The morning after the infamous Upper Dewey Lake hike, was to be the day the cruise ship went by Hubbard Glacier. I was so tired from the hike. Then of course we stayed up late enjoying some of the ship’s entertainment. I just about croaked when we were told we would be going by Hubbard Glacier at 6:00 am!!!
And I made it yes-siree, though I’m not sure how. When I got out of bed I SCREAMED in pain. My muscles hurt so much. Never in my memory have my muscles ever hurt that much. I thought I wouldn’t be able to walk, but actually walking was fine. It was steps up or down that killed. After getting out of bed there was the step up into the bathroom. Wow. Seriously, I couldn’t not scream! I got some clothes on, didn’t even run a brush through my hair, and made it out to see the glacier.
Now, I had seen the Mendenhall Glacier a few days before so that’s what I was expecting. This was completely different. While we saw the tail end of the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau. Here we were looking at a mountain of ice. It was breathtakingly gorgeous!
Here you can see all the blue/green in the ice. The ship pulled as close has we were allowed, and we stayed in the area for about an hour. The entire time we were there the glacier was capping.
Capping is when chunks of ice fall off and into the ocean. I am telling you, it is like a fireworks show complete with loud thunderous noises. We would hear what really sounded like thunder, and then we would watch as huge chunks of ice fell. It was a spectacular show.
Here was the other side of the glacier. Fantastic! If you ever have the opportunity to see a glacier make sure you take it. It was worth getting up on four hours of sleep and excruciating pain.
Oh and I have to tell you… We walked all over that ship to see every side, view, and angle of this glacier. At one point Jason wanted to walk up to the upper outside deck. The only way up was via a flight of stairs. I gritted my teeth and went although very slowly. We walked around and then Jason wanted to go back down and check out another spot. He ran down the stairs. There was no way I could keep up. It was really all I could do not to scream with each step. Jason got to the bottom and turned to see I was just barely on about the third step down. “Come on!” he shouted.
“I can’t!” I yelled back. To which he covered his mouth and stifled very loud and obvious laughter. When I got to the bottom I got on to him for just leaving me up there. He could have at least helped me down the stairs. But he couldn’t stop laughing. “You were holding up all the senior citizens. There they were all lined up behind you waiting for YOU to go down the stairs,” and he continued laughing uproariously. Well, it WAS pretty funny. Of course I had to join him, might as well laugh. It was laugh or cry and laughing is much more fun. I was in so much pain! Ha ha!
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