Glacier Bay National Park is one of the attractive American national parks that is located in Southeast Alaska. It has some of the world’s most magnificent tidewater glaciers. The Glacier bay serves as an outdoor research laboratory and it has experienced four glacial advances and retreats. The mountains over there start from its tidewater which is up to three vertical miles.
Glacier Bay is the best park for the plant succession and no other parks could compete with it. Many varieties of plants come from barren terrain that recovers from retreat which looks rich. The Glacier Bay has two major arms, the East arm and the West arm. It even has more than fifty named glaciers.
Most of the people come to the park by a cruise ship that heads towards West arm. It is because of an impressive glacier called the ‘Margerie Glacier’ which is 12 to 14 feet and can see the calves frequently. You can consider taking a small ship cruise-like itinerary from Uncruise that takes two days in the Glacier Bay National Park or by the Sailboat like Alaska Adventure sailing than taking a large ship because you will have a good experience and can cover the area intimately.
If you are in front of the Margerie Glacier you will be able to see the seals often which are taken out on the ice chunks. From this place, you will also be able to see the Grand Pacific Glacier. There are many glaciers in the park that includes Caroll, Raid, Lamplugh, and Johns Hopkins glaciers. Animals like mountain goats, whales, moose, seals, brown and black bears, eagles, and many other species of birds are found in this national park.
Access to the Glacier Bay National Park
You can take a cruise ship or a small ship cruise, aircraft, tour boat or you can also take boat service from the place called Juneau and other Southeastern Alaska communities. The overall size of the park is about 3.3 million acres.
Weather in the Glacier Bay National Park
The Glacier Bay National Park has six different climate zones like:
- Subarctic with cool summers and year around rainfall
- Subpolar oceanic
- Temperate oceanic
- Humid continental mild summer wet all year
- Humid continental dry cool summer
- Warm summer Mediterranean
Activities to do in the Glacier Bay National Park
The activities in the Glacier Bay National Park include hiking, camping, mountaineering, kayaking, rafting, fishing, and bird-watching. Subsistence hunting is not allowed in the park and is allowed only in the preserve, unlike many other national parks in Alaska.
Sport hunting and trapping are also allowed in the Glacier Bay preserve. To hunt and trap, you need to have all the required licenses and permits and follow the state rules and regulations. If you want to do camping and hunting, you should be aware of the bears that are common in the preserve and also have to be prepared to avoid conflicts with the animals. The hunting species in the preserve are the black bears, mountain goats, wolves, wolverines, snowshoe hare, ptarmigans, waterfowls, and furbearers. You will be provided with three lodges and an outfitter for transportation and services where you can do fishing and hunting small game and waterfowl. Sportfishing is another activity popular in the Glacier Bay National Park.