Glacier Bay National Park
Is it possible to describe the sound of thousands of tons of ice crashing into the water after peeling off the face of a glacier? Many have tried. The Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska used a phrase that translates to “white thunder.” Guests aboard the Sea Lion likened the sound to gunshots, explosions and cracking. No matter how good the description, however, it’s something that you have to hear for yourself – in person, with the ice tumbling in slow motion into the sea – to really comprehend. It’s exciting, awe-inspiring, and impressive in a way that only uncontrollable forces of nature can be. Just as exciting and even more surprising are “shooters” – icebergs that calve off below the water line and come rocketing to the surface without warning. We were witness to all this and more as we enjoyed the magnificent scenery created by the Johns Hopkins glacier as it carved its way through the surrounding rock. Just to the side of Johns Hopkins is a former tributary glacier pictured above called the Gilman glacier. At one point in time, the Gilman and Johns Hopkins were joined with the smaller Gilman feeding into the larger glacier much in the same way a liquid stream contributes to a river. Stunning in its own right, this wall of ice provides a dramatic frame for Mt. Abbe which stands watch over this arm of the bay from 8750 feet above sea level.
After spending time watching the birth of icebergs, we passed our day traveling down the bay. We stopped to view seabird nesting colonies, over two dozen mountain goats, a Steller sea lion haulout, whales, sea otters and even a brown bear in a glacial outwash fan. In the evening, we walked the loop trail near Park Headquarters at Bartlett Cove before sailing towards our evening anchorage and our next adventure.
Is it possible to describe the sound of thousands of tons of ice crashing into the water after peeling off the face of a glacier? Many have tried. The Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska used a phrase that translates to “white thunder.” Guests aboard the Sea Lion likened the sound to gunshots, explosions and cracking. No matter how good the description, however, it’s something that you have to hear for yourself – in person, with the ice tumbling in slow motion into the sea – to really comprehend. It’s exciting, awe-inspiring, and impressive in a way that only uncontrollable forces of nature can be. Just as exciting and even more surprising are “shooters” – icebergs that calve off below the water line and come rocketing to the surface without warning. We were witness to all this and more as we enjoyed the magnificent scenery created by the Johns Hopkins glacier as it carved its way through the surrounding rock. Just to the side of Johns Hopkins is a former tributary glacier pictured above called the Gilman glacier. At one point in time, the Gilman and Johns Hopkins were joined with the smaller Gilman feeding into the larger glacier much in the same way a liquid stream contributes to a river. Stunning in its own right, this wall of ice provides a dramatic frame for Mt. Abbe which stands watch over this arm of the bay from 8750 feet above sea level.
After spending time watching the birth of icebergs, we passed our day traveling down the bay. We stopped to view seabird nesting colonies, over two dozen mountain goats, a Steller sea lion haulout, whales, sea otters and even a brown bear in a glacial outwash fan. In the evening, we walked the loop trail near Park Headquarters at Bartlett Cove before sailing towards our evening anchorage and our next adventure.
