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Glacier Bay National Park

Glacier Bay is another of Alaska's difficult-to-get-to national parks but those who manage to get there find it well worth the effort. The sight of whales and glaciers framed in a vast untamed wilderness will reward the visitor.

Alaska

2015

About The Park

In 1794 all of what is now called Glacier Bay was once one giant tidewater glacier i.e. a glacier that runs from the mountains down into the sea. At that time there was no bay! By 1879 the ice had retreated almost all the way up the bay for a distance of 48 miles. It is now, at 65 miles from the mouth, about as far up the bay as it can recede. Some tidewater glaciers are no longer tidewater glaciers because they’ve retreated far enough away from the water. Considering that the deepest part of Glacier Bay is 1,400 feet deep that is a monstrous amount of ice to have melted even in 225 years.

The park is over 5000 square miles so, unless you are a serious back country person, you’re only going to experience a very tiny part of the park. But this is true of just about all of our national parks. They are big and, for all intents and purposes, they are mostly wilderness that few people travel into. Glaciers cover 27% of Glacier Bay National Park’s area. Currently there are 1,045 glaciers covering 2,055 square miles.

There are three ways to get Glacier Bay National Park which is not connected to any part of Alaska by road. You can take a cruise which generally embark from Seattle, Washington, Vancouver, British Columbia or Anchorage, Alaska. Cruise ships enter the bay and sail into it for some distance. In this manner you get to experience just Glacier Bay itself which is the highlight of the park. However, the park is much more than that.

The second way is to take the Alaska Marine Highway System where you can get on a ferry boat in Juneau that will take you to Gustavus, Alaska about 10 miles from the Glacier Bay Lodge at Bartlett’s Cove in the park. If you have time, and don’t like the idea of getting on a small plane, this can work out. The only difficulty is coordinating a stay in Juneau, a ferry boat that runs roughly once a week and your reservations at the Glacier Bay Lodge. There’s also the problem that the ferry leaves Gustavus one-half hour after it arrives and discharges its passengers. That would mean you would have to stay roughly a week at the lodge. So, this option would probably work best if you are willing to combine flying one leg and taking the 4½ hour ferry ride for the other leg.

The remaining way is to fly into Juneau, Alaska and take a small plane to the town of Gustavus which has an airport near the national park. This is the way to experience Glacier Bay National Park instead of just Glacier Bay seen from a cruise ship. You stay at the lodge in the park and have the opportunity to have your boots on the ground and do some hiking in the vicinity of the lodge as well as tour the bay in a boat.

We flew into Juneau and took a four seat Cessna for the, thankfully short, twenty-five minute flight to Gustavus. The weather was clear and the flight was smooth. On the trip back the pilot gave us the option of flying over the mountain or around it and, since he said the flight over the mountain was likely to be a bit rougher, we elected to go around it. We didn’t get that option on the flight in and didn’t have any issues.

When you get to Gustavus you call the lodge and they send a van to pick you up. On small plane flights you are severely restricted as to the amount of luggage you can carry. We traveled to Alaska with two suitcases and two carry-on bags for the trip. In Juneau the night before our flight to Glacier Bay, we repacked clothes for our three day stay in the carry-on bags and had the hotel hold our suitcases until we returned to spend the last night of our trip there.

The Glacier Bay Lodge was very nice and the accommodations were more than adequate. There’s no TV or cell phone service so you just enjoy the place, the people and the isolation. The visitor center is located in the lodge so you have easy access to those resources when planning your day. There is also limited free public WiFi at the visitor center. Nightly Ranger programs were interesting and informative about the bay, the wildlife, the native-American history and the ways in which Glacier Bay is managed to preserve it for future generations.

The food in the dining room was excellent, fortunately, because the dining options are limited. The town of Gustavus, which is about 10 miles away, is quite small and spread out without any ‘downtown’ area and I don’t recall there being any other places to go for dinner. The population as of 2010 was 442.

The highlight of the trip to Glacier Bay National Park is taking a tour boat to see the bay, the glaciers and the wildlife. The tours leave from the dock at Bartlett’s Cove by the lodge and you spend eight hours traveling virtually the entire length of Glacier Bay. The tour covers 130 miles which I’m sure, given the size of your average cruise ship, travels deeper into the bay and, especially the inlets, than a cruise ship does. The tour includes lunch, beverages throughout the day and a Ranger is on board to narrate and answer any questions. It is a good size boat and there is plenty of room both inside and out to move about and enjoy the tour.

