Bear Glacier Earthcache - On the Way to Hyder EarthCache
Bear Glacier Earthcache - On the Way to Hyder
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The coordinates take you to a viewpoint on Highway 37A, between Meziadin Junction (a 20 minute drive) and 30 km from Stewart, BC /Hyder, Alaska, where you can view Bear Glacier. There are picnic tables and washrooms available during the summer season only.
“Bear Glacier flows down from the Cambria Icefield and ends in tiny Strohn Lake, right next to the road. In the summer icebergs calve off the snout of the glacier continuously, and float around the lake until they break up and wash downstream. This panorama was made early in the season when high water levels had muddied the water. Later the silt settles out and the lake turns the vibrant turquoise color so characteristic of glacial-fed lakes.
This glacier has been shrinking for over a hundred years (as have almost all glaciers in North America). When the road was built at the turn of the century there was no lake, the glacier stretched right across the valley. You can see a road cut high above the present highway, where the old road climbed above the glacier's snout. “ (Don Bain’s Virtual Guidebooks)
The Bear Glacier, situated in Bear Glacier Provincial Park, is one of the few blue glaciers with the easiest access in the world and is an incredible sight to behold.
From the BC Parks website (www.env.gov.b.ca/parks/explore/parkpgs/bear.html) we learn:
• History - Ice once filled all of Bear River Pass. In the 1940's, Bear Glacier began to retreat and Strohn Lake formed in the exposed basin. Acting as an ice dam, the glacier prevented the lake from draining down the Bear River Valley. If enough water collects behind an ice dam, a glacier may begin to float. Water flowing under the ice quickly creates a large tunnel. The lake empties, the ice dam resettles, and water again begins to collect until another flood is triggered. Five times between 1958 and 1962 Strohn Lake emptied underneath its ice dam in a catastrophic tumult of muddy water, rock and ice. This type of flood is known by the Icelandic term "jokulhlaup." In 1967, Bear Glacier melted away from the valley wall and Strohn Lake was no longer dammed. The threat of sudden destructive icy floods in the Bear River Valley disappeared with the glacier's retreat. Bear Glacier Park was designated as a Class A Provincial Park in 1998.
• Conservation - Bear Glacier Park lies within the Nass Wildlife area and protects part of a large glacier and a glacial lake.
To log this cache you must email me first with:
1) some unique bit of information regarding the site that you learnt while there
2) the answers to these questions:
a) when facing the glacier, which side of the lake is draining?
b) your estimation of either the height of the glacier from the water or the distance the glacier is from the road now
3) a photo of you or your group holding the GPS in front of the glacier
When logging on please add a tidbit of info you learned about glaciers or what you found interesting about this particular glacier.
I will monitor logs and check my e-mails for appropriate information. Unfortunately, any log that does not meet the requirements will be deleted. Thanks for visiting an Earthcache!
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