Glacier Bay National Park
“The world though made is yet being made,” wrote John Muir, reflecting on the glacial landscapes of Southeast Alaska. This fact was everywhere in evidence today as we surveyed the creative destruction wrought over the course of centuries by massive rivers of ice. We were treated to vistas that ranged from hillsides scraped bare of all vegetation nearest to the glaciers, all the way to a mature Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock forest at the entrance to this magnificent National Park.
Nature displayed many of her other moods and attributes to us as well. We were entranced and a bit nervous watching the daring, grace and agility of a mountain goat working its way down the shear rock face of Gloomy Knob.
The ingenuity and skill of a bubble-netting humpback whale in Russell Cut left us gawking, as did its breaching cousin outside Geikie Inlet.
The power of the four brown bears we spotted feeding in the intertidal zone was impressive and awe-inspiring, while the kittiwakes, pigeon guillemots and clown-like tufted puffins overwhelmed us with their delicate beauty, humorous antics and melodic calls.
The foggy haze draping the jagged mountains in soft-focus light and the unusually mild temperatures invited us to breathe, absorb and rest, soothed by the rejuvenating experience of the wild.
Our final encounter with Glacier Bay was a wonderful sighting of 3 moose—a mother and her two calves—grazing contentedly in a pond near the Bartlett Cove Lodge and Interpretive Center.
What a perfect way to end our day.
