Fotos & Facts: Glacier Bay National Park

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Doesn't this floating piece of ice look like a polar bear!?!

Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska covers 3.3 million acres.  

It is the home of over 1,000 glaciers, including famous tidewater giants like Margery and Grand Pacific Glaciers.  Both of those we saw on our cruise through the National Park.  When looking at photos of the glaciers it is hard to designate which ones are which! Tidal glaciers are massive walls of ice that meet the sea.  They frequently "calve" (chunks of ice break off) crashing into the water with thunderous roars.  We did not see or hear any calving when we were there. Some of the tidal glaciers no longer reach the sea and loose that blue/white color, as they pick up soot and other debris and look dirty. I think the Margery still is a tidal glaciers are, but the Grand Pacific may be the one we saw that no longer does and had a black look.  There are chunks of very white ice floating in the bay as well as dirt streaked/black and white chunks.

Glacier Bay boasts the most rapid glacial retreat ever recorded. In just over 250 years ago, the entire bay was covered with a single colossal sheet of ice.  As the ice melts, it leaves behind barren land, providing scientists a unique, textbook example of how plant and wild life change as ecosystems recover. At one time native Americans lived on land that is now Glacier that massive glacier moved advanced so rapidly that they had to quickly abandon the area and move.  They were resilient and returned as the ice retreated and today claim Glacier Bay as their spiritual homeland.  The Little Ice Age came and went quickly. 1750 the glacier reached to its maximum…Icy Strait (our next port of call). 45 years later it had melted back 5 miles into Glacier Bay which it had gouged out. By 1879, the glacier had retreated 40 more miles. And, for 2026, we had to travel 65 miles up the bay to view tidewater glaciers.  And, our cruise ship took us into that bay to view them. So the bay is deep enough for large ships to navigate in as well as whales.  So this isn't a shallow body of water…and, room for more than one cruise ship and smaller ships and boats to navigate in that body of water at the same time.  

In this area at this time some glaciers are retreating; others are advancing unlike glaciers in some parts of the contiguous United States where glaciers could soon be a thing of the past.  The glaciers in the Alaska area change according to amounts of snowfall, temperatures, etc. I had a sad feeling while viewing since I knew they were retreating…but we were told that the one we see today retreating might be advancing when next we visit!  So I’m hopeful that they will not totally disappear. 

There is so much history and geology to learn about in this region.  Glacier Bay was first designated a National Monument in 1925 by President Calvin Coolidge.  Then in 1980 President Jimmy Carter designated it as a National Park and Preserve.  In 1986 it was designated a world biosphere reserve.  And, UNESCO designated it as a world heritage site in 1992.  So last year marked 100 years of the preservation of Glacier Bay!

Most visitors arrive to Glacier Bay via cruise ships and tour boats and over 90% never step foot on land in the park.  That is how we visited.  The cruise ship traveled the 65 miles in and gave us a 360° view of the area so wherever you were on the ship…you would get to see what was on the other side, too.  Our balconies were our wonderful vantage points that day. 

Glacier Bay is at the northern end of the largest temperate rainforest in the world, the Tongass. Summer temps average 50°-60°; winter 20°-30°.  Some form of precipitation occurs on average 228 days per year.  Annual precipitation is 70-80 inches (including an annual snowfall of 14 feet). 

So much to learn about this magnificent area of God's world.  But I will stop with these very few facts.  It was a beautiful day at sea with some low hanging clouds at times…but blue sky breaking through at times.  I liked having the beautiful clouds in the photos. 

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Sunday Study in Black & White: Glacier Bay National Park, AK

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Day at Sea: Glacier Bay National Park June 6, 2026

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This day we stayed on the ship for the entire sightseeing experience.  The National Park Ranger boarded our ship and did talks throughout the day. We viewed Glacier Bay from our balconies…perfect spot for taking special photos.  We could hear the Park Rangers over the TVs in our rooms…except when there was technical difficulties which did happen and we missed quite a bit of the talk. I am going to post some of the pictures and may post more at another time and tell more about the National Park itself.

This is Gloomy Knob…home to mountain goats. Can you see them? Next I will post a photo that shows a nanny and her kid that I cropped so you can see more clearly…but since it is a crop it isn’t the sharpest photo.

A piece of ice floating that broke off a glacier.  The dark place on this one is a sea otter hiding.

Sea otters waving at us as we sailed past!

In the above photo, it is not ice coming towards the water, but rock that has been broken up due to glacier activity over the years.  There is a name for it, but at the moment I can't remember what it is called.

