Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve
For centuries, the Huna Tlingit people thrived in the area that would become Glacier Bay. They lived in the shadows of the glaciers and utilizing the abundant resources of the land and sea. Around 1750, a massive glacier advanced, forcing the Tlingit to abandon their villages and relocate to what is today Hoonah, Alaska. In 1794, Captain George Vancouver sailed into the area and created a rough map that showed the bay filled with a single great glacier. Eighty-five years after Vancouver’s exploration, naturalist John Muir visited the bay by canoe and found that the glacier had retreated over 40 miles. The writings of Muir about his experience in Glacier Bay helped changed America’s perception of Alaska from one of daunting cold to enchanting beauty. Inspired by Muir and the glacier’s rapid retreat, scientist William S. Cooper became a leading advocate for the area’s protection in the early 1900s. His tenacity led to President Calvin Coolidge proclaiming Glacier Bay a national monument in 1925. The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 created Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.
Just 250 years ago, Glacier Bay was all glacier and no bay. A massive river of ice, roughly 100 miles long and thousands of feet deep, occupied the entire bay. Today, that glacier is gone, having retreated north. Fewer than a dozen smaller tidewater glaciers remain today sequestered at the heads of their inlets in the upper bay. Bartlett Cove is the central hub for anyone visiting Glacier Bay National Park. Once covered by thousands of feet of glacial ice, Bartlett Cove is now an active marina where everything from pleasure boats to cruise ships dock to explore the park. Although large cruise ships are now restricted from Glacier Bay, smaller cruise ships still come into Glacier Bay and routinely dock for their passengers to come ashore to access the trails and visitor center of the park. One of the more popular activities to do in Glacier Bay National Park is to take the day boat out of Bartlett Cove to travel up the bay to explore the tidewater glaciers and whale watch.
The day boat was the primary reason I came to Glacier Bay National Park, but unfortunately several days of cruises were canceled due the ship having mechanical issues. So if you were hoping to see some spectacular glaciers, I apologize because I didn’t get to see them either. I had to adjust my plans by doing more hiking around the Bartlett Cove area and attending some ranger programs. I took some wonderful hikes through the temperate rainforest around Bartlett Cover and enjoyed the silence of the forest. While visiting Glacier Bay National Park, I stayed at the historic Glacier Bay Lodge which was built in 1966. Hidden in the forest of Bartlett Cove, the main lodge building is where meals are served and the second floor is actually the visitor center for the national park. The lodge has spectacular views of the Fairweather and Beartrack mountains across the bay.
There are no roads to Glacier Bay National Park so you either have to arrive by water or air. Most of the visitors to the park arrive by cruise ship, but there is also ferry service to the nearby community of Gustavus, Alaska. Because the ferry schedule is so sparse, I decided to catch a flight to Gustavus Airport from Juneau. The airport in Gustavus was actually built during World War II as a B-29 bomber base for raids on Japan. The quick 20-minute flight on a single prop plane has spectacular views of Auke Bay and the Chilkat Range.
As mentioned earlier, up until about 250 years ago Glacier Bay was the homeland of the Huna Tlingit people before glacial ice forced them to abandon their ancestral home. The creation of the Glacier Bay national monument (1925) and the national park (1980) created a lot of mistrust and bad blood between the Huna Tlingit people and the National Park Service. Over the past few decades, there has been an effort by both parties to try and repair the relationship. One of the things that came out of these discussions was the Tribal House, Xunaa Shuka Hit, on the shore of Bartlett Cove. In an unprecedent move, the National Park Service constructed the Tribal House for the Huna Tlingit people to return to conducting ceremonies in their homeland. There has also been an effort to erect more totem poles within the boundaries of the national park, including the Healing Pole. This pole tells the story of the Huna Tlingit’s ancestral home, its seizure by the federal government, and the process of repairing that injustice. While I was visiting Glacier Bay National Park, there was a totem raising ceremony for two new totems erected at the dock and park entrance sign.
