Glacier Bay National Park

The untrammeled wilderness of Glacier Bay National Park has shown today as a true jewel. Under the blazing sunshine of a rare, warm summer day in Southeast Alaska, we slathered ourselves with sunscreen and proceeded on.

An amalgamation of birds have chosen the singular rock of South Marble Island on which to lay their eggs, whether in burrows between clefs of rocks, on the thin ledges of the face, or along the periphery of grassy hummocks. Puffins, murres, gulls and cormorants were easy to find and subsequently appreciatively observed. In company with the birds were Steller sea lions. The sea lions were splayed across the rocks along the lower tidal levels; they seemed to castigate each other with growls, roars and other rude digestive sounds.

Puppies! Who can resist puppies! We certainly couldn’t and the two black wolf pups caught frolicking on the beach in Tidal Inlet found us in a giddy hush as we watched them from the deck. Before we left the inlet, we continued in whispered observation as a brown bear was found rolling stones, lapping the newly exposed surfaces for panicked intertidal morsels. Around the corner of Gloomy Knob, a mountain goat laid out rug-like on a sun drenched slope, basking in the warmth of the morning.

In deference to gravity, ice came calving from the face of Margerie Glacier. Calving may seem a bit grandiose term; the glacier more or less trickled, tumbled occasionally, and seemed to drop teasing bits of ice on a capricious whim as we stood by and practiced our glacial patience.

We took an evening walk in Bartlett Cove along a forest trail. The winding trail led us to black-mirror ponds brandished with burgeoning pond lilies. In eulogy to the receded glacier, Sitka spruce sentinels now stand in this young forest. Glacial erratics – geological anachronisms – sit scattered about, melding into the forest as they, like the trees, become perches for various mosses and lichens.

The ambrosial mixture of sun, warmth, stunning scenery and watchable wildlife left us in a satiated stupor as we ended our day in Glacier Bay National Park.
 

Whales
by Hannah Herschend, age 12
Warriors of the sea
Heavy yet strong
Aiming for the deep
Leaving the clouds behind
Entering a world of
Spellbound magic.

Sunrise
by Bella Billig, age 12 and Annabelle Herschend, age 12
Songs of the birds
Up in the sky
Near the horizon
Rising beauty
In my heart
Stirring up colors
Everyone watches.