Glacier Bay
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The tiny town of Gustavus, adjacent to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, can be accessed from Juneau by fast ferry, floatplane, or jet. Once there, independent travelers can catch a shuttle to the Glacier Bay Lodge, within the park about 10 miles away, where they can find out about kayak tours, sign up for a whale watch, or go for a hike. Getting out on the water is far more rewarding than staying on land.
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Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
Near the northern end of the Inside Passage, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is one of America's most magnificent national parks. Visiting Glacier Bay is like stepping back into the Little Ice Age—it's one of the few places in the world where you can approach such a variety of massive tidewater glaciers. Sounding like cannon fire, bergs the size of 10-story office buildings come crashing from the "snout" of a glacier, each cannon blast signifying another step in the glacier's steady retreat. The calving iceberg sends tons of water and spray skyward, propelling mini–tidal waves outward from the point of impact. Johns Hopkins Glacier calves so often and with such volume that large cruise ships can seldom come within 2 miles of its face.
Gustavus
For airborne visitors, Gustavus is the gateway to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve. The long, paved jet airport, built as a refueling strip during the Second World War, is all the more impressive because of the limited facilities at the field. Gustavus itself is less of a town than a scattering of homes, farmsteads, a craft studio, fishing and guiding charter companies, an art gallery, and other tiny enterprises run by hospitable individualists. Visitors enjoy the unstructured outdoor activities in the area, including beach and trail hiking in the Nature Conservancy’s Forelands Preserve.
