Kayaking through Glacier Bay National Park
For a long time, Grant had been dreaming about kayaking through Glacier Bay National Park. As soon as we started talking about coming to Alaska, I knew that kayaking would be on the agenda. Even though I was excited to explore the wilderness differently than I am use to, I had to acknowledge it was outside of my comfort zone. I was especially hesitant to camp amongst the bears. I felt better once we had a group of friends who agreed to join us and I felt even better to find out that Abby had concerns about the bears just like me. Thank goodness I had someone who shared my worries.
Our trip did not start off as planned. Due to the unpredictable Alaskan weather, our flight to Gustavus was cancelled three times. Still to this day, I don’t know how to pronounce Gustavus correctly since every single person seems to say it differently. Because of our missed flight, we lost a day of kayaking. Some of us were super bummed, others were relieved for one less night in bear country. I will let you guess who was who.
To reach our starting point, we loaded up our kayaks onto the day boat. We spent the morning with the rest of the tourists admiring sea birds, mountain goats, sea lions, orcas, and humpbacks. When we arrived at our drop off point, the day boat parked on a secluded beach to unload all of our gear and kayaks. Within minutes the boat was gone and we were alone in the wilderness. As I waved nervously good-bye, I asked the group what in the world are we doing here.
The sun was shinning and the waters were relatively calm when we started our paddle. Within 45 mins of being on the water, we were paddling amongst a pod of humpback whales. We were all in awe of these massive creatures but were annoyed that the cruise ships were blaring their horns ruining this special moment. As the humpbacks swam closer, we realized that those sounds were not from the cruise ships but the humpbacks communicating to each other. Silence fell among us as we soaked in this incredible experience.
We had all agreed to paddle a longer distance since we lost a day due to our delayed flight. After 16 miles of kayaking, we finally came around the corner to our pre-scouted campsite. My arms were achy, stomach empty, and energy low. My heart sang as we approached the long rocky beach. As we got closer, that sense of relief quickly left me as we noticed a big grizzly bear wandering along the beach where we planned to pitch our tents. As I tried to make sense of why we might be camping in an area where bears roam free, I vaguely heard Grant comment about how there might be enough room for us and the bear to coexist for the night. Without responding, I looked over to Andrew and Abby’s kayak and after seeing the look on their faces, I knew they had little interest in sharing the campsite. So after a quick discussion, we were on our way, paddling into the unknown as the sun began to set. After another hour of paddling and examining the pros and cons of the next few beaches we saw, we finally came to a nice peninsula where we could camp above the tide and give plenty of space to any local residents.
We quickly made some food and all went to bed tired and sore. I was nervous about bears, but there didn’t seem to be any evidence of them and what else could we do. Grant woke up early the next morning to photograph sunrise. I heard him whispering to Nate and Andrew, but just assumed he was being courteous to the still sleeping women. We ate and packed up our kayaks as the rain began to fall. Just as we were about to push off from the beach, Grant announced to the group that as he was wandering around taking photos, he saw another grizzly walking within 70 yards of him, by our camp, and down the beach. He felt it was best to withhold this information until we were leaving. He was probably right.
As we approached our next campsite at the Lamplugh glacier, it felt like we had entered a walk-in freezer. Even though it was freezing, Abby and I were relived to be camping among the steep cliffs where it was unlikely we would see any bears. We spent the day admiring the large calving events of the glacier and listening to Uncle Nate’s unique stories.
The ultimate destination was the Johns Hopkins inlet about 30 miles from our drop off point. Entering the inlet can be tricky because it is relatively narrow and at times the icebergs can get so thick that it can be impossible to paddle through. We got there with a moderate amount of icebergs, narrowly allowing us to zig-zag our way through. Grant took much pleasure in manning the rudder and piloting our boat through the maze of ice. He went as far as to call himself the Ice Maestro. I, on the other hand, had flashbacks of the Titanic as we glanced off iceberg after iceberg. We camped at the end of the inlet near the Johns Hopkins Glacier which is one of the most active glaciers in North America. It seemed that large pieces of ice were falling every few minutes causing loud thunderous echos throughout the valley.
On our last day, it happened to be my 29th birthday. I woke up next to a glacier and saw the biggest calving event any of us had seen. We paddled 18 miles through turquoise waters avoiding icebergs and the nearby humpbacks. We watched black bears wondering the beach and bald eagles flying above. I even enjoyed backcountry mango sticky rice. We ended the day at our final campsite with a rainbow, curious dolphins and no major grizzly encounters.
I am happy to say that it was trip of a lifetime and Grant was right to have brought me there. I will cherish the memories of this trip for the rest of my life. It wasn’t as bad I thought it would be and the bears were friendly. But just in case they weren’t, I paddled with bear spray in my life jacket at all times which provided much laughter to the rest of the group.
