Glacier Bay Up Close!
An Alaska Photo Tour with Betty Sederquist
June 26 - July 1, 2002

Glacier Bay is one of the most magnificent corners of an already spectacular state. This is partly due to the dramatic Fairweather Range and to Mt. Fairweather itself, reaching 15,300 feet skyward, literally changing the weather around it. On all sides, spires, crags and glaciated peaks nearly as tall, flank it. Extensive glaciers flow down the flanks of these rugged peaks and reach the sea, where monstrous chunks of ice fall. Twelve tidewater glaciers exist in the park, and we will explore several of them.

Johns Hopkins Glacier and Inlet is an especially active and dramatic place of ice. Several peaks around this rugged fjord stand nearly 7,000 feet tall within less than four miles of the shoreline. Gravity brings the ice down rapidly, with glaciers moving as much as seven feet per day. Blocks over 200 feet tall come crashing into the water, while other equally impressive giant blocks break off from the bottom of the glacier beneath the water. The Inlet is often so full of ice that the beauty of this place is often best appreciated from a distance. The entire inlet is often one huge ice sculpture garden.

Much of the beauty of Glacier Bay is discovered only with intimate exploration, and that is what we we did on this trip. We marveled at the larger wonders of this place, but we also went ashore and experienced the intricacies and subtleties that go together to compose this grand design.
The 50-foot Delphinus (pictured above) is ideal for this kind of exploration. The boat holds four crew and up to eight passengers. The relatively small size of the boat enables us to get into wilderness areas unavailable to larger cruise ships. At the same time, we travel comfortably, centering our explorations from a spacious heated salon with large viewing windows. One highlight of the trip was the superb food. We slept aboard the vessel in cozy cabins. Daily we went ashore, exploring the faces of glaciers, wilderness beaches, or the green, mossy wonders of the temperate rainforest. Seasickness was not a problem, as the inland waters we traveled are protected from Pacific swells.

On leaving Bartlett Cove, we began the exploration of the area that naturalist John Muir described as the "grandest place on Earth." John Muir ventured north to recharge his soul in Southeast Alaska. He returned home fulfilled. Here we discovered a land of rock, ice and forests that literally was buried in ice 200 years ago. The glaciers have retreated about 65 miles in 200 years. When John Muir built his cabin here in 1892, the inlet that bears his name didn't even exist! On the Delphinus, we cruised up the narrow inlets to the point where the glaciers are today. We saw succession in reverse as we cruised past rock that has only recently appeared from under the melting ice. Close to the ice itself, only lichens begin to establish a foothold. A few miles away, alders and willow begin to grow. At the mouth of Glacier Bay, Sitka spruce and hemlock thrive capping a succession pattern that takes 200 years. On this trip, we hiked right up to the massive glacier ice of Reid Glacier.
One of our first stops was the Marble Islands, home to a variety of birds including several species of gulls, cormorants, murres, harlequin ducks, eagles, shore birds and two species of puffins. American black oystercatchers and surfbirds make their way along the water's edge searching for food. The Marble Islands are a favorite haul-out site for harbor seals and endangered Steller sea lions.

In addition to Reid Glacier, we also visited the Margerie Glacier. Near Margerie Glacier is a large blacklegged kittiwake colony. Also near the upper end of the bay are John Hopkins Glacier and Lamplugh Glacier.

After exploring the upper reaches of Glacier Bay proper, we headed south.

Just outside the entrance to Glacier Bay, you'll find the area's most famous residents, humpback whales! These graceful creatures take advantage of the plentiful food supply found in Icy Strait. Often, they lunge from the water and cooperate in the startling feeding pattern known as bubble-feeding. The most consistent spot for seeing humpbacks is Point Adolphus, but the humpbacks roam much of the shoreline along Chichagof Island in the vicinity of Point Adolphus.

As part of our trip we lingered in Dundas Bay, a completely different experience from Glacier Bay itself. Because Dundas Bay (just west of Glacier Bay) is part of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, the wildlife and rainforest there are protected, and we saw black bears foraging along the shorelines. (In 1999 we counted nine black bears and got within 20 feet of black bears on two occasions.) This place has a special magic. Because the bay has many hidden shoals, it’s inaccessible to cruise ships and other boats seldom come here. However, the crew of the Delphinus has been coming here for years and knows the waters well. This is an area of lush temperate rainforest, muskeg, wildflowers and tiny islands reminiscent of a Japanese painting. We pretty much had the place to ourselves, with the silence broken only by the "kreek" of an eagle or the complex vocalizations of a raven.