Rock Bears don’t count

Today was a day that we have been looking forward to. It did not disappoint! We signed up for a boat cruise into Glacier Bay. We had to be at the dock at 6:45 AM. So two early mornings in a row.

We got to the dock and saw a lot of people with serious outdoor gear and Amy wondered if we were on the wrong trip. (Greg booked the trip so he knew what to expect). It turns out that the day trip boat does double-duty: it gives a tour of Glacier Bay and it also transports kayakers into the backcountry. Those kayakers do multi-day paddling and camping adventures - a bit too adventurous for us. There were two different drop off points for them to start their adventure. We met one family yesterday from Leavenworth WA, going kayak camping with two middle schoolers. Another group consisted of park rangers on their days off, including Miranda, the ranger who lead our walk yesterday. There was also a Native American man named Greg who works at Denali. He told us where he works so we might see him again when we get to Denali.

There were a lot of park rangers on the boat. Ranger Patrick was running the program. He is a manager of the other rangers, but he likes to get in the field too. To our surprise, Ranger Patrick lives year round at Glacier Bay. There was one ranger who was in training. There were a handful of other rangers heading out to hike in the back country. And there was one who had the day off and wanted to hang out with her friends who were going on the hike. So if you had a question, there were many knowledgable rangers on the boat.

One of the interesting things we learned from Ranger Miranda yesterday was how the vegetation changes as you go deeper into Glacier Bay. This is due to when the glaciers receded. We definitely saw this. The forest near the ranger station at the entrance to Glacier Bay is a large, dense, mature forest. There are almost no trees near the glaciers. And in between, the young forest is sparse.

The first part of the trip we watched for animals. First we saw animals in the water like sea otters. We spotted a lot of whales. Mostly spouts, but there were a few fins and tails. Nothing like what we saw in Baja. Greg asked Ranger Patrick what the rules were for being near whales. They have to stay a half mile away from any whales and move to avoid them when possible. So no one on our boat was kissing a whale.

Next stop it was time for the air animals. We sailed near South Marble Island. This was a nesting area for a variety of birds. We saw puffins and gulls and eagles along with other odd named birds like guillemot.

On the island they also had an abundance of sea lions. There were not enough pups to be a rookery, but they were active. Then we passed North Marble Island. The forest was grown more on the north island, and it was not as amenable to the birds.

And then it was time for the land animals. First, we passed an area known for its mountain goats. The first thing we spotted was a group of people at the top. They were on a hiking trip and somehow managed to climb to the rocky top. Once we passed the hikers, the goats appeared. We saw nine on the cliffs, including a mom with its kid! Ranger Patrick said it was a pretty good day for goat viewing.

Next we passed an area that is frequented by bears. We were excited to increase our bear count. Everyone was looking at the coastline. There were a lot of brown mossy rocks along the water. You would hear someone say “No, that’s just a rock”. So Ranger Patrick coined the term for these as Rock Bears. Hence the title: Rock Bears do not count towards the total. Alas, there were no bears out today. So our Bear count remains at seven.

The further into the bay we got, the colder it got. We didn’t bring enough for the cold. Neither of us remembered to bring a hat, and only Greg had gloves. So we kept popping inside to warm up before heading outside for more pictures.

We finally made our way to the Margerie Glacier at about noon. We had traveled 65 miles and were almost at the Canadian border. We passed a Holland America cruise ship on the way and met up with a Princess cruise ship at the glacier. Because we were so much smaller, we were able to get closer to the glacier. According to the pilot, we were about a half mile away. The cruise ship had to stay a mile away, so we got a much better view. We stayed near the glacier for about a half hour. The glacier is a mile long and was very impressive. The Margerie Glacier was to the West. If you turn North, there was the Fraser Glacier. Size wise, the Fraser Glacier was much larger, but it had picked up a lot of soil from landslides, so it didn’t look like a glacier.

On the way back we sailed past two other glaciers, the Lamplugh and Reid Glaciers. Then we continued back, we were going faster than the cruise ships, so we saw the park service boat picking up the rangers that spent the day with the Holland America ship.

Once we got back we stopped in the back country office to get information about the tide. We want to go kayaking tomorrow and the area we want to visit is only available around high tide. They gave us the information that we needed and are excited to go out tomorrow!