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is getting ready to calve |
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As we entered Glacier Bay,we stopped and picked up a park ranger and then cruised along shorelines completely covered by ice just 200 years ago. Our ranger helped us to spot wildlife and taught us a lot about glaciers, glacial succession, and life in Southeast Alaska.
Explorer Capt. George Vancouver found Icy Strait choked with ice in 1794, and Glacier Bay was a barely indented glacier. That glacier was more than 4,000 feet thick, up to 20 miles or more wide, and extended more than 100 miles to the St. Elias Range of mountains. By 1879, however, naturalist John Muir found the ice had retreated 48 miles up the bay. By 1916, the Grand Pacific Glacier headed Tarr Inlet 65 miles from Glacier Bay's mouth. It has continued to receed and, in our small boat, we managed to get very close to the face of several glaciers in the park.
Bears and river otter can swim around ice and open water barriers to recolonize uncovered land as the glaciers retreat. Mountain goats can live on high ridges the ice exposed early in its retreat. Harbor seals pup on densely packed icebergs. Sea lions also use the park as a summer home. All these animals are widespread in the park. Whales have been known to be spotted in the park, but sadly, I didn't see any.
Click on these images to see a larger version.
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is getting ready to calve |
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