Valdez Glacier, an 12 Mile summerier

12 Mile
Date: 6/15/2009
Time: 12:30p.m – 2- p.m
Temperature: About 65 It was a beautiful sunny day, with some clouds.


Plants we seen on our trip:
Sitka Alder
Black Cotton Wood
Sitka Spruce
Mountain Avens
Side bells Pyrola
Coastal Reindeer
Willow Tree
Elegant Goldenrod
River Beauty Plants we seen on our trip:
River Beauty
Sitka Alder
Willow Tree
Elegant Goldenrod
Dwarf Willow
Arctic Willow
Pea plants
animal skat, of wild an domain animals
Sitka spruce
bloom rape ground cone
mountain Adler
false pixy cup
side bells pyrola
orange mushroom
willow trees Atlas 3 kinds
elegant goldenrod
mountain sage wort
pink wintergreen
northern yarrow
Eskimo potato or called bear root


Birds/ Other thing just seen on our trip:
(2) Tundra Swans with babies
Eagle
Black Bear Cub (So very cute)
Convergent Lady Beetle
Moth
Bees
Fly
Again Tons of Mosquito
Poop (dog maybe)

Out at Valdez glacier
55 degrees,
slightly breezy
plants:
tones of water
Adler trees
willow tree
fire weed
dwarf willow
Eskimo potato
Arctic willow
purple beach pea
dwarf fire weed/ river beauty
single delight shy median
northern goldenrod
kill Deva
animals:
black bear,
animal diggings bear

(Jenica)
The different things that I had seen between the two places was for one at 12 mile there was rocks everywhere as there was at the Glacier as while. But there was no water there; to me it seemed as if all the wildflowers and trees were growing out of the rocks. Between both places there was the same wildflowers and trees, I didn’t see much deference there at all.

I would have to say that my all time favorite thing on this trip would have to be seeing the little baby cub. That was the very first time I have ever seen a bear it was so cute. But I guess we should have known that we might have seen a bear, because I did over hear you say that there were signs of bears. I just think that its crazy that there are bears just walking around like that and I got to see it for the first time ever. That’s so cool!some similarity's that i found were out at 12 mile it was much dryer an a lot of diff rent vegetation's like likens, an trees , but not a lot of wild flowers. The two places had alot of same plants, but it also has differences between the places.

(MY blog comments)
Some of the differences i noticed was the vegetation by the glacier was less but more wild an the trees grew more out there an at 12 mile, but were fairly younger than anywhere else.
It was also wonderful to notice the water.
Very peaceful, an it was quiet. The black bear was a cub only this year.
but out at 12 mile the ground was covered by moss an a thin Lear of dirt. It has a lot of gravel an rocks.

(Michel)
Yesterday was a beautiful day to be out. Our first stop was at a trail just off the road at 12 mile. The first thing I noticed was the canine feces that I almost stepped in. The feces were from both wild & domestic canines. The ground was dry & rocky, with a lot of lichens. There were also a lot of cottonwood, Sitka Alders, Sitka Spruce and Willow along the path. Did you know that Alaska has 27 different species of willow? Alaska also has 25 spices of mosquito. The mosquitoes were out in full force yesterday. Surprisingly I didn't get bit.

On the drive from 12 mile to Valdez Glacier we saw a Tundra Swan with fledglings in a pond. As we were arriving at the glacier I spotted a immature bald eagle flying over us. The water from the glacier is gray and cloudy. This is caused by glacial silt, which is formed as the glacier moves over rocks breaking them down. You could think of it as rock dust. We found the same plants growing near the glacier as at 12 mile. This is due to the similarities between the two areas. They both have very rocky, thin soil. The rocks were left by glaciers as the moved along the ground. It's amazing that so many plants thrive on rock! These are also moist areas and the plants we found do well in a moist environment. The plants we identified also like low to middle elevations, which is another reason we found the same plants at both places.

This was an enjoyable trip. The best part for me happened as we were leaving the glacier. As we drove past the shooting range one of my classmates spotted a black bear cub. We backed the van up to get a look at the cub. Staying in the van, we watched the cub for a moment as he/she tried to get into the dumpster. We did not see mama bear, but know she was close. Mother bears are extremely protective of their cubs, just because you don't see her with the cub does not mean she does not see you.