So much to see, so little time!
There are nine tidewater glaciers (valley glaciers that flow far enough to reach out into the sea) in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve: Reid, Lamplugh, Gilman, Johns Hopkins, Margerie, Grand Pacific, Riggs, McBride and Muir. Four of these glaciers actively calve icebergs into the bay. In the 1990’s the Muir Glacier receded to the point that it was no longer a tidewater glacier. Most visitors today travel to the Margerie and Lamplugh Glaciers.
Colors betray an iceberg’s nature of origin. White bergs hold many trapped air bubbles. Blue bergs are dense. Greenish-black bergs calved off of glacier bottoms. Dark- striped brown bergs carry morainal rubble from the joining of tributory glaciers, or other sources.
Lamplugh Glacier – upper left
Left foot is hiding what is likely the Grand Pacific Glacier
Passengers stand in awe of Johns Hopkins Glacier