Hanging Canyon hike, part 3
Part 1 and Part 2 of this series described the journey up from Jenny Lake to Hanging Canyon. Today, we pop up over the threshold of this hanging valley and see what we can see...
As it turns out, there's some snow up there:
We manage a few clumsy glissades:
And what's going on with this hole?
Aha! A dark rock with low albedo absorbs energy from the sun, releasing it as heat and melting the surrounding snow. Cool!
Times like this, I just love my job:
Ken shows off some glacial striations on the bedrock:
Pointing in the direction of glacial flow:
We then opt to climb up even higher, to peer down into the neighboring valley, the much larger Cascade Canyon...
Steep climb, with tarn in the background; Joel appears to be enjoying himself:
Here's a Google Maps "terrain" view of the area, showing the relative locations of Jenny Lake, Cascade Canyon, and Hanging Canyon.
Wow... Once we got up over that last little knife-edge crest, we had a pretty amazing view.
And what did we see along the way? More on that in tomorrow's post (Hint: pegmatites and old folds)...
As it turns out, there's some snow up there:
We manage a few clumsy glissades:
And what's going on with this hole?
Aha! A dark rock with low albedo absorbs energy from the sun, releasing it as heat and melting the surrounding snow. Cool!
Times like this, I just love my job:
Ken shows off some glacial striations on the bedrock:
Pointing in the direction of glacial flow:
We then opt to climb up even higher, to peer down into the neighboring valley, the much larger Cascade Canyon...
Steep climb, with tarn in the background; Joel appears to be enjoying himself:
Here's a Google Maps "terrain" view of the area, showing the relative locations of Jenny Lake, Cascade Canyon, and Hanging Canyon.
Wow... Once we got up over that last little knife-edge crest, we had a pretty amazing view.
And what did we see along the way? More on that in tomorrow's post (Hint: pegmatites and old folds)...
Labels: glacial landforms, glaciation, national parks, snow, travel, wyoming
4 Comments:
Great pix! Reminds me that there's only 2 more months of bad skiing left--woohoo!.
"Aha! A dark rock with low albedo absorbs energy from the sun, releasing it as heat and melting the surrounding snow. Cool!"
Cryoconite holes. Add that one to your glossary. See http://www-es.s.chiba-u.ac.jp/~takeuchi/cryoconite.html
--Howard (Calgary, AB, Canada)
Oh, and by the way--next time you see some of that pink snow, sniff it: smells just like watermelon, believe it or not! I wouldn't eat it, though; it's caused by an alga, IIRC, a species of Chlamydomonas
--Howard
Oooh, very neat! I've been up the main canyon from Jenny Lake, but that Hanging Canyon trail looks like a treat.
Have never smelled the pink snow, Howard. Wonder if the pink salts in playas smell that way? Same cause.
Great pics. I love the cryoconite hole! What a marvelous visualization of the power of the albedo effect.
Post a Comment
<< Home