Glacier Bay National Park Active and Adventure Travel Guide

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Mountains in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska (Rosemarie Salazar/courtesy, National Park Service)

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Glacier Bay National Park Active and Adventure Travel Tips

By Karen Kefauver

Try a one-day kayaking adventure: rent a sea-touring kayak and strike out on your own or join a guided day kayaking trip. Bartlett Cove offers the novice kayaker a much protected rainforest environment in which to paddle and explore. Kayakers may traverse the shores of Lester Island and Point Gustavus, where they will have opportunities to spot seals, porpoise, sea otter, black bear, moose, bald eagles, and whales.
Backpacking in the park is a rewarding experience for those who are willing, and have the knowledge, to explore off-trail. Though Bartlett Cove has four maintained day-hike trails, the rest of the park is a glorious blank slate of wilderness and beach.
For an adventurous multi-day trip, kayak West Arm and Muir Inlet. The nearest tidewater glaciers to Bartlett Cove are about 50 to 65 miles away in the Muir and West Arms. Kayakers generally should allow five to eight days to paddle each way.

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve

In the watery wilderness of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, you can witness a landscape at its literal moment of creation. When George Vancouver and his H.M.S. Discovery explored Southeast Alaska's coastline in 1794, Glacier Bay lay buried beneath a mile-thick sheet of ice extending all the way to its mouth at Icy Strait. But the ice has beaten a remarkably hasty retreat over the last two centuries, exhuming a raw, misty realm of steep-sided fjords and tidewater glaciers. Read More

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hi, when is the best time of year (month!)to see the orcas....its all about the whales!! thank you, helen, liverpool, uk
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Glacier Bay Lodge

Best Resorts & Lodges

179 Bartlett Cove Road
Gustavus, AK 99826 Map

Distance: 46.1 mi.
(from destination center)

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Expert Rated & Recommended

Annie Mae Lodge

2 Grandpa's Farm Road
Gustavus, AK 99826 Map

Distance: 44.9 mi.
(from destination center)

Hotel Class: Not Yet Rated

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Glacier Bay Country Inn

35 Tong Rd
Gustavus, AK 99826 Map

Distance: 45.2 mi.
(from destination center)

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Other Smaller Airports near Glacier Bay National Park

	Distance (mi.)
Elfin Cove SPB	33.1 map
Pelican SPB	47.2 map
Gustavus Airport	47.4 map

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Feature Articles

A National Park for All Seasons
Winter
GORP - Top 10 Lonely Parks
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GORP - Glacier Bay, Alaska - Top Ten Lonely Parks
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GORP - Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska - Hiking
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GORP - Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska - Paddling and Boating
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GORPtravel Adventure Trips & Guided Tours

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Granite fjords, immense glaciers, abundant wildlife, charming ports and over 44,000 miles of coastline - more then the rest of the US combined - Alaska is all of this, and more. ......
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View glaciers, whales, bears and more on our up close exploration of Glacier Bay National Park. Stay in style at our exclusive wilderness lodge in...
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Prince William Sound lies just south of the Chugach Mountains and offers its visitors a maze of forested islands, glacier-carved fjords and...
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from $4995, 8 days
This luxury yacht cruise spends two days exploring the grand landscape and abundant wildlife of Glacier Bay National Park. No other vessel spends...
iExplore Alaska Denali Experience
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from $4495, 8 days
If there is a place in your mind's eye that can clearly picture the perfect Alaska - and you yearn for it- then come with us to Alaska. It is all...