Glacier Bay National Park & the “Bear Essentials”
The amazing thing about Glacier Bay is that two hundred years ago, it didn’t exist! It was choked with icebergs and Glacier Bay itself was a solid mass of ice. Essentially water has carved out this place where grandeur surrounds our gaze out and up.
The belief that we are connected to the Earth, that nature is an ally, that it is our responsibility to be stewards of the planet are strong winds blowing around the globe. As Henry David Thoreau said, “We need the tonic of wildness…”
Smokey the Bear has long been the voice for preventing fires. Smokey is a coastal brown bear that teaches visitors to our parks how to explore and learn in ways that barely leave a trace.
The Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers, both terminate in Tarr Inlet, where we woke up to a brown bear foraging at low tide. Brown bears use their paws and claws to turn rocks and find breakfast in the inter-tidal zone. Binoculars put you with the bear along the shore, and you can almost hear their paws crunch on the rocks and seaweed.
Johns Hopkins Glacier calved as we approached its mile long face. Harbor seals lounged on icebergs floating in the inlet. Bald eagles on ice were eating their catch. The clouds lifted and the blues of the ice sparkled in a million different shades. Johns Hopkins Inlet teaches that we essentially need nature, not that nature needs us.
For those who have the ability to simply remain present in the wilderness of the bay, nature reveals herself. Near Russell Island, a brown bear took the plunge into icy water to swim a channel. No swimsuit needed. When it stepped out, it shook from head to toe.
A mother bear teaching her cubs patterns in nature that will provide a meal appeared out of the forest for us to watch. Now we have had the privilege of several bears, and for many of us, we begin to feel the real presence of the bear, perhaps a spiritual connection.
Geikie Inlet quieted our decks again, with two black bear sightings. The bears in Glacier Bay are teaching us the essentials of experiencing the tonic of wilderness Thoreau writes about. Today the gifts were high clouds, magnificent light, and an edge bears essentially came out of, when we scanned patiently.
The trail at Bartlett Cove was essential for most of us. Our galley has tempted us with more calories than our pants will hold. We, like the bears, have been grazing at every turn. A stretch and walk on land with the moon overhead closed a “beary beary” good day.
