Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
Entering the national park early this morning, we were greeted with overcast skies and intermittent rain, but spirits were not to be dampened as we began our exploration of this vast and inspiring place: Glacier Bay National Park. We greeted our visiting ranger, Sara Betcher, and cultural interpreter and native, Alice Haldone, over coffee and early conversation. Heading towards our first place of interest, Marble Island did not disappoint, with the impressive amount of stellar sea lions and a plethora of seabirds to photograph and observe in this abundant nesting area. Included in the mix were black-legged kittiwakes, pigeon guillemots, glaucous-winged gulls, tufted puffins, oystercatchers and what seemed to be an abundance of bald eagles, circling and displaying aggressive behaviors for some early-morning feeding perhaps!
Heading up the bay, we came upon our first sighting of a female mountain goat foraging on the steep cliffs with a fairly-newborn kid in tow and not far away, a black bear. Great photo ops again, with the contrast of the white fur against green foliage. Not far ahead, we spotted a brown sow with two cubs tagging along. We stayed with them for some time, observing the cubs learning some lessons in foraging for mussels and crustaceans in the crevices of the low tide there. At one point the smaller of the two young ones slipped into the water, only to spring out as fast as it went in. What a bonus for us, watching them zigzag along the rocky shore, never straying far from the mother’s watchful eye!
Our morning was also filled with an introduction to the park by Ranger Sara, who gave us some interesting facts: the park is a world heritage site, with over three million acres – 80% undeveloped – and holds the fastest retreating glacier, which we were headed towards, named Margerie. She, unlike many in the park who are advancing, is retreating over seven feet per day. After lunch, we bundled up again in our rain jackets and covered camera gear, having traveled over 65 miles since early morning to spend this anticipated “date” with her for a mere hour or so this afternoon! She held up her end by with numerous calvings and belching out thunderous sounds from her impressive mile-wide and 250-foot-tall wall of ice, showing us her “stuff” and not disappointing!
We headed south with a peek at Lamplugh and Reid glaciers and, as luck would have it, a few more brown bear sightings; ten total for the day’s tally. Evening re-cap was a pretty Tlingit mating song by Alice and some enlightening bear facts by David Stephens, as well as undersea footage by specialist John Pachuta from yesterday’s dive.
We ended our day with a visit to the park’s headquarters and visitor’s center, stretching our legs in the forest and sitting in the lodge with the myriad memories from a very fine day.
