Glacier Bay is a sea kayaker must do, a fascinating laboratory in glaciation and plant session, and resplendent in wildlife. Glaciers in the Bay have receded roughly 60 miles in three hundred years. At Bartlett Cove the shore is a near-climax, temperate rainforest. Up Bay— the glaciers recently receded— plants like Dryas and Dwarf Fireweed struggle to take hold. On the west side rise the glorious, glaciated Fairweather Range, dominated by lofty Mt. Fairweather, a 15,000 ft peak that rises higher and faster from the sea than any coastal mountain on the planet. Wildlife here is diverse and abundant. Brown Bear roaming open terrain, Humpback Whales and Sea Otters are a common sight, sea birds like Tufted Puffin and Kittlitz’s Murrelet nest here. Though many glaciers no longer reach tidewater, some, like John Hopkins, clog ajacent bays with icy bergs.
