We departed Skagway last night and travelled to Glacier Bay, AK, arriving Thursday mid-morning, April 22nd.
I’m not certain what my expectations were for Glacier Bay but they were far exceeded by the austere grandeur we discovered. You’d have to see it to truly understand the awesome beauty that exist. There’s not adequate words to express it. Of course I took many photos but I know they cannot truly capture the experience we saw, heard and felt. I’m humbled.
A thing that continues to amaze me in Alaska is my underestimation of scale. For instance, the other day our helicopter pilot told us we were doing 130 mph and I would have sworn we were doing 30-35 mph because of the vastness of the landscape. Today, while viewing a glacier in Glacier Bay, we were informed by the Park Service it was a mile wide and extended 200 feet above the water. I would have estimated a thousand feet wide and 60 feet tall, not even in the ball park.
Also, when someone saw an adult bear on shore near the base of a glacier I spotted it only because it was moving. From our position it looked to be the size of the head of a pin, I’d been searching for something much larger.
I would name other examples but suffice to say the landscape here is so vast that I’ve no valid frame of reference. I’m humbled.
That such vast natural wilderness exist basically untouched or compromised by man’s destructiveness is amazing. It’s a testimony that natures creative design is beyond man’s greatest efforts. I hope it stays this way for future generations. I’m humbled.
I’ve seen more then I can truly comprehend today. I’m still processing it. There’s been a number of first on this trip:
- I’ve seen a whale in the wild;
- I’ve taken a helicopter ride;
- I’ve walked on a glacier;
- I’ve heard and seen a glacier calving; and
- I’ve seen a wild brown or grizzly bear in it’s natural habitat.
It’s great that you’re never too old to experience first.
If there’s one thing I’d want to retain from this trip it’s the urge to explore and search out those things that make me humble.
My photo shot count is now over 3,600, another first! :-)