Icy Hike on Lookout Mountain

Here are a couple of views of the falls on Lookout Mountain. You'll notice that the thicker ice at the bottom of the falls has a pale blue cast. This reminded me of another icy hike I once took on the Matanuska Glacier near Chickaloon, Alaska. If you'd like to see one of the pictures from that hike, check into this blog's archives and you'll see one wayyyy back. If you want to compare and contrast consider this- while on the Alaskan hike, the air temperature was 80 degrees off of the glacier. Probably between 50 and 60 at our most distant point on the ice. Warm days like that are unusual in that part of Alaska, but it was July. That glacier stretches back up the valley for miles even though it is, like other glaciers, receding at an alarming rate. On Lookout Mountain, it's uncommon to have mid-morning temperatures in the mid-teens, but it is January. I wouldn't want it to remain cold for months on end like the winters I remember from my younger days in northwestern Illinois. That was ridiculously cold. But I must admit, this recent cold snap has been refreshing. Perhaps that's because I'm comfortable knowing that like these icy scenes, the harsh temperatures are fleeting.