Glacier Bay National Park: Sights

Fairweather Range

Tlingit Woodwork

Plant Life

Animal Life

Gustavus

Cruise Ships

Fairweather Range

The Fairweather range is one of the tallest coastal mountain ranges in the world. The highest peak in the range is Mt. Fairweather, which is 15,320 feet tall.

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Fairweather Range cloaked in its usual cloudy canopy.

Fairweather Range at sunset

Tlingit Woodwork

The Glacier Bay area is home to the Tlingit Native American people. Thousands of years ago, the Tlingits were forced out of Glacier Bay due to fast moving glaciers. The Tlingits still revere Glacier Bay as their ancestral home. Sylvan petroglyphs (wood carvings on trees) adorn some of the Sitka spruce trees near the park headquarters.

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A sylvan petroglyph (octopus) adorns a Sitka spruce. The carving is streaked by the sap of the tree.

Another sylvan petroglyph (eagle). The tree remains healthy as long as the carving doesn't completely encircle the tree, which would cut off the flow of nutrients.

A carved sea otter hunting canoe was presented to the
National Park Service in 1987 on behalf of the Tlingit people.

Plant Life

Glacier Bay is part of the temperate rainforest of the Pacific Northwest. The abundant rainfall and relatively mild winters create a profusion of plant life that carpets everything in the forest. Mushrooms, in particularly, are everywhere.

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Mushrooms grow in abundance in this temperate rain forest.

A lush carpet of moss covers much of the heavily forested areas of Southeast Alaska.

The waters of Alaska's Inside Passage
are rich in both plant and animal life.

Animal Life

Glacier Bay is rich in animal life. Some of the creatures found in the forests and waters are: brown bears, sea lions, seals, dolphins, mountain goats, tufted puffins, orcas and humpback whales.

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South Marble Island is home to a colony of Stellar sea lions.

Thousands of sea gulls make their cliff-side nests on the sides of South Marble Island.

A cluster of mussels are exposed at low tide.
The average difference between
high and low tide is 12 feet, although the difference
can be as much as 25 feet.

Gustavus

Gustavus (population 450) is the nearest town in the Glacier Bay area. Roads are few. In fact, there are less than 20 miles of paved roads in the Gustavus/Glacier Bay Park area.

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The gas station in Gustavus still
uses the original Mobilgas pumps. The gas station also houses the Petroleum Museum.

Visitors often use bicycles to get around. The bicycles at the Bear's Nest B&B are painted with distinctive red, white & blue stripes. Not surprisingly, few bikes end up missing.

Cruise Ships

Southeastern Alaska is a growing cruise ship destination. Many of these ships leave from Seattle and Vancouver for 7-10 day trips to Ketchikan, Sitka, Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau and Skagway. The larger cruise ships can carry over 3000 passengers.

Typical itinerary of a one-week Alaskan cruise.

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A Holland Amerca Line cruise ship heads up Glacier Bay. Only 2 cruise ships a day are allowed into the bay in order to minimize disruption to the enormous amount of marine life.

The mountains of the Alsek Range dwarf a cruise ship. The Carroll Glacier seen snaking down the mountain was once a tidewater glacier.

A cruise ship waits at a dock in Juneau before setting off. On some days the number of cruise ship passengers exceeds 10,000, overwhelming Juneau's population of 30,000.

A growing trend in Glacier Bay is week-long kayaking trips aboard smaller cruise ships. The Wilderness Explorer is ready to depart, with 17 kayaks on board.