Worthington Glacier & Thompson Pass

6/24/09 13:30pm-3:30pm
Partly cloudy, windy with the temperature around 35-40 degrees.

Plants:
Willows
Alders
River Beauty
Chocolate Lilly
Coastal Yellow Paintbrush
Crowberry
Bearberry
Blueberry
Snow Potentilla
Labrador Tea
Yellow Spotted Saxifrage
Alp Lilly
Mountain Harebell
Moss Campion
Narcissus Flowered Anemone
Purple Shooting Star
Arctic Bluegrass
Spike Trisetum (Grass that I mistook for Alaska Bentgrass)
Several different kinds of lichen.

Insects:
Mosquito
Bee
Lady Bug
Fly

Birds:
Seagull
Magpie
Golden Crown Sparrow

Mammals:
Tourist
Arctic Ground Squirrel


It was beautiful day to go up to Worthington glacier & the pass. Our first stop was at Worthington Glacier. I was surprised by the number of seagulls around the area. There is a glacial lake, giving them a water source. Seagulls are also opportunistic when it comes to food, meaning that they will eat anything they find. There were tourist there & I'm sure the Seagulls were waiting for them to drop food or leave the dumpster open... The most surprising thing, for me was seeing how much the glacier has receded since the last time I was there. We walked toward the glacier to get a better look. There are a lot of cool rocks that have been deposited by the glacier. The rock is called schist & has a layered/flaky look. On our way back from the glacier, we spotted some grasses next to the alders & willows. I thought one grass was Alaskan Bentgrass, but did some research when I got home & I'm pretty sure it was actually Spike Trisetum. The other grass I was unable to identify is Artic Bluegrass. I reasearched it when I got home as well.

As we were stopping along the pass an arctic ground squirrel ran in front of the car. Luckily we did not harm the squirrel. We also saw a Golden Crown Sparrow. Thompson pass is so beautiful, words can't describe how amazing the veiw is. We were at about 2678ft, so it was cool & windy. We identified three types of berries. There are some interesting lichen that live there as well. One of the lichens is black & looks like hair. There is an interesting varity of plant life on the pass. I'd have to say the berrries are my favorite & I'm looking foward to going berry picking, when they ripen.