Today was a day of water appreciation. Here in Tracy Arm in the Ford’s Terror Wilderness we saw it in all of its forms. ‘Liquid sunshine’ ran down the dark grey granitic walls in white torrents, met and merged with the jade green salt water of the fjord below. Mist wreathed the stoic spruce forest, steam rose from warm hot chocolate delivered by Vikings of dubious authenticity, and low clouds blanketed us from the burning star above.
But easily the most memorable state we saw was the magical combination of hydrogen and oxygen was as a solid. We encountered large polished icebergs early in the morning, like outrider heralds of a grand frozen host. Smaller bergy bits and growlers were next, surrounding and engulfing us as we pushed ever further to their progenitor. At last the mighty glacier revealed itself in all its grandeur, a myriad of blue ice rising up for one last crescendo before they would take a final bow as a solid and rejoin the liquid tidal masses of the sea.
