Glacier Bay NP, Alaska - Landscapes & Wildlife | Day 3
Day 3 of our Glacier Bay NP trip was again full of wildlife and landscapes, and our first view of a most amazing glacier. The David B traveled along the Muir Inlet passing mountains, icebergs, the Reid Glacier, whales, assorted birds, and seals until we rounded the corner to see the magnificent McBride Glacier. Seriously, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life! (Getting ahead of myself again…)
The following was our morning view as we left Sandy Cove where we had anchored for the night.
This was the scene as we entered the inlet on our way to McBride Glacier. The color of the water changed with the varying cloud cover and direction of the light. The transforming colors were incredible!
The following is just before we made the turn into the inlet that would allow us to see the glacier.
A bit of the wildlife and the Reid Glacier we saw along the way.
McBride Glacier, Glacier National Park, Alaska
Isn’t she magnificent?!
While returning to the David B in the skiff, we encountered lots of small chunks of ice near the area of the face of the glacier.
Some amazing ice formations were in the inlet. Some looked as though they were glass that had been carved and shaped by human hands. But, in reality, they were pieces of the glacier that had broken off traveling down the inlet and eventually into the Glacier Bay, melting along the way.
As we returned to the area where the Muir Inlet met with the McBride Inlet, we went ashore to photograph the floating icebergs. This was an opportunity to use a slow shutter to smooth out the water. The faster moving icebergs looked like white blurs, while there were a couple that had run aground temporarily.
Another amazing day on the David B in Glacier Bay National Park!
Traveling on the David B in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
I was especially enthused about this visit to Death Valley because of the appearance of Lake Manly which is in some years a dried lake bed full of mud cracks and salt patterns. Beautiful in their own right. But, the occurrence of a hurricane last fall created a wealth of water in the Valley, and so Lake Manly came to life once again as it does so periodically.