In the area of Bartlett Glacier, the
train crosses over the outlet river from the glacier. It appears
out of nowhere and seems to have thousands of gallons of flow per
minute.
The Glacier Discovery has a Forest
Service Naturalist aboard who narrates some of the journey. The next portion of our jouney was a nice half-hour treat off
the train. The Glacier Discovery is stopped above Tunnel and all
those who care to take a brief nature walk.
Below, Conductor
Culver describes the life cycle of a wasp which
attaches itself to a plant, deposits its offspring, then hatches.
A wasp lays its eggs on the top shoots of a willow bush. The top
2 leaves close over the eggs and "spin down." The leaves
twist and grab other leaves which becomes "rose" shaped. It
becomes heavy enough to bend the plant which does survive its hosting
of the wasp eggs.
Below left is the
Chocolate Lilly flower. They told us not to touch it or smell
it. I did avoid it except for the photograph. The Chocolate
Lilly is unusual for the fact that it has brown flowers. The
plant grows to approximately 18" in height and is known by other names
such as Indian Rice. Below right,
is Deadman Glacier. Conductor Culver said that since they had
observed it the prior day, it had a large chunk of ice on the right
hand side break off.
Alaska Railroad safety
dictates dealing with mother nature. Sometimes the snow buildup
in wintertime can be so large, railroad personnel must use a Howitzer
cannon to trigger avalanches. The cannon is kept in a tent with
an explosives bunker nearby.
Soon it was time to reboard the train to pick up the float passengers.
Back in the area of the tunnels, there is one point along the left side
of the train where the rock is straight above the train before it
enters one of the tunnels as seen below right.
The train descends the grade back to pick up the Spencer Glacier
rafting trip participants. Below left, icebergs are out on
Spencer
Lake. Below right, the view is looking back toward at the bridge
over the outlet river of Spencer Lake and another avalanche cannon
location.
One of the rafts is seen coming back to meet the train. All of
the people and some of the equipment is loaded onto the train for the
return to Portage where most rafting passengers are disembarked and
bussed back to Anchorage. My preference would be to remain on the
train and take the slower route back to Anchorage. The bussed
passengers arrive in Anchorage in the early evening while the train
gets there around 9 PM.
The Glacier Discovery soon leaves the main line and enters the Whittier
Branch for the 12 mile run to Whittier to pick up the glacier day
cruise
passengers and others.
