“That’s hard to believe,” Chuck said to the tour guide after looking at the half dozen photographs of the valley taken over four  decades.

“That whole area down there,” she said, waving her hand across the landscape toward the valley below, “was gouged out by a glacier centuries ago. But you can see from these pictures that, starting about 30 years ago, the glacier began to recede.”

“That’s surreal,” Chuck said.

“No,” said the tour guide. “It’s heartbreaking. By last year, the entire glacier was gone, leaving only these ridges where mosses, grasses, and other vegetation have started to grow. What nature took centuries to create, humanity destroyed in just decades.”

Chuck noticed the moistness forming in the tour guide’s eyes. “I don’t know,” Chuck said. “I understand what you’re saying, but just look at it now. It’s beautiful and it’s being filled in with new growth, new life.”

Continue reading: Thursday Photo Prompt — The Tour – This, That, and The Other