Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is the second most visited national park in Alaska after Denali. Popularized by the nature writer and environmentalist John Muir in early 1900s after his visit in 1899, it was created a national monument in February of 1925 and elevated to national park status in 1980 with the passage of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. Along with the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia, the Kluane National Park and Reserve in the Yukon territory and the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park in Alaska, Glacier Bay is part of an International Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its dramatic ice-covered landscape and importance to the species such as caribou, dall sheep and grizzly (brown) bears.
Getting there
Glacier Bay is situated on the upper part of Alaska’s panhandle roughly 50 miles west northwest of the State capital of Juneau. Like Juneau, it is only accessible by boat or airplane. The only road in the park is the one that links the park facilities at Bartlett Cove (visitor center, information station, headquarters, lodge and campground) with the small town of Gustavus and its small airport. Most park visitors arrive by boat, either on a ferry from Juneau (including the Alaska Marine Highway ferry and the high speed catamaran service paired with the Glacier Bay Lodge), onboard a cruise ship or on some other tour or charter boat. Smaller craft are permitted to enter the park as well, but you must obtain a permit first as the number of boats permitted is limited to protect the wildlife in the bay. Alaska Airlines provides flight service to Gustavus in the summer. While the park is open year round, almost all services are closed from mid September through mid May. July is the peak month for visitation.
Accommodations & Dining
The only lodging in the park is the 56 room Glacier Bay Lodge. Rooms at the lodge run around $200 per night. Food services include a dining room and snacks available at the gift shop. Camping is available at the Bartlett Cove campground. Backcountry camping is permitted beyond a one mile radius of the Bartlett Cove marina. In Gustavus, there are also several small lodges, inns, B&B’s and rental houses available for visitors. Dining is available at a few along with a couple of cafes in town. Groceries are available at the mercantile.
Getting to the Sights
What most people come to see at Glacier Bay National Park are the glaciers calving into the bay. As the glaciers reach the water of the bay, their face becomes less stable and comes crashing down into the water with a thunderous noise and spawning dangerous waves. It is this calving action of the glacier that churns the waters of the bay, providing a rich environment for marine animals such as otters, seals, sea lions and whales. The icy powder blue faces of the glaciers can be a mile wide and over 200 feet tall.
If you are not arriving by cruise ship there are tour boats that take passengers into the inlets to see the glaciers. The only day trip tour boat is run out of the Glacier Bay Lodge. Tour boat tours from Juneau will be overnight cruises. Both cruise ships entering the bay and tour boats will be staffed by a NPS naturalist providing guidance and answering questions. These cruises follow a set path and itinerary through the bay. For a more personalized trip into the heart of the park, charter services are available in Gustavus.
Another way to explore the park on the water is by kayak. Individual and guided kayak trips are available. They provide greater freedom is choosing where to go, but come with added risk. Beware of large boats, who may not be able to see the kayak, and their wake, which could easily flip the kayak over. Also when coming ashore, be careful to bring the kayak above the high tide line as the tides in the narrow bay and inlets can vary the water level as much as 25 feet. It is also very unsafe to kayak closer than 1000 feet to the face of a calving glacier or to larger icebergs in the bay. The wave action created by the glacier is very dangerous and can flip a kayaker over as can the rolling action of an iceberg.
From Bartlett Cove, you can also hike on one of four maintained hiking trails, but backcountry hiking is also possible throughout the park. The coastal areas are safest in the intertidal strip along the beaches. Hiking up onto the glaciers is not advised for safety, but alpine hikes are possible. Consult a ranger for the best options. Care must also be taken when fording streams.
Another way to see the park is via flightseeing. Charter tours can be arranged from several services at the Gustavus airport.
The Wildlife
Glacier Bay is bear country. The park is home to both black bears and brown (grizzly) bears. As with any other bear area, follow guideline about food storage and transport and take extreme caution when hiking. Always tell someone where you will be going and when you expect to return. Black bears and brown bears can be seen in the intertidal zone foraging for mussels and in the streams fishing for salmon. The brown bears are concentrated more in the northern, glacial areas of the park while black bears dominate in the south.
Glacier Bay is also a great place to see the symbol of America, the bald eagle. The Alaska panhandle boasts one of the largest populations of bald eagles in the U.S. The park is also a prime place to see various ducks like mallards and goldeneyes as well as several species of puffins and owls. Over 200 species of birds have been observed in the park.
After having been nearly wiped out in much of the region by trapping in the 1800’s, sea otters have returned to a thriving population into the park after their reintroduction in the 1960’s. They are commonly seen in the waters of the southern part of the park laying on their backs eating mollusks and crabs or preening their fur coats to retain their buoyancy.
Seals can often be seen in the waters near the calving glaciers, occupying the rugged, rocky coast or floating around on sea ice in the bay. In the summer, keep an eye out for molting seals as this shedding generally occurs in the warmer months.
Keep an eye out on the rocky islands in the bay for sea lions. They prefer isolated islands where they can more easily protect their pups. The colony at South Marble Island is the largest in the park, while other rookeries exists on some of the smaller islands.
Whales are frequent residents of Glacier Bay, humpback whales in particular. They start arriving in numbers in May each year and tend to have migrated out by October. July and August are the peak months for whale watching.
Wolves have become more common in the park in recent years as have moose and coyotes. Lynx are known to frequent the northern reaches of the park in the area around the Alsek River and Alsek Lake. Sightings further south in the park are rare. Mountain goats frequent the alpine areas of the park in mostly rocky areas generally inaccessible to humans. Other mammals known to live in the park include wolverines, weasels, martens, minks, red foxes, marmots and beavers though the latter two are far more rare.
This diary is part of the Daily Kos group
"Park Avenue" regular series of diaries of "Things To Know Before You Go" National Park trip planning aids. Please click on the group link to see other diaries in this series, as well as the excellent Thursday diary series profiling our National Parks and Monuments. This week's Thursday diary will be on Dry Tortugas National Park.
As always, please add your own tips on visiting Glacier Bay. These diaries turn in to great sources of information because of your help in rounding out the knowledge available.