Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
We took advantage of having a park ranger aboard last night, and saw the morning’s light way up at the northern end of the park, right at the Grand Pacific and Marjorie Glaciers.
It was this Grand Pacific Glacier that had filled the bay 65 miles down, and was seen by Capt. George Vancouver in 1794. Today this gallant glacier is reduced to a black (covered with rocks and gravel from the Ferris Glacier), sad glacier, and unattractive piece of land. But off to its right lies Marjorie Glacier, high, elegant and beautiful. Pure, with only small lateral moraines to make it ugly. Nine miles up to its point of origin! And it is one of the few glaciers in Alaska that is not retreating.
So we floated in front of it until it offered up a magnificent calving, with a resounding thunder (called sumdum by the natives, which means white thunder).
Further down the bay, we visited Johns Hopkins Glacier, another fantastic glacier, and one of the few that are slowly advancing!
As the day developed further, we sailed down this whole Tarr Inlet and the big bay, stopping at different places to look out for wildlife. We had luck, as we saw mountain goats, bears, and, in the water, harbor seals. Among the birds we had the opportunity of enjoying were bald eagles, three different species of gulls, pigeon guillemots, marbled murrelets and other water birds, especially the tufted puffins. A very generous group of animals!
At the end of the day we had arrived at Bartlett Cove, the headquarters of the park service, and hiked around an interesting forest trail, with four different orchid species! Who said there weren’t any orchids in Alaska?
