Granite Slip ‘n Slide

Hundreds of thousands of cruise passengers come in and out of Whittier each year. Not six miles away, hidden deep in wilderness, lies a magical scene none will ever see: a deafening torrent of meltwater from the Billings Glacier cascading over a quarter-mile of sheer granite bedrock exposed by the retreating glacier. I have visited this Yosemite-like granite wonderland (a three-mile bushwhack from tidewater) multiple times. On this particular day, I scrambled up slippery granite—with 50 pounds of camera gear and tripod in tow—to find this vantage point. You are seeing only the very top of the cascade, with the glacier in the distance.