Cruise ships also come up Glacier Bay, but are restricted in number to protect the whale and seal population. The few that do make it in take up a lot of room in these narrow bays.
While the center of the Margerie Glacier is white / blue, the edges contain the rocks and dirt that are carried down along with the glacier, and appear darker than the center. This is a shot of the southern edge of the glacier.
Along the way the boat makes three stops to pick up and unload kayakers. Kayaks are the only practical way to venture out on your own in Glacier Bay Park, because there are no trails.
The boat is a large catamaran with a shallow draft, and pulls up on the beach to pick up the kayakers. The guys in the top of the picture are from Australia, just beginning their trip. The guys in the foreground are from L.A. and NYC, and anxiously waiting for a hot cup of coffee and a ride home. Unfortunately for these kayakers, the same rain that has kept us grounded kept them drenched for the six days they were out. But while we were comfortable in our hotel room, they were near-hypothermic, since evening temperatures dropped to 40 degrees.
Jeff and Mitch, along with Steve, Steve, Scott and Allen, came together for the male bonding experience of kayaking in the wilderness. Here they explain the details of their miserable experience to the Chief Pilot who is considering it for his next adventure.
Jeff is a personal injury lawyer from Los Angeles, and somehow managed to avoid being eaten by the Orca (killer whales) on this trip. Send email to Jeff.
Tonite we caught a small plane and flew from Glacier Bay around the corner to Skagway, Alaska.
Our pilot was T.C., a temporary Alaska bush pilot waiting for his hours to build up so he can fly airliners. In the meantime, he's accumulated some experience flying up the glaciers. Since we were the only ones aboard T.C.'s plane, he took a detour and flew us up, around, and back down the Davidson Glacier near Skagway.
We flew up the glacier from the bay, turned 180 degrees in what appeared to be a canyon only a quarter mile wide, and in this picture, we're rolling out heading back down the glacier, about 200 feet above it. This was the kind of flying both of us had been wanting to do, but for which we didn't have the nerve. We enjoyed having a pro in the driver's seat.
After landing in Skagway, we drove back to Whitehorse through the Tormented Valley, to begin our trip home. Unlike our trip south a few days ago, this trip back north was beautiful, as the setting sun illuminated the mountains.
Back in Whitehorse, the weather is still questionable. What the forecasters call a "deep low pressure area" is swirling counterclockwise like a slow moving hurricane, bringing 60 mph winds to the eastern Yukon and northern B.C.and Alberta areas. When we arrived in Whitehorse tonite, the sky was clear, but the satellite shows 100 miles down the road there are violent thundershowers. Tomorrow morning we'll know if we can begin our trip home, or whether we get to tour the Klondike gold rush history of Whitehorse on Saturday.
Previous day | Next day
| 
Return to home page|