To wake up in a landscape dominated by glaciers and the chiseled fjords that are their progeny is a rare opportunity. For 65 miles, through the dead of night, we motored into the northernmost reaches of Glacier Bay National Park, affording us a chance to wake up near the terminus of one of the Alaska’s crowned jewels. The John’s Hopkins glacier, which spills hundreds of tons of solidified ice into its namesake inlet each week, was the first sight we took in. Under a low ceiling of clouds we glided west around Jaw Point when the only animal that could have whisked our attention from this fortress of solitude periscoped into view. Like a blackened blade, the six-foot-tall dorsal fin of a male killer whale sliced through the stillness, followed by its staccato breath and a legato retort from we unsuspecting spectators. For the next hour our determined captain slalomed his way through the ice, keeping pace with at least six Bigg’s killer whales on their way south in search, no doubt, for some unfortunate seals.
Beneath a backdrop of fog-filtered ice these apex predators escorted us towards our next destination, the Margerie Glacier. Viewed by hundreds of thousands of eyes a year this, and its neighbor, the Grand Pacific Glacier, sit in stark contrast to one another. The Margerie, with her luminous, fractured façade, continues to advance at an average of seven feet per day and readily discards ice into the gray water at her terminus. The Grand Pacific, which is fed by a separate body of ice is now in its death throes and resembles a wall of rock. Standing side by side they mark the northernmost boundary of the park and marked our turning point back down fjord.
The 65-mile journey back to Bartlett Cove Ranger Station led us past foraging brown bears on the shores of Russell Cut, mist-enshrouded mountain goats perched on the face of Gloomy Knob, and a lone black bear on the slopes of Geikie Inlet.
Our journey south followed the path of glaciers as they carved this massive waterway and their retreat allowed us an opportunity to see the inspiring scenery they left behind.
