A Lifeless Glacier?
A Glacial Pace
From the surface, glaciers can look like a lifeless, frozen land, but if you look at the glacier closely, you’ll be able to see that is far from the truth.
The glacier itself is constantly moving and changing not unlike a river of ice filling in the valley, a gradual process that you can see remnants of when you drive through the Matanuska Valley. One of the most obvious ways to understand the way landscapes over time is by understanding the natural history of a region, and valleys like the Mat-Su Valley are a great place to start. You’ll come to realize that there is a lot more movement on this block of ice than you might have thought.
Wildlife
As wonderful and fascinating as glaciers are, they aren’t necessarily the place you would go to see much flora or fauna. While the moraine does get the occasional bush or wildflower where the glacier meets land, the white ice is rather barren.
That said, one of the great mysteries of glacial life is the moss ball, also known as glacier mice! No one quite understands these herds of moss where they come from, but they are found on glaciers across the world, and it is always a pleasant surprise to stumble upon them on the otherwise lifeless ice.
One of my favorite examples of life on the glacier is better described as the end of life, because you occasionally spot bones or dead rodents on the ice. I once came across a dead mouse in the middle of the backcountry – a place you would not likely see a living mouse. One theory about these skeletons and bodies on the ice is that birds of prey drop them as they pass over the glacier, using it as a refrigerator of sorts. It’s unclear if these remains are forgotten or just disregarded, but it is always a bit of a shock to come across bones on the ice.
Perhaps the Glacier Is Not So Lifeless After all…
While Alaska is a spectacular destination for wildlife viewing, this is one place where lots of wild animals won’t necessarily surround you. A visit to the Matanuska Glacier will nonetheless fill you with wonder. Try out a MICA Guides tour to explore this natural beauty and discover life on the Matanuska.
