26 May 2026
Welcome to Glacier Bay!
My hiker app is great at finding our location, but I neglected to load more detailed maps for this area, so labels are a bit lacking:
Into the bay we go!
Stellar sea lion:
A raft of sea otters:
We picked up a couple rangers who will provide commentary and hold classes throughout our time here:
This is our planned route:
How far into those inlets we can get will depend on how much ice is currently in there.
I started up in the Crow’s Nest, where the first of the ranger talks would take place, but there were a TON of people and while the views from up here were nice:
I headed down to the 3rd deck, where I could check out the views from both sides of the boat. There were quite a few goats on this rocky outcropping:
Goats!
and another!
and a couple more:
Looking further up the bay:
The glacier itself has retreated, but you can still see the dirt and rocks left behind by the Grand Pacific Glacier:
Also, that’s Canada!
I started getting chilly so I headed back to our room- Matt may have had the right idea- watching the mountains and the glaciers from the warmth of our room:
Margerie Glacier:
It extends about 250′ above the water with another 100′ or so underwater.
Faces in the ice:
I was hoping to see it calf and caught this wall collapsing:
On our way over to John Hopkins Inlet, we spotted a whale!!!
There were also a few seals:
This little guy was riding on a growler:
(I learned that to be called an iceberg, the ice chunk needs to be taller than 15′; chunks that are shorter than that, but taller than 3′ are called bergy bits and under 3′ is a growler. Seriously, who names these things?!)
Lamplugh Glacier:
We’ve gotten pretty lucky with our weather- there’s rain around, but the blue skies have been mostly following us:
John Hopkins Glacier:
I liked this stripey rock:
I think there’s a 2nd otter floating with this otter!
Farewell, Glacier Bay!
It clouded up and I thought for sure this would be the best “sunset” shot I’d get:
But then the clouds lifted:
And a rainbow came out!
