Hello Friends!
Welcome to the 3rd in my 4 part series on Alaska!
Glacier Bay–A Beautiful Learning Experience
The next stop on this incredible Alaska adventure was actually not a stop at all, but a slow, captivating cruise into Glacier Bay and definitely one of the most spectacular sights I have beheld thus far.
Words cannot describe the magnificence of this place!
Having lived in the eastern part of the US, I never thought much about glaciers, their importance or their magnitude. These rivers of ice, or glaciers as they are called, are primarily nestled in between the mountains as they slowly make their way to the sea, and where our fresh water source begins!
Glaciers–where our fresh water begins!
On the cruise, there was a presentation all about about Glacier Bay given by a park ranger. I’m so glad I attended because it gave me much more insight to what I was seeing than I could ever imagine.
Water streams down the mountains from melting glaciers
To see the glaciers from the side of a ship is one thing, but the aerial views are astounding!
Check out the glacier on top of this mountain!
The bird’s eye pics in the presentation showed just how massive some of these ice rivers really are. You don’t have to settle for just pics–you can take a plane tour and see for yourself. I didn’t do that on this trip, maybe next time.
However, the fjords or walls of glaciers that have met with the sea are up close and personal as you cruise right beside them. Several miles wide and hundreds of feet thick, it’s hard to imagine something so massive and so frozen, actually moving, but they are. Just 250 years ago, Glacier Bay was just a glacier without a bay. That glacier is gone now and a bay now occupies the site.
You are actually witnessing the earth at work as the ice is carving its way to the water and changing the landscape. An obvious sign is when a chunk of ice breaks loose from the towering glacier and plunges into the sea.
Ice chunks floating in the water like diamonds
I actually got to see this! How magnificent! A voyage through Glacier Bay is truly a journey through time, beginning in the modern age in the lower bay and ending up in the ice age in the upper bay, about 65 miles of slow, smooth cruising.
Behold! The Head of Glacier Bay!
Words Don’t Do it Justice!
This whole area is surreal. The water is so clear that the image of the soaring snow capped mountains are mirrored in the bay, so that you can’t tell where one begins and the other ends.
Mirror, Mirror!
The only movement in the quiet, still water is the little and not so little chunks of ice (icebergs as the larger ones should be called, although I prefer not to say iceberg and ship in the same sentence!) floating in the water and sparkling like diamonds.
Misty blue!
Everything takes on a blue hue from the ice, snow, and sediment in the water. It is honestly like nothing I have ever experienced before–it’s like a fantasy land.
Wildlife is abundant here too just like all of Alaska. Be on the lookout for mountain goats, on the rocky cliffs, and eagles nearer the mountain peaks. Along the shore line, you are apt to see moose, and of course bears! Always be ready to spot a whale splashing it’s tail, jumping up out of the water or maybe just spouting water up out of their blowhole from underneath the surface.
After sailing through Glacier Bay, passing one inspiring sight after another, we finally reached the head of the bay where it ends in the face of a colossal glacier. I can’t do it justice in trying to describe this scene. Perhaps these pictures will give you some idea. I felt like I was at the end of the earth, and in a way, I was, at least part of it.
It was a catastrophic advancing glacier that forced the Tlingits–the native people I told you about in Part 1 of this Alaska series, from their homes around 1750. Strong and spirited, they returned when the ice retreated and reclaimed Glacier Bay as part of their homeland.
Hiking and Camping
When you are cruising through it, you think of Glacier Bay as just a waterway through a field of glaciers, but it is actually a National Park and Preserve. The only developed trails around the bay is the Bartlett Cove area, but there is plenty of shoreline and forested areas to explore. You may want to hike the wilderness area, but there are no maintained trails. However, there are old glacier areas and wide open meadows ideal for hiking. It is very wet here, so be sure to wear proper boots with good traction. Watch your step and take your time; as rocks are slippery.
As with all Alaska, be bear aware. You are likely to see one, but even if you don’t, know they are not far away. You are in their home, so respect them, give them their space, and just use common sense. Always store food in bear proof containers.
Visit the National Park Service website at http://www.nps.gov for overall info about Glacier Bay, but for the most up to date information and current conditions, etc., call the National Park Service 907-697-2230 or the Glacier Bay Visitor Station at 907-697-2627.
Camping permits are required in the backcountry and for Bartlett Cove Campground. Permits are free of charge and do not require reservations. However, you are required to attend an annual orientation before obtaining a permit to camp in the backcountry.
Lonely and Thriving
Beautiful yet so forlorn
This seemingly silent world of ice, snow, water and land is spectacular indeed, and although peaceful and serene, it evokes a feeling of loneliness from the human perspective. In reality, this world is very much alive, creating new land, producing water, moving and breathing life into its inhabitants of plants and animals…and humans.
I left here with a feeling I can’t quite explain. How can a place I’ve never been have such an affect on me? Perhaps part of me has been her all along. One thing is for certain–Alaska will always be in my heart and soul.
Until next time, remember, Don’t Wait to Live!
See ya down the road….
Catrina