Glacier Bay
Glacier Bay is iconic among American National Parks for mountains and ice, but equally important to the experience of visiting are the plants and animals. On a misty morning we began our visit with the animals inhabiting the South Marble Islands. After an introduction by our Rangers for the day, Kate, Adrianna, and Helen, we went on deck to view many of the seabirds found in the park—kittiwakes, gulls, pigeon guillemots, common murres, and of course puffins. We searched unsuccessfully for the elusive horned puffin, but were constantly amused by the flight style of the tufted puffins, which seemed to exert enormous effort just to get off the ground.
Shortly after leaving the South Marbles the fog began to lift and the magnificent peaks of the Fairweather Range were revealed. This mountain range has been measured as the steepest in the world with Mt. Fairweather rising over 15,000 feet--only three miles inland from the shoreline.
At the Lamplugh Glacier we saw the characteristic blue color of glacial ice, and even more impressive, a torrent of melt water gushing from a subsurface channel. After lunch we arrived at the upper end of Tarr Inlet, where we noted the contrast between the rock-laden Grand Pacific and the relatively “clean” Margerie glaciers.
At Gloomy Knob and Tidal Inlet we searched for mountain goats, but instead found a magnificent brown bear that foraged along the shoreline as we all had a much appreciated close-up look at one of the world’s most impressive creatures in the wild. Moving on to Tidal Inlet we encountered highlight of the day—a very large Brown Bear working his way along the beach front and ultimately doing some very impressive technical rock climbing in his search for an afternoon snack.
Continuing back down the Bay the continuing theme was plant succession from recently deglaciated bare rock to shrumbs and alders to conifer forests at the mouth of the Bay. Even the younger guests on board were impressed by the rapid change from a valley occupied by a glacier to old growth forest in the span of two (long) lifetimes.
