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Published: October 12th 2015
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Rain Day One of our pre-planned splurges was a day cruise from the park to Glacier Bay. Because seal pups were not weaned yet, the John Hopkins Inlet, the left far and magnificent bay, was closed to boat traffic. We would only be able to enter the Tarr Inlet and see the Marjorie and Grand Pacific Glaciers.
The first day was drizzling so we delayed taking the trip and spent a rain day in the lodge. This was my chance to catch up on postcards and blogging. There was no phone service and very slow internet, shared by all us web-dependent fools converged in the lobby. But they did have electrical outlets, a convenience I exploited at every chance throughout our journey.
Early in the morning on the way to the lodge, we barely recognized the figure heading down from breakfast at the lodge in an old-fashioned waterproof aviator-like cap and dry suit. It was Bill and he wasn’t going to wait any more time to head out in his kayak towards Muir Inlet!
Glacier Bay Day Cruise The following day we headed out on the daily cruise run by Allen Marine Tours and narrated by
a Park Ranger. We were rewarded with great wildlife sightings: many humpback whales in the initial Whale Bay, a black bear on Muir Point where we knew Bill planned to camp day one, a brown bear (term used instead of Grizzly in the Inside Passage) and a Rocky Island covered and surrounded with all types of birds including tufted puffins, stinky noisy sea lions and a whale looking to eat one of them.
In addition, we enjoyed watching a black wolf cross a rocky beach. He trotted right up to the edge of a roiling glacial river in his path. We were certain he wouldn’t enter but he jumped right in, floundered a bit as the current tossed him, then climbed out and shook out his fur like any household dog after getting wet.
A special treat was an area with a huge flotilla of sea otters. Created by a raft of entangled sea kelp, sea otters float along in great groups, mothers with babies right on top of their bellies as they delightfully lay on their backs.
On the return trip, the boat stopped to let off four men in a protected cove with kayaks, gear
and provisions to last 5 days. It was quite breathtaking to watch them disembark in such a remote and untamed area. As we pulled away, Terry was more than a little jealous he wasn’t joining them.
The glaciers we saw were quite beautiful although none calved particularly dramatically while we were there. The sun came out briefly to give Terry his first real sight of the brilliant surreal blue of glacial ice.
That evening, Steve and Dan tracked us down and we compared notes. They had gone kayaking and described how exciting it had been to paddle among humpbacks and have the scary thrill of having sea lions come up right behind them in the water and bark.
Bartlett River Based on a tip from another of our fellow campers from the Juneau Ferry Terminal “campground”, we took a hike on our last full day to the Bartlett River, which ended at an estuary with a huge viewing rock overlooking the entire area.
It was only a few miles hike to the river and from the magnificent perch, we marveled at multiple bald eagles calling to each other in some type of dance gliding above
our heads and spotted a black bear on a far bluff. A little later, another bear emerged from the forest and went into the river, swam around for a little while then returned to the woods.
Near the end of our peaceful enjoyment of all this, a couple came down the path and we offered them our wonderful lookout rock as we were leaving. They were celebrating their 10
th anniversary and we took multiple portraits for them.
The woman related that she had been to Glacier Bay with a group of six adventurers years before she was married. At that time, they had been dropped off to camp at one of the coves similarly to the group we witnessed on the day cruise. One evening after kayaking, they were ready to set up camp when one of their members walked around the blind corner to explore and came upon a grizzly eating a moose! The scout ran back to his group and they all jumped into their kayaks and paddled frantically into the water. She said she never realized how fast a bear could swim and that they were moving triple time like cartoon characters to get away!
We left them to enjoy the beauty alone. It was exhilarating to watch these beautiful birds and animals in their natural habitat. The glaciers were spectacular but the real stars of our trip to Glacier Bay were the wildlife and the wilderness.
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