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Port Day #3: Skagway, Alaska June 5, 2026

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In Skagway we move into late 1800's gold rush history.  Skagway was the northern most point that we traveled on our Alaska cruise.  It's a unique town.  We headed off at the start of the day to peruse the town and then headed back to the ship for lunch and then a trip on the White Pass and Yukon Narrow Gauge Railroad which took us into Canada for a short time.

Here's some history that I copied about the gold rush:

The Klondike Gold Rush took place between 1896 and 1899, with the peak of the stampede and most intense mining activity occurring during 1897 and 1898. 

The timeline unfolded as follows:

• August 16, 1896: Gold was discovered on Rabbit Creek (later renamed Bonanza Creek) in the Yukon territory of northwestern Canada. 
• July 1897: Word reached the outside world when steamships arrived in Seattle and San Francisco carrying miners with literal "tons of gold". 
• 1897–1898: An estimated 100,000 prospectors, known as "stampeders," flooded the region. Many passed through outfitting hubs like Seattle, WA, and Skagway, AK. 
• 1899: The stampede slowed by late 1898 as gold claims were depleted, and the rush officially ended in 1899 when a new gold strike was discovered in Nome, Alaska. 

Very few struck it rich in this gold rush and many did not make it due to the extreme conditions.  We were told that Canada made the rule that the prospectors had to bring in a specific list of supplies…these supplies weighed around two tons! Here's the list of supplies that I took a photo of on a display that was along Broadway in Skagway.

A memorial to the lost prospectors:

We enjoyed our walk along the main street in Skagway.  We stopped and checked out many of the tourist traps and other shops.  I once again found an ornament to represent Skagway in a Christmas shop.  We also discovered a needlework and quilting store.  Melany got an ornament to cross stitch to represent Skagway on her tree.  She finished stitching it just the other day.  She's better than I…so far I haven't picked up my cross stitch since getting home. I guess I’m still absorbing memories of our trip as I go through my photos. One of our stops was at a Tullahoma native's photo gallery.  We missed seeing him, as he hadn't come in yet for the day.  

In the afternoon we lined up to get on the White Pass and Yukon narrow gauge train for a 40 mile round trip.

We were in the first car behind the engine.  I will post below some facts that I copied from the internet about the railroad and then will post some of the photos that I took from inside the railroad car.  Melany braved going outside on the platform between cars…but I decided that it was best if I just sat in the car and once in a while moved to the other side to get photos.  

Interesting facts about the train that I copied:

“ The White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad, running from Skagway, Alaska, to the Yukon, is a legendary "living time machine". Built in 1898 during the Klondike Gold Rush, it is incredibly special because it climbs nearly 3,000 feet in just 20 miles, tackling sheer cliffs, tumbling waterfalls, and precipitous gorges.”

"The White Pass & Yukon Route was designated an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1994. This is an honor shared by only 36 world civil engineering marvels such as the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty and the Panama Canal. The WP&YR is recognized for the many difficult and hazardous obstacles that construction overcame: design challenges, granite mountains, steep grades, cliff hanging turns and unimaginable weather conditions. The courage and brave acts of the workers under the leadership of dedicated builders are recognized by this prestigious designation."

"The White Pass & Yukon Route climbs from sea level in Skagway to almost 3000 feet at the summit in just 20 miles and features steep grades of almost 3.9%. The tight curves of the White Pass called for a narrow gauge railroad. The rails were three feet apart on a 10-foot-wide road bed and meant lower construction costs."

The last photo from above has some interesting history that I just learned today when researching and getting photos ready for tonight's blog.

"George Buchanan was a successful businessman, a coal merchant in Detroit. During the Depression he decided to help boys to get out of town and see Alaska. Every summer from 1923 through the Depression, Mr. Buchanan and 50 or 60 boys journeyed across Canada to Vancouver, sailed up the coast to Skagway, spent several weeks touring Alaska, climbing glaciers, panning for gold.

Part of the deal was that their parents would donate 1/3 of the money ($81), George would donate 1/3 of the money and the boy would work selling items such as kitchen implements door to door to raise the remaining 1/3.

In the White Pass depot building there is a glass display which has one such kitchen gadget that was sold as part of the fund-raising.

On the rocks below the U.S. Customs Station at Clifton are the words “On to Alaska with Buchanan” which was their motto. In 1935, he agreed to take girls, the sisters of the boys who had gone, but he made them earn money by baking pies and darning socks also."

This sort of gives a summary of our day in Skagway…so much to absorb along with trying to capture it in photographs!

Tomorrow will be Glacier Bay National Park.

