May 16, 2002
Latitude 59° 03' N, Longitude 137° 03' W (near Margerie Glacier)
Glacier Bay was the "final destination" of Eric's Alaska cruise. Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is located about 90 miles northwest of Juneau, and even closer to Skagway and Haines. As you can see from the panoramas that Eric has assembled, there are spectacular views available of the glaciers and the surrounding landscape, much of which is still snow-covered in May. The glacier shown in the top panorama is Margerie Glacier, one of 16 accessible by waterway. Some glaciers tend to have a bluish color because of the way sunlight interacts with the dense compressed ice. The glaciers in this area have been receding for over 200 years. At one time almost the entire bay was covered with ice. The photo on the right shows a "calving" event where a large chunk of ice (or a small iceberg, if you like) breaks off and drops into the bay.
There is also a lot of wildlife in the park, up to and including humpback whales, although Eric didn't see any of the whales while he was there. The forest areas visible in the panoramas are mostly Western Hemlock and Sitka Spruce.
Click on the left thumbnail image to see full-size picture, which is still only 1/4 the resolution available on a 16 x 20 print at 300 dpi. Please let Eric know if you would like to order a high quality 8 x 10 or 16 x 20 print of this photo composition.