Glacier Bay National Park
Our trip into Glacier Bay National Park showed one of the premiere destinations in the system. The bay was not in fact a place to visit just 200 years ago, a very short amount of time by geologic standards. When George Vancouver named Icy Straight it was because of the incredible amount of ice that was pouring out of the Grand Pacific Glacier. That glacier, fed by the little ice age of a few centuries ago, began to unzip for decades and left huge icebergs in its wake.
The transit we made today gave us an impression of the presence of that ice as we made our way up bay and saw the decreasing size and cover of the forest as we moved north. There were views of Steller sea lions, puffins, murres, eagles, humpback whales, mountain goats and of course two brown bears (our first of the voyage). The destination though was the meeting of two large rivers of ice, The Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers. These immense moving and carving frozen waterways entertained our desire for spectacular sights with tons of calving or falling ice from their faces down into the sea. The sight and sound of calving along with the cool feel of the ice induced wind gave us an impression that ice can truly affect its environment.
The rest of the day was spent traveling down bay while soaking up the beautiful weather in an amazing place.
Our trip into Glacier Bay National Park showed one of the premiere destinations in the system. The bay was not in fact a place to visit just 200 years ago, a very short amount of time by geologic standards. When George Vancouver named Icy Straight it was because of the incredible amount of ice that was pouring out of the Grand Pacific Glacier. That glacier, fed by the little ice age of a few centuries ago, began to unzip for decades and left huge icebergs in its wake.
The transit we made today gave us an impression of the presence of that ice as we made our way up bay and saw the decreasing size and cover of the forest as we moved north. There were views of Steller sea lions, puffins, murres, eagles, humpback whales, mountain goats and of course two brown bears (our first of the voyage). The destination though was the meeting of two large rivers of ice, The Margerie and Grand Pacific Glaciers. These immense moving and carving frozen waterways entertained our desire for spectacular sights with tons of calving or falling ice from their faces down into the sea. The sight and sound of calving along with the cool feel of the ice induced wind gave us an impression that ice can truly affect its environment.
The rest of the day was spent traveling down bay while soaking up the beautiful weather in an amazing place.