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Sitka, AK Part 3

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After finishing at the historical park, we loaded back on the bus and then had a decision to make.  The bus driver drove us into the town of Sitka and from there we had the choice of getting off in the town and taking a shuttle back to the port or staying on the bus and going back to our ship.  We chose to walk around the town of Sitka.  St. Michael’s Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox Church was established by missionaries in 1848. It and the Russian Bishop's House chapel are filled with Orthodox icons. Below are a couple of photos that I took of the outside of the church.  It was hard to get a photo that showed the onion dome that was a part of the structure and shows the Russian architectural influence in this structure. 

Next we walked up and down a street and found some souvenir stores, of which are in abundance in these small Alaskan tourist towns.  My main souvenir interest for my Alaskan trip was to get a Christmas ornament to represent each port of call.  I can report that that was an easy task to accomplish!  

I will end Sitka's tale with some excerpts from the brochure that we were handed when we got off the ship in Sitka:

“Alaska was one of the last places in the Americas to be settled by Europeans.  The Russian American Company took the lead…coming over from Siberia. It expanded its fur-trading operations via the Aleutian Islands to Alaska in the late 1700s.”

“When they tell the story of Sitka…

…thy remember a land of plenty and the people drawn to its wealth. The forest shrouding the land, the rivers running through it, and the sea around it provided everything needed to sustain a vigorous human community. The Tlingit had thrived on the island they called Shee for countless generations before ambitious traders came  from the west in search of new goods. Here the Tlingit and Russians met, fought, and then uneasily consisted for a time. When the Russians departed after six decades, both groups had changed by the encounter. The Tlingit preserved their traditions, while the Americans who replaced the Russians wrought their own changes. In the 1960s after decades of acculturation and population decline, the Tlingit began to reassert their culture.”

What was pleasing for me to learn is that today the Tlingits and other Native American tribes are behind many of the cultural and learning programs and also are in charge of some of the excursions that one can take in the ports.  One we went on…the whale watching and mammal excursion, which I will be telling you about in my ongoing tale of my Alaskan adventure!

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!

Sitka, AK Part 2

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After the museum we headed to the Sitka National Historical Park. We gleaned all kinds of information about several Alaskan Native American Tribes, totem poles, and the Russian and Native American conflict. 

One fact that I learned about totem poles is that they were made intending that they would go back to nature and weren't meant to last through generations. Many totem poles today are replicas of those made years ago. 

The walk we took into the forested area was awe inspiring…quiet and peaceful…among the very tall Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock.  The path that we took could have taken us to the place where the Native Americans and Russians battled over the land.  A place that the Native Americans chose to settle as it would be easier to defend themselves from both sea and land.  We did not make the whole walk, as I am not the fastest walker, and we had to be back at the bus at a specific time. So we walked a ways along the path and enjoyed quite a few different types of totem poles before we turned back to head for the bus.

Our next stop was the town of Sitka.  I’ll continue with that part of our tour tomorrow.  I’ll end with a neat picture that I took along the path before we got back to the bus.

To be continued! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious! 

An Open Door Policy?!?

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I’m going to skip Alaska for tonight and update you on what went on today.  I got my front door replaced!  At least the work has started, and, as you will see below, the new one is in place.  It took most of the afternoon.  Then this evening Nathan and I went to our new Ace Hardware store and got a doorknob and a deadbolt lock for it.  He just got those installed so I will be secure for tonight…more than I ever have been before, as I have not had a deadbolt lock on the front door.  Jacob and his dad worked hard and got it in place this aftrtnoon.  Now, I need to get the paint and Jacob will come back and paint it inside and out.  I’m glad to have that job done.  I have been wanting a new door for some time.  It will take some getting used to the glass in the door.  It surprised me when I come around the corner upstairs and start down the stairs and am able to see out!  

Not a lot else has happened today. I continue to work on my Alaska photos.  There are a lot of them.  I don't think that I have seen all of them yet.  I am pleased with what I got…brings back lots of memories of the trip as I go through them.  It was such a memory filled trip…one that I will look back on for the rest of my life!  I still can't believe that I actually went on a cruise to Alaska…never in my wildest dreams did I think I would go on a cruise…now have been on two…just this year!  And, never thought that I would get to the Last Frontier, Alaska!  But I pinched myself and I really did!

Today is the two year anniversary of Woody's death…in some ways it seems like much longer ago and in others it doesn't seem possible that it has been two years.

Woody's two year anniversary means that Abigail and Payton celebrated their 2nd anniversary yesterday. 

Happy anniversary to them!

And, now here is the installed front door. I am pleased with it. 

To be continued…more Alaska tomorrow night! Be safe! Be well! Be cautious!