Glacier Bay National Park
The early risers (5am) enjoyed a vigorous walk with Ian along the misty shores of Bartlett Cove. Returning for breakfast, we met our Park Ranger for the day, David Deyette. First on our itinerary was South Marble Island, where we saw a marvelous array of birds and marine mammals, including both the Tufted and Horned Puffins. Near Gloomy Knob we discovered a bear dining on the beach. The Captain skillfully maneuvered the ship so close that we could clearly see the bear easily turning over 300 pound boulders and feasting on the marine creatures underneath. Strolling down the beach, the bear passed a vertical rock outcrop covered with mussels that he used for a vigorous backrub. The beauty of this encounter is that we were within a stones throw of a wild animal that was almost totally unaware of our presence. Just around the corner of Gloomy Knob we observed several mountain goats that were also unaware, but also a lot further away than the bear.
After lunch the good ship Sea Lion was found in the midst of some of the most glorious scenery in the world. The entrance to Johns Hopkins inlet is called Jaw Point, supposedly because your jaw will drop at the magnificent view ahead. Up until this point the clouds had been hovering near the water. However, as we approached, the ceiling lifted to reveal the10,000+ foot peaks soaring above. The inlet was choked with floating ice from recent calving of the Johns Hopkins and Gilman Glaciers and on the ice were innumerable brown blobs that our Naturalist Ian identified as Harbor Seals. His estimate of the population was at least 1100 animals, who come to this improbable place to deliver their pups in the absence of predators that don’t care to visit the cold, murky waters up here. We paused long enough to hear several episodes of “white thunder” as huge blocks of ice dropped off the 250-foot high face of the glacier into tidewater below.
As the sun was setting we docked at Bartlett Cove for a chance to take a quick hike through the climax forest of spruce and hemlock that has been established since the retreat of the glacier that occupied this area only 200 years ago. Most of us visited the lodge and National Park Service Headquarters, where standing out on the deck we could look outwards and reflect on the remarkable changes of landscape in space and time that we have witnessed during our day in Glacier Bay National Park.
The early risers (5am) enjoyed a vigorous walk with Ian along the misty shores of Bartlett Cove. Returning for breakfast, we met our Park Ranger for the day, David Deyette. First on our itinerary was South Marble Island, where we saw a marvelous array of birds and marine mammals, including both the Tufted and Horned Puffins. Near Gloomy Knob we discovered a bear dining on the beach. The Captain skillfully maneuvered the ship so close that we could clearly see the bear easily turning over 300 pound boulders and feasting on the marine creatures underneath. Strolling down the beach, the bear passed a vertical rock outcrop covered with mussels that he used for a vigorous backrub. The beauty of this encounter is that we were within a stones throw of a wild animal that was almost totally unaware of our presence. Just around the corner of Gloomy Knob we observed several mountain goats that were also unaware, but also a lot further away than the bear.
After lunch the good ship Sea Lion was found in the midst of some of the most glorious scenery in the world. The entrance to Johns Hopkins inlet is called Jaw Point, supposedly because your jaw will drop at the magnificent view ahead. Up until this point the clouds had been hovering near the water. However, as we approached, the ceiling lifted to reveal the10,000+ foot peaks soaring above. The inlet was choked with floating ice from recent calving of the Johns Hopkins and Gilman Glaciers and on the ice were innumerable brown blobs that our Naturalist Ian identified as Harbor Seals. His estimate of the population was at least 1100 animals, who come to this improbable place to deliver their pups in the absence of predators that don’t care to visit the cold, murky waters up here. We paused long enough to hear several episodes of “white thunder” as huge blocks of ice dropped off the 250-foot high face of the glacier into tidewater below.
As the sun was setting we docked at Bartlett Cove for a chance to take a quick hike through the climax forest of spruce and hemlock that has been established since the retreat of the glacier that occupied this area only 200 years ago. Most of us visited the lodge and National Park Service Headquarters, where standing out on the deck we could look outwards and reflect on the remarkable changes of landscape in space and time that we have witnessed during our day in Glacier Bay National Park.
