Ready to explore the raw beauty of Alaska? In this episode, we take you with us to Glacier Bay National Park, one of the most breathtaking and remote national parks in the U.S. We’re sharing everything you need to know: must-see attractions, what’s worth your time and money, and how to experience it all in just a few days.
If you want to take this exact trip, you can download our 2-Day Glacier Bay Itinerary. The Glacier Bay itinerary gives travel tips, restaurant and hotel recommendations, links to every activity we booked, packing list, and a day by day itinerary for you to follow.
Highlights from this trip include:
- How to get to Glacier Bay National Park
- Where to stay in Glacier Bay National Park: Glacier Bay Lodge
- Getting the most out of the Glacier Bay Visitor Center
- Serene hike along the Bartlett River Trail & Forest Trail
- An unforgettable Catamaran Glacier Bay Day Tour with incredible wildlife sightings like coastal brown bears, puffins, and whales
- Seeing the marine life and sea birds at South Marble Island
- Mesmerizing views of the Margerie & Grand Pacific Glaciers
- Immersive coastal wildlife spotting
- Fascinating exhibits and ranger talks
- What to pack including this packable backpack
Our top hotel picks in Juneau (Gateway to Glacier Bay):
If you love Alaska as much as we do, check out our Kenai Fjords National Park episode too!
Find a great flight deal to Alaska by signing up for Thrifty Traveler Premium and watching the daily flight deals (points & cash) that are emailed directly to you! Use our promo code TS10 to get $10 off your first year subscription.
Glacier Bay – Episode Transcript
0:35
And get ready to embark on a new adventure with us around the globe.
Hello, fellow travelers.
Welcome to this week’s episode of the Travel Squad podcast.
Today, we’re taking you to Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska.
0:51
This is our second National Park that we visited in Alaska.
And Glacier Bay National Park is a remote and breathtaking wilderness area located in southeastern Alaska, West of Juneau.
You know, I haven’t heard much about this National Park, Glacier Bay in Alaska, so why don’t you tell tell me a little bit more about what it is, what you could see there, why it’s a significant National Park, and why this is one of the first ones that you’re visiting here in Alaska of the 8.
1:18
So Glacier Bay National Park is actually located pretty close to Juneau, AK, which is the capital.
You can’t get there by Rd.
You do have to fly in there via seaplane or take a ferry.
Of course, some cruise lines can get up here, but it is what it is based off of the name.
1:35
You can figure it out a little bit.
Glacier Bay, and it’s a Bay technically really a fjord created by a glacier.
You’re going to see abundance of wildlife from land animals, bears, moose, etcetera, of course, to a lot of the stuff that we saw at Key Knife Yards National Park in last week’s episode in terms of the marine life with whales, seabirds, etcetera.
2:01
So what’s really interesting about this park, and I didn’t know this until we were here and we’ll get into it a little bit more later, is that that I really thought you’re going to see a whole bunch of glaciers.
Glaciers are all over the place.
And yes, you’re going to see them.
But the park is special because of the name.
2:17
This is the Bay that’s created by the glacier like 250 years ago.
The ice was 65 miles more S like it has retreated miles and miles in the last 250 years.
So yes, other places in the world have had significant glacial melt.
2:34
That’s like really crazy if you really look at the numbers, but none so much as right here.
So within the last 250 years, because it’s retreated 250 miles in, you have just a change in how the wildlife has moved in terms of sea otters coming into this area, which they never used to be in before, inlets for whales such as humpbacks, orcas.
2:56
And of course you’re going to get the dramatic landscapes that you would expect in Alaska, seeing the glaciers, tidewater glaciers, non tidewater glaciers.
And so it’s just really impressive here.
And that is what Glacier Bay National Park truly is.
So I mentioned that this is our second National Park in Alaska that we’re visiting out of the eight.
3:16
And one of the reasons why I picked this National Park is because it’s one of the ones actually easier to get to.
I would say probably Denali, Rangel, St.
Elias and Kenai.
Yours are probably the easiest ones to get to.
All of the other national parks are more remote and require flights into.
3:35
Glacier Bay is actually one of the most visited national parks in Alaska because cruise ships do sail through here, so it does make it accessible for a large amount of people.
We didn’t do this through a cruise ship.
We did just fly into the town, August Davis, which is the gateway town to Glacier Bay National Park.
3:55
We stayed at the park lodge and we did a boat tour of Glacier Bay one of the days we were here.
But that is why we picked it that it was semi more accessible to get to than some of the other national parks.
Knock off the easy ones first.
Yeah, that’s the plan.
4:11
And I just want to go back, talk a little bit more about Glacier Bay, something that I forgot to mention.
I mean, I was really highlighting how dramatic in the last 250 years, 65 miles worth of ice retreat that has created this inlet and Bay from the glaciers that have carved this fjord.
