Wednesday morning was white with blowing snow. With all the poor weather, it was looking unlikely that Liz and I would be able to make it out to Lake Hoare on our scheduled helicopter flight. Rae surprised us in town and was scheduled to fly out with us. After lunch, the snow ceased and visibility improved a little. Just 30 mins after our scheduled time we received a call notifying us that they were going give it a shot. We loaded our helicopter and were on our way. Our pilot, Paul, navigated out to the ice edge and then over to the valleys. An unusual sight welcomed us into the Dry Valleys... several inches of snow cloaked the valley floor all the way up to the peaks. It looked like a different place. I was quite happy landing at Lake Hoare. Sandra welcomed us and we began to unpack. Later in the evening I was overcome with joy.. eating some of Rae's famous pad thai, sipping a GnT and finishing the evening with a very fine moist German chocolate cake that Sandra made. Its good to be back.
The deep canyon below White River Glacier is the product of fire and ice. Volcanic eruptions, bulldozing glaciers, and lahars have created a raw and dynamic landscape on the southeast slope of Mount Hood. How fast is the landscape changing? Glacial moraines, often used to indicate past glacial extents, are heavily eroded or completely absent. Repeat historical photographs offer a view to how the canyon and the glacier has changed over the past 120 years. Harry F. Reid took two photographs from either side of the White River Glacier in 1901. These photos have the potential to assist with mapping the historical glacier perimeter but finding the location of the eastern photograph, frame 983, had vexed me during two previous visits. The photograph features the glacier terminus as viewed from the east with the top of the mountain obscured by clouds. In the foreground are two tree stumps, likely remnants of the ghost forest that formed by the Old Maid eruption in the late-1700s. The ty...