The trip into Glacier Bay is either by boat, ferry, or plane. I chose the plan and Alaska Airlines was the airline of my choosing. The airport is a bit different than any you have been to with a major carrier. First you walk down the steps from the plane, not a big deal but I felt like “Uncle Joe” walking down the steps. Second, you walk along the tarmac and then go outside a gate at the tarmac and you are outside of the airport! Third, baggage claim is a little building that the ramp people off load the bags onto that is like an oversize baggage area in any major airport. TSA has no PreCheck, bummer, but when you are done with security you walk onto your plane. I have been in some small airports in my day but this one is the smallest for any that have a major carrier. While waiting for your bag to “come down the shoot” you are standing in the parking lot/elements of the day. Good thing it was not raining when I arrived. Glacier Bay Lodge has a bus to take you to the hotel and it is an old Blue Bird. There is more here in Gustavus but the Glacier Bay lodge is in the park so ease of use was a good thing. The National Park has a campground but you are backpacking in the park, be aware of bears! Upon getting into my room it was determined that the room had not been cleaned from the previous guest so I was sent to a different room. They also were going to purchase dinner for me but it seems nobody knew about that and I had to foot the bill for dinner. In the AM, I packed up and humped my bags to the front desk to then get the room which I had reserved. To the credit of the hotel, I did get the room which I booked and they purchased dinner the second evening. The hotel is mostly outdoors with elevated walkways of decking boards connecting the various rooms with the main lodge. Would I stay her again, maybe for a night but when I come back I think that a kayak trip into the bay for some backpacking. You can get dropped off at an area with all your gear and you just have to kayak for a small portion of the trip. Sleeping on a glacier or next to a glacier sounds like fun to me.
Full day tour – Man this was a great day! First off Rebeka was the Park Ranger on the tour and she even took a photo with Smokey when we got back. The boat was a catamaran and it was a smooth trip for 8 hours. The loading started at 0700, yes it is early, and we departed at 0730 from the dock. We had not gone far when our first whale was spotted in the bay. I did not see this whale but have to say that there was many wildlife sightings in the day but more on those later. Rebeka said told us to put the preconceived notions of what the trip was about on the side and enjoy the day. I was ready with the long lense and an empty SD card for the day, boy was I glad the card was empty!. The boat went from Bartlett Cove, Park Headquarters, into Sitakaday Narrows. We saw some sea otters here and murrelet (a bird.). The boat then went to the west of Strawberry Island not strawberry hill. Rebeka then told us about 10 types of birds where we would be heading, South Marble Island. Man did we see birds and other animals here! When our Captain slowed the boat a kid yelled, “Puffin” starting the animal sightings. The animals we saw included stellar sea lions, bald eagles, and tufted puffins. South Marble Island was a cool little place, but one island was actually a few little islands and a big one. Onward to to Sandy Cove we went and on the way we saw some humpback whales. The boat then went to Muir Point and passed Sebree Island and Tlingit Point when we say some additional whales! Then the journey to Glacier Pacific glacier we went but on the way we stopped at Gloomy Knob. The stop allowed us to see a goat up high on the mountains, but also one down lower on the mountain. The best part was the mamma goat and her kid about 1/2 way up the mountain. Onward towards to the area between Russel Island and Mount Abdallah where there was a female brown bear on the beach looking for some food. Thank goodness I was on a boat and not the island. Our next stop was Grand Pacific Glacier. We got to see some glacial ice in the water and a couple of small calving. Don’t think anything will match the one in Kenai Fjords. We were on point for 30 minutes and that glacier is about 150 feet tall but in the water looks not so big until you see a boat next to it. When we left the glacier we then saw a few bald eagles. Our captain said we have some time to go to Johns Hopkins Inlet and glacier. Yes it is the same Hopkins that is the “Jays” but I still wanted to see it. This inlet has a glacier Lamplugh that is a wonderful blue in color and yes I know the ‘jays” are blue as well. The inlet has some larger pieces of glacial ice and there was a mamma seal and he pup on a piece of ice. The seals use the ice as a safe place for their pups as the water takes them in and out but the