6. A First Trip to See Glaciers

It's hard to spend time in Glacier Bay without visiting the glaciers. After about a month in Gustavus, Fluffy and her friends finally found a day in which they could all take the Lodge's tour boat (the official tour boat concessionaire of the Park) up bay, a 50 mile journey each way. This tour would allow them to get up close to some of Alaska's most famous ice flows which they had already seen in many a postcard and coffee table book but never with their own eyes. They managed to finagle cheap tickets from a staff member acquaintance and were prepared to drink enough complimentary coffee and tea to get the remainder of their fare's worth.


The boat's route can vary significantly depending on the day, but all commercial motorized vessels are limited to the West Arm of the bay. While both arms provide breathtaking scenery and impressive glaciers, the West Arm boasts taller mountains and cliffs. Additionally, a few of the world's last advancing glaciers are found here, thanks to the endless amount of snow accumulating annually in the adjacent Fairweather mountains.


Their itinerary that day included an extended pause at South Marble Island to view hoards of stinky stellar sea lions, as well as puffins and cormorants perched upon the limestone cliffs. Afterwards, they diverted briefly into Tidal Inlet, a common place to spot brown bears. Sure enough, at the alluvial mouth of a glacial creek skulked a lone brown bear, poking his nose around intertidal rocks in search of a snack or two. This was Fluffy's first encounter with a brown bear (she had previously seen some smaller black bears around Gustavus and the Park lodge), and while she was struck by its towering size and hulking mammalian presence, she also felt a certain solidarity with the impressively furry, wild and adventurous creature.


Next destination was the famous Johns Hopkins Inlet, a favorite photo opportunity of cruise ship clientele. A whipping wind shot out from the glacier to join the rainy grayness of the day, and many tour boat passengers decided to stay indoors with their hot cocoa instead of suiting up to face the cold precipitation. Fluffy would not be deterred, although admittedly she had the advantage of a thick fur coat.


The sculptural glacier calved several times, thunderously crashing clouds of ice below as if dynamite had been set a few feet within the wall of ice. Towering waves slowly rolled toward the icebergs that filled the bay, rocking harbor seals back and forth. After the "oohs" and "ahhs" subsided, the inlet returned to its seemingly preternatural silence.


Small icebergs started to close in around the boat, an unpleasant surprise for the ship's distractedly chatty captain. Turning 180, the boat slowly picked its way through the hearty stew of ice, and eventually the captain's knuckles ceased to match the mountain snow. Fluffy requested one or two last photos to be taken, and then retreated to the damp indoor seating to nap for a couple hours until they returned to dock in Bartlett Cove.