Valdez Glacier

Our first field trip would be to the Valdez Glacier. It was warm (69 degrees is very warm here), with very high clouds. Something I noticed about this field trip and these mountains, is how the trees covered the same slopes that snow and ice dominated only a few months before. Wendy would later say "It's like they grow overnight."
The first animal we spotted was a mountain goat. Dr. Julie spotted a "pile of snow with legs", high up on a mountain, and with a look through binoculars we saw that it was a mountain goat. As we watched it move around on it's small, but high cliff, I wondered if a mountain goat has ever taken a "bad step"....We heard birds singing in the area, but they did an excellent job of keeping themselves hidden. We did, however, spot a raven in flight..
As we continued on, we identified the paper birch, red alder, and many willows that seem to dominate the area. Except for some fire weed, a pink flowering plant spotted on the mountain closest to us, and horsetails, the birch, alders, and willows (creeping, and alpine) were the main plants here at the glacier. There were some mosses and dark lichens on the rocks and ground especially towards the glacial lake.
We found alot of quartz among the rocks (flysch), as well as a lot of rocks with iron in them (you can tell by the rust). The glacial lake (VERY COLD) was gray with ice floating around and the glacier itself was covered by black sediment. We got a chance to grab a couple pieces of the ice floating near us, and I got to taste it. It's probably the purest water you'll ever get to taste! On our way back to our car, we spotted 2 folks on a dirt bike and a 4-wheeler, along with with cars and trucks coming to and from the glacier lake. All of these made for some nice clouds of dust, which were more of a nuisance than a real health hazard.
Overall I enjoyed our trip to Valdez Glacier! It would be another thing I can tell people to get them to come and visit this wonderful land called "Alaska".