Glacier Bay National Park

One can't even imagine how Captain George Vancouver felt as he first set eyes on the small five-mile inlet that was Glacier Bay back in 1794. At that time the Bay was all glacier and no bay. And then eighty years later, naturalist John Muir came to Glacier Bay with a group of the native Tlingit. I am sure they were both in awe of the glaciers, as I was.

Here it is, 2019, and I enter into the bay on a ship with 3,600 other passengers. Everyone has on layers of clothing. The temperature is in the 40s and it is wet, cold and foggy. I could barely handle the elements. I would run up top of the ship and take photos and then go back to an area that was warmer. How would I have handled the temperature if I had been with Captain Vancouver or John Muir? I am sure they were not wearing thermal underwear.

Now days, the Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve only allows two ship into the bay area each day. The only way to get to this park is by ship or plane. As I look at the glaciers, the blue coloring is so peaceful and relaxing. Why does the ice look blue? The Park Ranger said "when light hits highly compacted glacier ice, long wavelength colors(reds) are absorbed, while short wavelength colors(blues) reflect back through the ice to your eyes."

If you wondering how deep Glacier Bay is, it is very deep. It was carved out by a glacier and filled in with saltwater as the glacier retreated, creating a fjord. A fjord is a long, deep, narrow body of water that reaches far inland. Much of the bay is over 1,000 feet deep. About eight months ago, my husband and I rounded the Cape Horn and today we are entering into the Glacier Park. From one end of the world, to the top of the world.

As we cruise along, all I could think of was how desolate and barren that both Cape Horn and Glacier Park are. There is no one living in these areas. It was summer in both of these areas, but still everyone had on layers of clothing. What are the winters like?

Glacier Bay is over 3.2 million acres of forest, inlet and shore, mountain peaks rising over 15,000 feet and of course, the glaciers. The two glaciers that we saw were the Lamplugh Glacier and Margerie Glacier. Lamplugh is an 8 mile long glacier. The glacier was named for English geologist George William Lamplugh, who visited Glacier Bay in 1884.

Margerie Glacier is one of Alaska's most photographed features, and also one of the state's most active glacial faces. It is a 21 mile long tidewater glacier. This glacier is named after French geologist and geographer Emmanuel de Margerie who visited the area in 1913. While most of the tidewater glaciers in the park have been receding over the last several decades, Margerie Glacier has become stable, neither growing nor receding.

Humpback whales are most often seen in the Glacier Bay. I was sad that I didn't see any. There are over 400 National Parks in the United States. I am now proud to say that I have been to Glacier Bay National Park. The mission of the National Park Service is "to conserve the scenery and the natural and historic objects and the wild life therein and to provide for the enjoyment of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of future generations." Find a park near you and enjoy the surroundings and reflect on the past and what each man has done to make this a better place.