predators can’t see them or get to them on the ice. After a few minutes of viewing pleasure of Johns Hopkins Glacier we saw a kayaker paddling very hard towards to the boat. He was making good time but we left him anyway since he just wanted a beer. Johns Hopkins glacier is over 200 feet talk and the kayaker looked very tiny next to the glacier and I could hardly get him into the photo with the glacier. We then had to recover 10 kayakers from a pre-determined pickup off of Gilbert Peninsula. The kayakers was a family on vacation together and I think that it maybe something I do in the future here in Glacier Bay. After recovering these 10 family members we started back to the dock but we ran into a male brown bear and boy was he big! We could not stop as it was getting late but it was cool seeing this big boy eating by the shore of the bay. Next we were driving and an Orca pod was found. I think that there was a mamma and a baby but who knows. We then found a humpback whale in Giekie Inlet. Onward to the dock we went and docked the boat. It was a wonderful day on the water seeing wildlife and the glaciers. Note: Glacier Bay was formed when the glacier started to recede about 250 years ago and now it sits 65 miles from the mouth of the bay! That is a ton of ice being lost here in the Glacier Bay. Special shout out to Rebekah who did a great job in talking about the trip and what we would see but also creating a map of the adventure.
July 4 in Gustavus – I decided to make a trip into town to see the celebration of the 4th in the town of Gustavus. The town has about 400 people and everyone knows each other as it should be in a small town. The way it should be in the world. Kids could ride their bikes without having issues of being taken and enjoy life. The 4th festivities was in a park that was next to city hall and the fire station. They had real sugar cane coke, a Klondike bar, hamburgers and hot dogs. The events of the day were things like rubber duck race, slowest bike race, bubble gum bubble blowing contest, and a puffin contest. I participated in the puffin contest as a there was 3 teams of 5 people would race to a tube with a cup of water. You would place the cup of water into the tube and the first team to get their puffin’s head outside the tube would win the race. My team came in 3rd of 3, not our best outing but we had fun. The bubble blowing contest I did not participate in as I did not think I could come back next year to defend my title. Also an outsider winning, I may have been run out of town. All of the people I came into contact with who live in town were very nice people. The town has a place called Tastco which is a guy who goes to Costco in Juneau and using his boat to bring the supplies back to Gustavus. He also has the only ATM in town. The towns store selling adult beverages is only open 3 hours a day and 3 days a week. Guess you better plan ahead for a party.
Forest Trail – the trail has a starting point at the lodge or if you want you can start near the campground in Bartlet cove. The trail less than 1 mile and is a very easy walk with very small elevation gain/loss. Some of the trail is a boardwalk when you get to the lake. The rest of the trail is smooth dirt and rock. Don’t walk on the trail after rain as it will be a bit messy for you to navigate. On the trail you can see some evidence of glaciers in the area, 250 years ago, with large boulders dotting the landscape. Also there are many little lakes on the trail another sign of the glacier retreat. This hike is not one that you will be dead tired when done but is something that is good to walk after you have dinner or just want/need to see some nature.
Bartlett River and Lake Trail – The trail head started for us at the hotel on the paved path past the totem poles up to the road. Once on the road take a left and head towards the park headquarters. Continue up the road until you see a big sign for the trail. Once you start heading into woods you see that this is a very wet place with all the mosses covering the ground and the trees. The trail has little elevation gain and is well used to follow. Not many if any trail markers are on the trail but don’t worry it is easy to follow. The trail has many spots that you are walking on boards over very wet spots. The trail has a split for the lake and the river about 1/2 mile into the trail. The river is a total of 4.7 miles one way and the lake is 1.7 miles one way. With having to check out today and not being able to stick around the room the short hike was the one of the day. Even with the shortie the checkout was 1 hour late but oh well, it meant that I had to stay around in the lobby for 2 hours and 45 minutes waiting on the bus to the airport and our flight. The lake is very nice and was worth the hike, just wish more time was available to enjoy the beauty but the next park awaits.
