2008