Glacier Bay National Park
Our day in Glacier Bay was to be a journey through time, travelling from a rugged Ice Age environment dominated by ice and glacially carved bedrock down to a full and dense Pacific northwest forest. Native Tlingit stories and modern science indicate that glaciers covered the entire length of today’s Glacier Bay as recently as 1780, and have since receded 65 miles to the faces of today’s tidewater glaciers. The walls of the fjords along the bay tell the story of the succession of plant communities, with pioneer lichen, moss and alder seedlings establishing themselves just now near the glacial faces, and giving way to willow and spruce seedlings and shrubs further down the fjords where the plant communities have had longer to develop after the retreat of the scouring ice. A succession of forests communities can be traced along the bay as we move toward the mouth and the land that has now been exposed for 250 years.
The highlight of the physical aspects of the bay was our expedition through the chunks and slush of ice to the face of Johns Hopkins Glacier. A mile wide and 300 feet high, the deep blue of the most compressed ice was mesmerizing. We all bundled up and gathered out on deck, and while we drifted among the ice and the harbor seals we were treated to a few exciting “calvings,” where blocks of ice the size of large houses and small buildings broke off and crashed and splashed into the water below. It was hard to believe that such a massive valley of ice could actually be flowing like a slow river, containing a three-dimensional network of internal rivers, crevasses and waterfalls that were ever-changing as the frozen river made its way down to Glacier Bay.
It was so spectacular that it’s hard to believe that it was the wildlife that stole the show today! Before we could even reach the glacial face, we cruised by the decomposing carcass of a single humpback whale on the western shore, which has been providing vital proteins for a host of Glacier Bay wildlife this summer. At 06:00 the excited whisper went out over the p.a. system: “There are at least four bears and a wolf having breakfast on a humpback whale carcass on the port side. Please be very, very quiet as you come out on deck.” We felt as if we were in a National Geographic special feature, as the Captain held the ship steady as the Alaskan brown bears ripped at the flesh and buried their faces into the carcass, chasing off the wolf to wait its turn. What a spectacle!
As the day went on we viewed hundreds of harbor seals hauled out on small pieces of ice near the Johns Hopkins Glacier, stately bald eagles on icebergs, driftwood and sprucetops, mountain goats, all kinds of seabirds including the charming tufted puffin, and the big surprise of the afternoon, a lazy bull moose feeding in the tall grass of Geekie Inlet. Glacier Bay National Park Ranger Sierra Willoughby was a busy man today keeping up with all the action, and he also certified seven National Park Service Junior Rangers on board. Ethan and Samuel Tucker, Haley and Hanna Drake, Ava Manson, Elena Evnin and Tvisha Sharma all took the oath to protect wilderness and nature not only in Glacier Bay, but in all other national parks and nature areas as well. It was an inspiring finish to an inspiring day, knowing that such a wild place may have a future.
