Glacier Bay National Park is located in the southeastern section of Alaska. Encompassing over 3 million acres of land, Glacier Bay National Park Alaska is sometimes referred to as the Crown Jewel of the National Park system.

Scientists call Glacier Bay a living laboratory for the grand processes of glacial retreat, plant succession,and animal dynamics. It is an open book on the last ice age. At the southern end, where the ice departed 200 years ago, a spruce-hemlock rain forest has taken root. Farther north, the more recently deglaciated land becomes rugged and thinly vegetated. The bay branches into two major arms, the west arm and Muir Inlet, which themselves branch into smaller inlets.

The park gets its name from the surrounding bay area, which harbors some of the world’s most spectacular tidewater glaciers. The snow-capped mountain ranges of Glacier Bay National Park Alaska rise over 5,000 feet above the coastal beaches. There’s also excellent wildlife viewing at the park, which includes a variety of land mammals, seabirds and marine life. The Glacier Bay begins to the north off Icy Strait. It continues for over 60 miles through the mountains, and then terminates in the bare rock and glacial ice. The center of Glacier Bay National Park Alaska was once hidden under a vast ice sheet. Then, in the late 18th century, European explorers began to chart the adjacent waters. Eighty-five years later, the American naturalist and writer John Muir would discover that the glaciers had receded more than 30 miles.

There, on slopes deglaciated 50 to 100 years ago, alder and willow grow, while mosses, mountain avens, and dwarf fireweed pioneer areas exposed within 30 years. The new vegetation creates habitats for wolves, moose, mountain goats, black bears, brown bears, ptarmigan, and other wildlife, and the sea supports a food chain that includes salmon, bald eagles, harbor seals, harbor porpoises, humpback whales, and killer whales-all in an environment less than 200 years old. Glacier Bay is home to nine tidewater glaciers that calve. In part because of variations in snow accumulations, most glaciers in the eastern and southwestern areas of the bay are receding, while several on its west side are advancing. The glaciers calve icebergs that hit the water with a sound like cannon shot.

Did you know? That over the past two hundred years, the colossal mountains of ice have retreated to reveal a land unsurpassed in natural wonder and rugged beauty. Designated a World Heritage Site in 1992, Glacier Bay National Park with its 3.2-million-acre wilderness ecosystem is a wonder to behold.

Popularity: 1% [?]