On a typical tour you’ll see the beauty of the bay, the glaciers and plenty of wildlife. In the photo gallery there is a picture of a cruise ship in front of the Margerie Glacier which dwarfs this rather substantial ship.

Near the lodge there is a humpback whale exhibit. The main part of the exhibit consists chiefly of the skeleton of a whale that they feel probably died from a collision with a cruise ship. Sadly, this is not an uncommon occurrence and part of the reason for limiting to three the number of cruise ships allowed in the bay on any given day. Encounters with fishing lines, especially longline sets, are another danger to the whales. The parks service has a whale rescue team to try to save whales that get entangled.

If you are visiting the park make sure to have rain gear and warm clothes. Summer temperatures are in the 50-60 degrees Fahrenheit (10-15 C) range.

Wildlife

Typically on the boat tour you’ll see sea lions, sea otters, bears, mountain goats, puffins, orcas and at certain times of the year the humpback whales.

Other wildlife that inhabit the bay are timberwolves, coyotes, deer, porcupine, fox, moose, marmots, beaver, wolverines, Dall sheep, beaver and both brown and black bears. Among the 300 species of birds are bald eagles, golden eagles, falcons, ravens, osprey and owls. Marine mammals commonly seen in the bay are harbor seals, Steller’s sea lions and white-sided dolphins.

Lodging

Glacier Bay lodge

The only lodging is at the Glacier Bay lodge which is located in the park at Bartlett’s Cove. It is beautifully situated overlooking the Cove and connected by a series of boardwalks. It has only 48 rooms so reservations should be booked as far in advance of your trip as you can.

Hiking

The hiking options are limited with only 3 designated hikes which total less than about 15 miles of trails. Of course you are free to hike as much as you like anywhere in the park but that is for experienced back country hikers. These are the three trails that emanate from the Glacier Bay Lodge.

Forest Trail

An easy 1 mile loop from the lodge that follows the beach before turning into the rainforest and loops back to the lodge. This is certainly one hike to take.

Bartlett River Trail

A moderate hike due to the 4-mile round trip length. There’s no elevation change. This out-and-back trail travels through a dense rainforest and ends at an estuary near the mouth of the Bartlett River. This was a nice hike through the woods. I can’t say the estuary was all that exciting or scenic. I would recommend it for those who would like more of a hike than the Forest Trail.

Bartlett Lake Trail

This is a 10-mile out-and-back round trip to Bartlett Lake. The trail branches off from the Bartlett River Trail and moves inland to the lake. It is a more primitive trail and tougher to follow. I didn’t take this hike. A ten-mile hike is beyond the range I am comfortable with especially in grizzly bear country.

Other Points of Interest

Juneau, Alaska

Juneau is the only state capital without a road connecting it to the rest of the state. It is accessible only by boat or air. Cruise ships traveling the inside passage regularly stop there and the area near where the boat docks is block after block of stores catering to the cruise ship population. There are lots of jewelry stores selling expensive jewelry. It strikes me that there is little recourse should you get home and find out the $4000 item that you bought is worth significantly less.

Mendenhall Glacier

Right above Juneau is the Juneau Icefield and the Mendenhall and Lemon Creek Glacier. Both are visible from local roads. You can also take a bus or taxi to the Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center where you can get spectacular views of the glacier and Mendenhall Lake. From the visitor center you can hike trails along the lake and into the forest.

There are also helicopter tours that will give you great views and land on the icefield. On a previous trip we took a boat tour across Mendenhall Lake to the foot of the glacier. We were outfitted in waterproof outerwear and paddled across the lake to a ‘beach’ next to the glacier. There are tours that will have you strap on crampons and take a guided hike on the glacier. There are also hiking tours to the glacier. For the extremely fit and adventurous you can take an all-day hike that covers 8-9 miles with steep sections and difficult terrain to take you up to the glacier.

Mount Roberts Tramway

This tram is across the street from the cruise ship dock. It takes you to the top of Mount Roberts with great views overlooking Juneau and the harbor. There is a nature center at the top and the tram is popular as a cruise ship excursion. We took the tram up and hiked back down with some nice views along the way. The hike down is easy without any difficult sections or drop-offs. I don’t recall the exact length but I believe it was in the one-mile range.

Glacier Bay National Park Photo Gallery

Picture of a mountain goat in Glacier Bay National Park

Other National Parks Within a Day’s Drive

There are no other parks within a day‘s drive. There are no roads into Glacier Bay National Park. You can only get there by flying in via a bush plane or taking a boat into it.
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