Glacier Bay National Park
Why has Glacier Bay National Park been preserved and protected for the last 83 years? Why was it considered important to protect such a remote place? Today, we experienced more than a glimpse into answering the question of "Why?".
We found swept-back tassel ornaments perched on the foreheads of puffins. Flinging by fast as Frisbees were pigeon guillemots, Kittlitz’s murrelets, and yet more puffins! On smooth glacially polished rocks Steller sea lions slept, bellowed a cavalcade of disparaging remarks or jousted in jest with their neighbors. As we circled downwind of the colony, what had been a visual and sound experience became an olfactory event as we were bombarded with “eau de sea lion.”
Silhouetted against a gray sky were the tattered throw rug shapes of nanny mountain goats, with dirty dishtowels of a kid standing at their side. We found a blond bear, correctly called a brown bear, and then one, two, three bears browsing up the hill. A bear sighted a short time later seemed to have sat in chocolate, the front half of its body was blond, the back half cocoa-brown, it had the overall look of wearing theobroma trousers. Before the end of the day, we had found nine bears.
Grand Pacific Glacier, the chocolate chip mudslide riding downhill from Canada seemed to be in need of a good cleaning. It sat next to the pristine Margerie: crisp, shiny-blue and gleaming. Five eagles, a mix of clean “bald heads” and splotchy-headed youngsters, shared a perch on an iceberg. The convocation of eagles and the berg bobbled in our wake.
We can twiddle the knobs on our cameras, and take photographs all day, however one thing becomes rapidly apparent, this landscape will not fit in a viewfinder. It begs to be experienced in person, and you can, for it has been preserved for future generations to immerse themselves in. We no longer need to ask "why?".
Sea lions
Eagles
A few killer whales
Big humpback whales bubble feeding
Islands
River otter (tracks)
Dinners are amazing!
- Lindsay Williams, age 13
Why has Glacier Bay National Park been preserved and protected for the last 83 years? Why was it considered important to protect such a remote place? Today, we experienced more than a glimpse into answering the question of "Why?".
We found swept-back tassel ornaments perched on the foreheads of puffins. Flinging by fast as Frisbees were pigeon guillemots, Kittlitz’s murrelets, and yet more puffins! On smooth glacially polished rocks Steller sea lions slept, bellowed a cavalcade of disparaging remarks or jousted in jest with their neighbors. As we circled downwind of the colony, what had been a visual and sound experience became an olfactory event as we were bombarded with “eau de sea lion.”
Silhouetted against a gray sky were the tattered throw rug shapes of nanny mountain goats, with dirty dishtowels of a kid standing at their side. We found a blond bear, correctly called a brown bear, and then one, two, three bears browsing up the hill. A bear sighted a short time later seemed to have sat in chocolate, the front half of its body was blond, the back half cocoa-brown, it had the overall look of wearing theobroma trousers. Before the end of the day, we had found nine bears.
Grand Pacific Glacier, the chocolate chip mudslide riding downhill from Canada seemed to be in need of a good cleaning. It sat next to the pristine Margerie: crisp, shiny-blue and gleaming. Five eagles, a mix of clean “bald heads” and splotchy-headed youngsters, shared a perch on an iceberg. The convocation of eagles and the berg bobbled in our wake.
We can twiddle the knobs on our cameras, and take photographs all day, however one thing becomes rapidly apparent, this landscape will not fit in a viewfinder. It begs to be experienced in person, and you can, for it has been preserved for future generations to immerse themselves in. We no longer need to ask "why?".
Sea lions
Eagles
A few killer whales
Big humpback whales bubble feeding
Islands
River otter (tracks)
Dinners are amazing!
- Lindsay Williams, age 13
