Today we enjoyed a marvelous day in one of the crown jewels of Southeast Alaska and of the entire US National Park System, Glacier Bay. Great weather helped us appreciate more the beauty of the Fairweather Range with its snowy peaks that feed a multitude of glaciers, glaciers that attracted no less a man than John Muir and whose passionate writings caught the imagination of people in the lower 48’s and elsewhere and made them pay attention to that mythical land in the north: Alaska.
8/1/2019
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National Geographic Venture
Baranof Island
After exploring the glaciers and open waters of the northern Inside Passage, we sailed south through the night and returned to the starting point of our journey, Baranof Island. This island, along with Admiralty to the east and Chichagof to the north, is home to one of the highest densities of brown bears in the world. To search for evidence of the bears as they begin their yearly salmon feast and continue our exploration of the temperate rainforest, we anchored in Kelp Bay to kayak and hike the shoreline throughout the morning. Later in the afternoon, we welcomed Dr. Andy Szabo of the Alaska Whale Foundation to learn more about ongoing research taking place in Alaska on the unique bubblenet feeding behavior we witnessed earlier in the trip. Only in Alaska can you experience the forest, salmon, bears, and whales all in one day.
