We decided to stay close to camp today. After breakfast, we took a hike right out of
our campground. I am thinking it was
Emmons Morraine Trail or something like that.
It was a forested/mountainous ridge with beautiful wildflowers all along
the trail. We hiked toward the Emmons
Glacier. Not sure how close we were to
it, but we could see the bottom edge (and the “snout”). Glaciers are fascinating creatures; growing
with the precipitation, always creeping down the mountainside, and shrinking
along the bottom edge as it melts. They
are also big and dangerous. Beautiful
hike!
I'm not sure if I even got a good picture of White River, but
it really is white. I noticed that on our drive in yesterday before I
even realized that was the name of the river. I thought maybe it was
because of the rapids, but it is from the glacier silt/flour that flows into
it. This is the powder that the glacier is grinding off the rocks as it
slides down the mountain.
After lunch we drove down to the Grove of the Patriarchs, an
old growth forest. We took a short side
trip to a waterfall that I will find the name of. (Silver Falls) It was probably the most
powerful waterfall I have ever seen. It
was so loud and you could feel the icy-ness of the water in the breeze. The foam and splash were high and
constant. What intrigues me about
waterfalls is similar to what fascinates me about ocean waves crashing onto the
beach. It never stops. It seems like water pouring that hard and
fast down a mountain would eventually deplete its source, but it doesn’t. It just keeps gushing and rushing and winding
its way to…wherever it’s going.
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