2006-08-25 Along the Alaskan Highway, YT-BC, Canada 38

We took a short hike at a mineral overlook. This area overlooks an portion of a river milky with mineral rich glacial flour. As glaciers flow slowly along, the rocks in the valley are ground to a fine powder. As the ice melts, this powder, or glacial flour, is suspended in rivers and streams, giving it an odd milky appearance. The animals need the calcium, magnesium and other minerals. They gather along these mineral rich streams and lick the deposits off the rocks. Although it was a nice walk, we didn't see any animals here.