2008 Aug 5 Glacier Bay National Park

Home Of The Tlingits & The Fastest Receding Glaciers In The World

Two hundred years ago, Captain George Vancouver came to Glacier Bay (not a bay then) in search of a northern passage, only to find the Icy Strait choked with a giant wall of ice enclosing a huge bay of ice (what is Glacier Bay today). Since then, the ice in Glacier Bay has slowly receded, uncovering a new waterway 65 miles long containing many fjords and inlets. Receding 65 miles in 200 years, Glacier Bay is the fastest receding glaciers in the world. And it is still receding today!

At about 10am, we entered Glacier Bay National Park and inched slowly towards the Margerie Glacier – the largest tidewater glacier in the park – as a U.S. Park Service Ranger told the interesting history of Glacier Bay and the Huna tribes. As we slowly advanced, we passed Carroll Glacier at the Queen Inlet, Rendu Glacier at the Rendu Inlet, and Reid Glacier.
By 2pm, we came face to face with Grand Pacific Glacier and Margerie Glacier at Tarr Inlet. We enjoyed lunch and viewed glacier calving as Volendam stopped at the face of Margerie Glacier for an hour. The thunderous crackling sound of the calving was unmatchable by any known theater surround sound system! Again, Michele and I enjoyed our afternoon tea at the Rotterdam while Sonya and Ethan had their fun at the HAL Club. After that, Sonya and Ethan dipped in the hot pool against the cold backdrop of Mount Cooper and Johns Hopkins Glacier at Johns Hopkins Inlet.
Glacier Bay National Park is truly spectacular with an amazing history. Oral history and scientific findings revealed that people ancestral to Hoonah Tlingits occupied Glacier Bay before the last great glacial advance forced them out. But by the late 1700s, when the first European explorers sailed into the region, there was no bay, only a great wall of ice bordering the body of water that became known as Icy Strait. The Huna Tlingit returned to their homeland when he ice receded later, erecting permanent winter villages and setting up seasonal camps throughout the rapidly enlarging bay.
It was a breathtaking cruise at the Glacier Bay National Park. We even spotted a black bear and two brown bears, but still no sight of whales. Again, we had a sumptuous dinner at the Rotterdam before retiring to our room and getting ready for Haines the next day.