I am getting adjusted back to life in Portland. There are incremental steps that are taken to reacquaint one's self after being away. Much begins in Christchurch, NZ... seeing night - which feels like a blanket or ceiling over ones head; seeing children - who seem like such little people, the smell of plants, the rush of traffic (vehicles in Mcmurdo don't go much faster than 10 mph), and the bombardment of advertising.
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...