Glacier Bay National Park – Riveted

Glacier Bay National Park | Part 3 | Johns Hopkins Inlet

Laura Domela — Sat, 30 Jul 2016 19:56:56 +0000

After our Reid Glacier on-foot excursion (and brunch), we cruised around the corner to check out Lamplugh Glacier and then into Johns Hopkins Inlet. We took Airship, and Sam and Anna left Safe Harbour anchored in Reid Inlet and instead went in Sam’s dinghy. That way we’d have Airship as a base and could trade off passengers in the dinghy (able to go closer and be more nimble among the icebergs). The weather was steadily improving, too!

Kevin said Margerie Glacier was his favorite ever glacier, until he saw Johns Hopkins Glacier. There really aren’t any words to describe how it feels to be in the presence of this kind of scenery…it was epic, and perhaps the most dramatic we’ve seen yet. The glacier is 250 feet tall, but the mountains behind it steal the show until you get up close and watch bus-sized chunks calving off into the icy blue water. Johns Hopkins is the only glacier in Glacier National Park that is still advancing/thickening (at the rate of about 15 feet per day!) Here are a ton of photos:

This glacier is SUPER active, and you really do get the feel that it’s advancing and you sit and listen to the sharp cracking and popping. Incredible.

We saw (and heard, and felt) so much calving!

It was late by the time we were done at Johns Hopkins Inlet, so we anchored again in Reid Inlet last night…this time in nice calm water. We had a little happy hour (in the sun!) on Sam’s top deck and then made salmon tacos and Deke Beans (black beans with garlic, peppers, hot sauce, etc….so good!).

The route from Reid Inlet up to Johns Hopkins Glacier and back to Reid Inlet (24.5 nautical miles, 4 hours 45 minutes):

Dusk in Reid Inlet:

The weather!!! As you can see, the weather has improved drastically. Today it’s clear sky and bright sun.

We had a few iceberg visitors this morning:

We left mid-day and cruised the 22 or so nautical miles down to Geikie Inlet.

This little otter had both arms up and was barrel-rolling as he swam along…I watched him do about 12 in a row…”Yay! I’m an otter!!”

We are now anchored in Shag Cove.

We’ve seen multiple black bears (and cubs), and we have crab traps out (low expectations due to all the otters), and we even had a halibut on one of our lines, but it ate the bait and got away, so we’re having barbecue, asparagus, and scalloped potatoes for dinner tonight.

Reid Inlet to Shag Cove in Geikie Inlet (24.7 nautical miles, 3 hours 31 minutes):

Next stops: Elfin Cove and Pelican!

Glacier Bay National Park | Part 2 | Exploring Reid Glacier

Laura Domela — Sat, 30 Jul 2016 19:25:16 +0000

On Friday morning we dinghied over to Reid Glacier and walked around for an hour or so, exploring the ice and rocks and waterfalls. It’s difficult to explain just how cool this was, so I’m going to post a ton of photos instead of words.

Sam and Anna in the fast dinghy:

Arriving on shore:

Tiny dots, bottom center of photo are Sam and Anna:

Taking turns standing on the glacier for photo ops:

Kevin in red, for scale:

Deke with the long lens:

It’s like being on another planet!

We found a few bear prints in the mud (that’s an iPhone 6…not 6 plus…for scale):

Airship and Safe Harbour, rafted (with the Grand Pacific Glacier far in the background):

Back on board we made a delicious brunch. Sam and Anna made potato waffles (hash-browns mixed with egg and spices cooked in the waffle maker) and I made a pan of cheesy scrambled eggs to go with ’em.

Next stop: Lamplugh Glacier and Johns Hopkins Inlet (with many, many more glacier photos).

Glacier Bay National Park | Part 1 | South Sandy Cove, Margerie Glacier, Reid Inlet

Laura Domela — Thu, 28 Jul 2016 18:48:22 +0000

We checked in Wednesday afternoon (July 27) at Bartlett Cove just in time to make the 2pm orientation. Not much room at the dock (well, mostly due to the inconsiderate spaces left between other docked boats) so we rafted onto Sam’s boat and hustled up to the Vis (code for Visitor’s Center).

The park rangers showed us a film about the park and its rules in a tiny hot room and then gave a 15 minute talk afterwards and we were on our way. We walked up to check out the lodge and the exhibit about the animals of Glacier Bay, and then swung by to look at the humpback skeleton on display along the Tlingit Trail.

It’s a sad story…this humpback, called Rosie, was hit by a cruise ship while pregnant. The cruise ship company apparently paid for this exhibit to help educate people about humpback/vessel best practices.

Tree carving on the Tlingit Trail:

Clever bike rack:

Our first stop after leaving Bartlett Cove was South Sandy Cove. The weather was terrible…rain and low clouds…so our visibility was extremely limited. We managed to catch a couple of humpbacks though, one very actively tail-slapping, on our way in. Here it is, nose-up:

We cruised past South Marble Island to get a closer look at the sea lions (and inadvertently got a closer smell, as well):

The light on the water was so beautiful looking back toward the south:

We rafted with Safe Harbour in South Sandy Cove, and decided to make Bloody Marys to go with our appetizer of freshly steamed Dungeness crab.

By morning the clouds had lifted a bit.

We headed up to Margerie Glacier and Grand Pacific Glacier in Tarr Inlet. Look how many glaciers (the light blue area on the chart) surround us in Tarr Inlet:

Margerie is giant and craggy, and Grand Pacific is just a huge swoop of ice making its way into the US from Canada (in not as dramatic a form as Margerie, so we didn’t take many photos of that one, but it was still cool).

Sam and Anna on Safe Harbour, Margerie in the background:

We anchored Thursday night in Reid Inlet, in front of Reid Glacier.

Reid Glacier is just barely not a tidewater glacier anymore, which means you can dinghy to shore and walk around in front of the ice. But it was 4pm or so and the wind had picked up, so we would probably just anchor and do dinner and stay inside. We had a little bit of an “extreme rafting” scenario further in near the glacier before we decided to bag it an anchor in a more protected area for the night. Docking onto a moving boat (swinging wildly) is quite challenging (and very good docking practice).

SO many otters in Glacier Bay:

And puffins! We saw more puffins!

Today’s track from South Sandy Cove to Margerie Glacier to Reid Inlet (57.4 nautical miles, 8 hours 40 minutes):

Tomorrow morning: exploring Reid Glacier!