Glacier Bay
One could hear small pieces of ice hitting the hull of the Sea Lion as she made her way up the west arm of Tarr Inlet inside Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve this morning. This 3.2 million acre piece of land was designated a national monument in 1925, its purposeto preserve the glacial environment and plant communities for public enjoyment, scientific study, and historic interest. The park has been expanded several times and was redesignated a national park and preserve in 1980. In 1986 UNESCO named the park a Biosphere Reserve, and in1992 it was listed as a World Heritage Site. The Sea Lion slowed as she approached within a quarter of a mile of the face of Johns Hopkins Glacier. Recent calving activity left an extensive field of brash ice and icebergs in front of the glacier, harbor seals were hauled out on larger pieces. Today the Sea Lion would travel southeast 65 miles down Tarr Inlet heading for the entrance to the park.
After breakfast, our park ranger Mary Lou Blakeslee invited everyone into the lounge for an introduction to Glacier Bay National Park. As we passed Lamplugh Glacier, Mary Lou brought us all out on the bow to continue our day of watching the changing scenes of ice, spotty sun, and largely a gray on gray day with shades of dark green. A soft rain continued as we traveled around Jaw Point and headed slightly north again up to Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers.
The remainder of our day we treavelled south past Russell Island with several afternoon stops, on the way we spotted two brown bears. One was successfully fishing for salmon while the other watched near Gloomy Knob, then one of two wolves appeared on a beach watching us observe. Gloomy Knob provided distant looks at a nanny with a large kid and several solitary animals. Just around the corner inside Tidal Inlet our second wolf of the day was spotted, along with several bald eagles, many surf scoters and Harlequin ducks. The Sea Lion continued heading south into the wind mixed with rain, making the day a rather raw early fall day. Many of us took refuge inside for a presentation on the geology of S.E. Alaska.
One last stop in the later afternoon found the Sea Lion just off of South Marble Island, which is a haul out for Stellar sea lions and a bird rookery for Kittiwakes, tufted puffins, Common murres and the occasional extremely wet bald eagle. In the distance the blow of a humpback whale could be seen and just as our vessel began her departure two sea otters were spotted just off of the bow.
Adjourning to the warmth of the Sea Lion lounge was an easy choice this evening. Dinner was served sooner than the usual time, giving us an opportunity for an after dinner walk through an eerie, young coastal temperate rain forest. We walked a path that was once covered with an enormous sheet of ice in 1860. We were walking through a forest of young Sitka spruce and Hemlock trees growing on what was the terminal moraine of Grand Pacific glacier. Mosses, lichens, horsetail and the ubiquitous sign of fall… the floor of the forest were decorated with enormous russela mushrooms! The rain stopped, we paused, breathed in the quiet, and in what was left of the light of the day marveled at this unique and ever changing place, protected for many more generations to view after us.
One could hear small pieces of ice hitting the hull of the Sea Lion as she made her way up the west arm of Tarr Inlet inside Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve this morning. This 3.2 million acre piece of land was designated a national monument in 1925, its purposeto preserve the glacial environment and plant communities for public enjoyment, scientific study, and historic interest. The park has been expanded several times and was redesignated a national park and preserve in 1980. In 1986 UNESCO named the park a Biosphere Reserve, and in1992 it was listed as a World Heritage Site. The Sea Lion slowed as she approached within a quarter of a mile of the face of Johns Hopkins Glacier. Recent calving activity left an extensive field of brash ice and icebergs in front of the glacier, harbor seals were hauled out on larger pieces. Today the Sea Lion would travel southeast 65 miles down Tarr Inlet heading for the entrance to the park.
After breakfast, our park ranger Mary Lou Blakeslee invited everyone into the lounge for an introduction to Glacier Bay National Park. As we passed Lamplugh Glacier, Mary Lou brought us all out on the bow to continue our day of watching the changing scenes of ice, spotty sun, and largely a gray on gray day with shades of dark green. A soft rain continued as we traveled around Jaw Point and headed slightly north again up to Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers.
The remainder of our day we treavelled south past Russell Island with several afternoon stops, on the way we spotted two brown bears. One was successfully fishing for salmon while the other watched near Gloomy Knob, then one of two wolves appeared on a beach watching us observe. Gloomy Knob provided distant looks at a nanny with a large kid and several solitary animals. Just around the corner inside Tidal Inlet our second wolf of the day was spotted, along with several bald eagles, many surf scoters and Harlequin ducks. The Sea Lion continued heading south into the wind mixed with rain, making the day a rather raw early fall day. Many of us took refuge inside for a presentation on the geology of S.E. Alaska.
One last stop in the later afternoon found the Sea Lion just off of South Marble Island, which is a haul out for Stellar sea lions and a bird rookery for Kittiwakes, tufted puffins, Common murres and the occasional extremely wet bald eagle. In the distance the blow of a humpback whale could be seen and just as our vessel began her departure two sea otters were spotted just off of the bow.
Adjourning to the warmth of the Sea Lion lounge was an easy choice this evening. Dinner was served sooner than the usual time, giving us an opportunity for an after dinner walk through an eerie, young coastal temperate rain forest. We walked a path that was once covered with an enormous sheet of ice in 1860. We were walking through a forest of young Sitka spruce and Hemlock trees growing on what was the terminal moraine of Grand Pacific glacier. Mosses, lichens, horsetail and the ubiquitous sign of fall… the floor of the forest were decorated with enormous russela mushrooms! The rain stopped, we paused, breathed in the quiet, and in what was left of the light of the day marveled at this unique and ever changing place, protected for many more generations to view after us.
