a particular peak, we entered a world of white, decorated with deep blue swatches, gaping crevasses and glistening pools of water as we approached our landing zone. Once we touched down and the engines powered off, the quiet became as epic as the scenery. Aside from the directions of our guide, the only sounds to be heard were the winds across the open valley and the crunching of ice beneath the crampons on the boots provided for us at the start of the excursion. We followed our guide across a short distance until we arrived at spot where he could show us a small supraglacial stream running atop the ice before dropping down into the glacier itself. He explained various aspects of the glacier’s features, its geology and how pure the runoff was as we trustingly took turns tasting the refreshing stream and absorbed our otherworldly surrounding before it was time to leave.
While the flight to the glacier was awe inspiring, the return flight was simply awesome. Cruising above this 12-plus-mile swath of ice and snow, we took in more of the absolutely captivating scenery below, from valley streams flickering in the sunlight to more snow-capped peaks and miles upon miles of Alaska’s wild stretching out before us. After departing the airfield, having experiencing Mendenhall Glacier from atop, we had the time to also see it on another excursion, from the lake and river which bear its name below. We shared a raft with a fun couple from our cruise and enjoyed being rowed across part of the lake and into the river for a not-so-rapid trip downstream. Our guide taught us more about Mendenhall Lake and Mendenhall River as we traveled along, taking in the beautiful, forested shoreline, dotted with bald eagles perched in mighty spruce trees and on
river rocks enjoying a fresh catch. There was some white water, but the majority of our river expedition was smooth sailing and quite relaxing. As we returned to the ship that afternoon, we enjoyed chatting with and getting to know the couple from our river adventure, looking forward to the evening and days ahead. Daniel Morris is the Senior Copywriter at Regent Seven Seas Cruises® and Copy Editor of EXPLORE Magazine. He has a deep love of travel and the opportunities it brings to learn from and share the stories of the world’s people and cultures.
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