Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve

In 1794, Captain George Vancouver described the small five-mile inlet of Glacier Bay as "a sheet of ice as far as the eye could distinguish."  The glacial wall of ice was more than 20 miles wide and in some places more than 4,000 feet deep.

John Muir visited Glacier Bay in 1879 with a group of the native Tglingit, the ice had retreated 40 miles up the bay.  

Each ship that enters Glacier Bay takes aboard a park ranger.  The ranger provides commentary throughout the day about glaciers, wildlife, and the bay's history.  

Glacier Bay has 16 major tidewater glaciers and 30 valley or alpine glaciers.  

Grand Pacific Glacier 

Lamplugh Glacier

Margerie Glacier

Juneau, Alaska

Juneau is the state capital, the third largest city, and cannot be accessed by road.

Mendenhall Glacier is the most visited glacier in the world and is the easiest glacier to get to.  It is located twelve miles from downtown Juneau.

Like other glaciers in Alaska, it is retreating, losing more than 100 feet a year.  Large chunks of ice calve into Mendenhall Lake.