28 November, 2004

Ready to make a run for town.

Temperature: 25*F

Location: Lake Hoare

All my bags are packed and I’m ready to head back to town. My helicopter flight leaves here at 10:30 am. It seems as though my time here has gone by very quickly; it will be hard to leave the lake and the glacier behind.

I took a hike today beside the glacier, listening to the gurgling streams and popping walls as the glacier attempts to stretch it’s way forward against the Antarctic summer sun. The glacier seems to be in a constant struggle to move. Thumping from deep within the glacier seemed to echo as it reverberated outward into the air. It sounded soothingly like a heartbeat. In the heat of the blazing sun, there were small waterfalls that seeped over the edges, and from within, the glacier. The trickling sound of water was quite peaceful. Every once in a while, a piece of overhanging ice crashed to the ground with a tremendous thud like a giants footstep. Glaciers certainly seem to take on a personality of their own.

It was a beautiful day here in the Dry Valleys. It was a perfect ending to my time here at Lake Hoare.

1) One of many small waterfalls flowing today. Notice all the sand the water brings over the edge!

2) My back-packing shadow on the Antarctic ground.

3) An icicle "hand" coming off the glacier.

4) Sitting amongst the "glacier berries" or chunks of ice that have fallen off the glacier.

5) My last night at Lake Hoare beside my tent.