Glacier Bay
One of the jewels in the National Park system of the United States is Glacier Bay National Park. It boasts many firsts and “greatest” among its accomplishments and measurements. One of those is that as a geographic location the bay didn't exist when the United States was formed. In 1794, as Vancouver sailed by here, the face of the many glaciers that had become one was near the opening of the Bay, some 65 miles south of their present position. The retreat of the ice since that time has been unprecedented anywhere on Earth.
The snow and ice that feeds those glaciers comes from the Fairweather Range, whose pinnacle is Mt. Fairweather at 15,300 ft. We understood the name for both the peak and the peaks as the mountain was out for most of the day. It was amazing to look up almost three miles, and realize that Mt. Fairweather is less than 20 miles from the ocean.
One of the many creatures we saw today was the mountain goat, a creature supremely adapted to live among the rock and ice that define the nature of the park. With its soft padded hooves, stalky body, and strong legs it is able to easily bound along the sheerest of cliffs. While this allows easy escape from bear, coyote, wolf and eagle; its greatest enemy is in fact gravity.
We saw many others animals today including Steller sea lions, humpback whales, puffins, gulls, surf scoters, and cormorants. All of them, like us, enjoying the unique place that is Glacier Bay National Park.
One of the jewels in the National Park system of the United States is Glacier Bay National Park. It boasts many firsts and “greatest” among its accomplishments and measurements. One of those is that as a geographic location the bay didn't exist when the United States was formed. In 1794, as Vancouver sailed by here, the face of the many glaciers that had become one was near the opening of the Bay, some 65 miles south of their present position. The retreat of the ice since that time has been unprecedented anywhere on Earth.
The snow and ice that feeds those glaciers comes from the Fairweather Range, whose pinnacle is Mt. Fairweather at 15,300 ft. We understood the name for both the peak and the peaks as the mountain was out for most of the day. It was amazing to look up almost three miles, and realize that Mt. Fairweather is less than 20 miles from the ocean.
One of the many creatures we saw today was the mountain goat, a creature supremely adapted to live among the rock and ice that define the nature of the park. With its soft padded hooves, stalky body, and strong legs it is able to easily bound along the sheerest of cliffs. While this allows easy escape from bear, coyote, wolf and eagle; its greatest enemy is in fact gravity.
We saw many others animals today including Steller sea lions, humpback whales, puffins, gulls, surf scoters, and cormorants. All of them, like us, enjoying the unique place that is Glacier Bay National Park.
