Located approximately 60 miles west of Juneau as the crow flies, Glacier Bay National Park is the largest national park in southeast Alaska and the world's largest marine sanctuary. The park covers 3.3 million acres (an area larger than the state of Connecticut) and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Glacier Bay is a wildlife lover’s paradise. During the summer, orcas, humpbacks, and minke whales frequent its waters, which are also home to porpoises, sea otters, sea lions, and harbor seals. More than 6,000 seals breed and nurse on icebergs in the Johns Hopkins Inlet.
The cliffs along the bay host thousands of seabirds, including horned and tufted puffins, cormorants, red-necked phalaropes, oystercatchers, pigeon guillemots, and kittiwakes. On the shores live bears, moose, mountain goats, and wolves.
Alaska is one of only three places in the world where tidewater glaciers - glaciers that have advanced far enough to reach the sea - exist. (The other two are Scandinavia and Chile.) In Glacier Bay, nearly a dozen tidewater glaciers calve icebergs directly into the sea, a reminder of the geologic forces that shaped the bay and the surrounding landscape.
A Recent Creation
Glacier Bay is a relatively recent geological creation. When Captain George Vancouver explored this region in 1794, he described “compact solid mountains of ice” rising from the sea. What is now a bay 65 miles long and 2 1/2 to 10 miles wide was completely filled by a single, massive glacier up to 5,000 feet thick.
By the time naturalist John Muir visited Glacier Bay in 1879, the ice had retreated more than 40 miles and split into a Y shape. Muir called Glacier Bay as “an icy wilderness unspeakably pure and sublime.” Since then, the glacier has retreated an additional 30 to 40 miles, opening up the full length of Glacier Bay. The remaining glaciers continue to recede and may eventually disappear altogether.
Remnants of Glaciation
Southeast Alaska’s glacial history is visible in the gently rounded tops of many hills and mountains, which were once covered in ice. Only the highest elevations were uncovered during the height of the Wisconsin glaciation, about 20,000 years ago, leaving jagged peaks that once appeared as islands in the expanse of ice.
The region’s U-shaped valleys, with steep walls and fairly level floors, were also carved by glaciers, unlike the V-shaped valleys carved by rivers and streams. The fjords of Glacier Bay and the rest of southeast Alaska are simply U-shaped valleys that became flooded with saltwater when the glaciers receded. Along their sides, waterfalls tumble from so-called hanging valleys gouged out by smaller tributary glaciers.
Visiting Glacier Bay
No roads lead to Glacier Bay, so visitors arrive either by sea or by air. Most people visit by cruise ship for the day or fly over on a flight-seeing excursion from places like Skagway or Haines. However, if you’re traveling independently, it’s well worth staying longer to explore this spectacular wilderness.
To stay overnight, book a room at the national park lodge at Gustavus at the mouth of the bay. Activities offered include kayaking, fishing, whale watching, and hiking. You can get here by ferry from Auke Bay near Juneau or by plane to Gustavus from Juneau, Skagway, or Haines.
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