Our Glacier Bay Adventure

We had the amazing opportunity to go on a week long trip (without our little people... thank you sooooo much Gramma Midge!) to Glacier Bay. It took me so long to upload the pics that I will try to be brief in my description. If you don't have the time just enjoy a quick peruse of the pics!


WARNING: Lots of pictures of ice ahead...... ;)



Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau the day before we fly out for Gustavus.Haakon's cousin Terry drove his motorcycle up from California and joined us on the big trip.
He was great fun and was our live entertainment on the excursion. We had a great time getting to know him better.

The picture below was taken at midnight on summer solstice in Gustavus.Here we are on the boat headed out to our drop off point in Glacier Bay National Park.Some of the wildlife we saw on the boat ride. Seals......Puffins......Humpback whales.....
At the drop off spot..... Kind of weird having tourist video you as the boat is pulling away.Headed out in our double kayak. Lovely shot of me as I focus too hard on trying to get us in the shot while not dropping the camera into the water.Haakon and Terry making plans. We were geared up with a book, map and HJ's brand new GPS. Which kept track of our trip, travel speed, distance etc. It was fun to have along.The water was amazing the first day. We paddled with the tides into a beautiful place called Adam's Inlet. We paddled 22 miles (info from the GPS) with the help of the strong tide.Adam's Inlet had tons of animal life. Porpoises swimming all around us, as well as seal and tons of birds. Lots of bugs at our first camp spot. Haakon is showing off our trusty bug shirts. Life savers at the first two campsites.

Lunch break on day two. This place is so beautiful!

Terry taking yet another "butt break" ha ha. The water was amazing!!! So calm!The second day the water was great in the morning but the weather turned and we had pretty choppy water. We only made it 7 miles the second day (in the same paddling time). We were quite humbled after that.Our second campsite. We actually had a bear walk through our camp that night. It was a little bit nerve racking. No guns allowed in National Parks. Wild sweet pea. There are so many beautiful wild flowers out here!Day three, finally getting to the icebergs and first glacier. Isn't the color beautiful! (sorry it was a little rainy that day so the next few shots have some rain drops on the lens.)Seeing the completely socked in entrance to the small bay in front of McBride Glacier.At low tide the ice chunks get grounded and have to wait until the tide rises to break free again. In this shot they look small but they are taller than me.Terry tried to enter the socked in cove during a rip tide and tipped over in the middle of the narrow channel. Luckily he was able to pull his tipped kayak and himself to safety. It was an extremely scary moment but we are glad that he is alive to tell the tale. In this picture he has just come out of the freezing water.Here is Haakon pulling our kayak around so that we can join Terry at the mouth of the cove. Terry and Haakon surveying the area of the accident. Terry rejoicing that he is alive!
Haakon and I in front of McBride Glacier.Lunch time on a rock after Terry warmed up and changed out of his wet clothes. We had to eat in the tidewater zone and store our food in bear proof containers at least fourty yards away. Camp spot for day 3 and 4.
Beautiful sunshine on McBride Glacier and valley. We loved listening to the cracking, breaking, rolling of the ice while we camped there and especially as we drifted off to sleep.We took a nap on the sandy beach here after eating lunch. Icebergs by our camp.The grounded icebergs at low tide. It was pretty cool to walk among them.Low tide....Exact same spot at high tide. It really helped us realize how much ice is under the water.
Washing dishes by the glacier. Cool ice formations.Where is Terry and Haakon?There they are! I know, how many pictures of ice can you take..... and there are more!Day four we got up early, left our camp, and headed to Riggs Glacier up the bay for a day trip. This is White Thunder Ridge. I really wished I could water ski on that water (in a dry suit of course).
Riggs Glacier in all it's glory. This glacier was massive! This is only one arm of three.

Haakon standing under a portion of the glacier. We actually climbed up a scree patch and stood on top of the glacier..... but not for very long.
Terry and I in front of Riggs.
An amazing grounded iceberg.

Paddling back down the bay on day five. Haakon kickin' back for a short break.

We made sure to paddle with the tides this day and paddled 23 miles in one day. You can see way at the back is Riggs Glacier where we had left from that morning. By the end of that day my elbow completely seized up and refused to paddle. In total we paddled 65 miles on this excursion.
More amazing glass our last day. Headed to the pick up spot. We are sad to see it end but excited to get home to our family.

Once we were back on the tour boat we saw several bears......

The best way to see them..... from a distance!

and more glaciers.....
(What do you expect in Glacier Bay?) We had a wonderful time and were reminded of what a beautiful place we live. We can't wait until we can bring our children (when they are quite a bit older) to enjoy the experiences of this amazing place.