Walking on a glacier

Today we took a hike from Kennecott to the Root Glacier. It’s 2.5 miles (4 km) each way to the glacier. First we had to get to Kennecott, which meant riding the bus, really a Sprinter van like our Ekko. The timetable for the bus is hourly, but the schedule is more of a suggestion and less reliable. We got to Kennecott at about 10 AM and started our hike. The first two miles were a route created to get to the copper mines, so it was a nice stroll. Kind of similar to a walk we regularly take with the Schusters. The last half mile veered off towards the glacier. It was all downhill and very technical. There was a traffic backup with all the hiking groups trying to get to the glacier.

One group we kept passing, we would stop, they would pass us, they would stop, again and again. That group was lead by Roy, the person who lead our tour of the mill yesterday. We started calling him Roy Kent. He’s here.. he’s there… Roy recognized us. I think if we wanted, we could have joined his group.

Once we got to the glacier, we put micro-spikes on our shoes. Greg had picked them up before the second half of this trip. We could not have walked on the glacier without them. Completely worth it!

We walked about a mile on the glacier. There we saw pools of water that were clear blue. This is caused by the compression of the ice. There were lots of little streams running through the glacier. The water is pure enough that we could drink it if needed.

The return trip was uneventful. We timed it perfectly because the bus was waiting for us when we returned. We thought about stopping in town for a treat, but we were both tired enough that we wanted a quiet period back in the RV.