Glacier Bay National Park
One thing about travelling in Alaska this time of the year that is important to remember is to pull your window blinds down when you go to bed. With a sunrise this morning at 3:56 a.m., you may not want to be awakened by the early light. Not often a problem in Southeast Alaska, with its many cloudy, rainy days, but today that would have been a regrettable mistake. The dawn broke early to a short-lived night with her pink and amber hues giving way to a pale blue sky and no wind. And what a place to greet this glorious day – Glacier Bay!
Ahead of us was a full day to explore this remote, dynamic and intact wilderness – a natural lab, a national park and a United Nations biosphere reserve. Also a World Heritage site, second in size to Antarctica, this is a land reborn, returning to life, a living lesson in resilience. No 1000 year-old Sitka Spruce here, as we saw yesterday at Lake Eva, well over 8 feet in diameter and 250’ high. Everything here is young, ecologically speaking, as in less than 250 years. In the words of National Park Ranger Janene Driscoll, who joined us for the day to interpret the parks wonders, it’s “a tapestry that has been changed and altered through time.”
Here you can witness geologic processes and change barely noticeable in the span of a human life. Bertha Franulovich, Huna Cultural Interpreter, who also accompanied us on our 110-mile journey, helped us understand the impact this change has had on the Tlingit people. Forced from their homes around 1750 by the advancing glaciers, they proved as resilient as the land itself and returned as the ice retreated and today claim Glacier Bay as their spiritual homeland.
Right after breakfast, our first stop was at Marble Island, where the Huna people used to collect gull eggs. Their collections are now limited to ceremonial in nature but the birds still build their nests here by the hundreds and the bald eagles still prey on them. It’s also the one and only place pelagic cormorants, tufted puffins and common murres will come ashore to nest. Open ocean is their home the rest of the year. Well over 100 stellar sea lions have recently made this a popular haul-out and have added their guttural groans and pugnacious personalities to the raucous and aromatic atmosphere.
The Margerie Glacier was our destination and she did not disappoint. This two-mile wide, 250’-high wall of ice showed us why the Tlingit called the booms of calving ice “White Thunder.” Earplugs were not necessary today, but sunglasses and even sunblock were a good idea. Another unique feature of the day was the 12,000 to 15,000 peaks of the Fairweather Range providing the backdrop to our viewing of Margerie. Right next to her glorious whiteness was the scree-covered Grand Pacific Glacier, not quite as high, but every bit as long. On our return, stopovers at Lamplugh and Reid glaciers rounded out our glacier viewing and gave us a diverse look at this geologic wonderland.
Wildlife sightings were as abundant as the sunshine, with multiple sightings of bears, including one who sat down on a flat rock and dined on a smorgasbord of mussels on another head-high rock right in front of him. Mountain goats decorated the patchwork of cliffs that lined the bay.
An after-dinner exploration of Bartlett Cove and the numerous trails that penetrate the thick and mossy temperate rainforest gave us the option of getting off the ship and stretching our legs. Some opted for the visitors’ center lodge and the educational displays that helped to further inform us of the wonders we witnessed today. No worry about getting caught in the dark – the sunset is not until 10:15 tonight.