But what’s really cool about Glacier Bay is even though how dramatic that ice retreat is, there are some glaciers here that are still advancing.
4:34
So instead of actually losing mass, it’s gaining mass.
So you have some glaciers within the park that, again, are still treating, some that are advancing.
And our park Ranger that came with us on our boat tour, which, again, we’ll get to that later on in the episode, She did explain why that was the case and why this area had such rapid ice decline.
4:55
And I forgot what that was, but it just added to the uniqueness of the stories.
Like, yeah, there was that once just dramatic loss, but yet here we still have some glaciers that are shrinking and some that are still advancing in this part.
Why don’t you share some tips with me and the squatties on things need to know before you visit Glacier Bay National Park?
5:14
If you listened to last week’s episode on Kenai Ford’s National Park, some of the tips are kind of similar, but I’m going to start by saying if you haven’t already or if you don’t have an Alaska Airlines credit card to perhaps open one.
I got the bonus and with the bonus I was able to pay for our flights with points to save a bunch on cost.
5:33
You’re going to want to save a bunch on cost when you come to Alaska.
Alaska’s just expensive as it is, let alone to get to these national parks, even though this is one of the most common visited.
I think it has that statistic because of the cruise ships and it just sails in.
But we did not do that to just stay on land and the large like we did.
5:49
That in and of itself is pricey, so any money you can save goes a long way.
So utilizing the points with Alaska Airlines and their credit card to get free flights really helped us out a lot as well.
You can get here a couple ways.
The main ways by plane is going to be Alaska Airlines or an alternative company called Alaska Seaplanes, which are flying in those small little Bush planes that are the the 9 seaters, right, not main commercial flights or by ferry.
6:16
So those are the only two ways you can get here.
And by here I’m talking to the town of Gustavus where the lodge is.
Otherwise, again, you’re going to be sailing in through a cruise, but you’re always going to be on the boat and just sailing the inlet.
So, Alaska Seaplanes, Alaska Airlines or by ferry?
6:31
When you take the ferry, is it from Juneau?
It would be from Juneau, yeah.
And it’s about 5 hours.
That would be fun.
If you are coming to Glacier Bay, make sure to book lodging in advance.
There is only one lodging option in the park, it’s called Glacier Bay Lodge and that’s where you do the boat tour as well, so you make sure to book both in advance.
6:51
The lodge doesn’t usually open up until late May and it closed down very early in September, so there’s a very limited amount of time to come visit Glacier Bay.
It’s a summer destination for sure.
How far in advance would you say to book?
I want to say that we started booking for this.
7:08
We were here in June, June 1st, so I think I booked in November or December, about six months plus out.
And of course, you could book further.
But when Brittany says that there’s only one place to stay here, she’s being serious because the town that you fly into, if you fly, is called Gustavus.
7:27
Alaska, population 600 people.
So again, there’s no roads to get here that connects with the rest of Alaska.
Lots of places in Alaska are isolated.
This happens to be one of them.
What about the ferry?
Can you put your car on the ferry?
You can put your car on the ferry.
7:43
We actually even saw a camper on the ferry.
Now that would be fun.
Yeah.
So you can do that.
But point being it’s remote to get here, 600 people.
So the real only lodging, I mean in town of 600 people doesn’t have the hotel.
So once you get on to National Park property here, this is where the lodge is and truly the only accommodations.
8:04
If you want to be a little bit more rugged, they do have camping sites so you don’t necessarily need to stay in the lodge, but you would still be staying at the lodge because the campground is there.
Unless you got permits for Backcountry hiking and camping, which they do have.
Yeah.
8:19
I mean, I feel like there are a little mom and pop places to stay, but then you would need a rental car.
There’s only one rental car company.
It’s not any name brand one.
It’s like a very local 1.
So the easiest route is to stay at the lodge.
And if you stay at the lodge and you do get free shuttle access from the airport to the lodge, which is about 10 miles away from each other, and you’re going to be spending most time at the lodge anyways.
8:40
So like that is the best way to go.
Another tip for you is to make sure you’re packing hiking shoes and layers.
We did more hiking here than we did in Key Knife Yards National Park, So make sure you’re packing hiking appropriate gear.
You definitely want to bring food and snacks to save money.
8:55
I’m not saying pack an abundance of stuff, but if you can pack a few things that again snacks and some sort of food, maybe they’d be the ready made meals as you just add hot water to.
Because the only place to eat is the lodge.
I mean you really have a captive audience for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
9:12
So if you don’t like their food options, don’t want anything, realistically there’s not anywhere else to go.
Again, the town of the Gustavus is there, but it’s 10 miles away.
You’ll have to take a cab.
Their options are probably limited to, so it’s a good idea to bring a couple of food and snack items.
9:28
Last tip that we have for you is to give yourself a buffer date if you can.
We try to do this as quick as possible.
So we flew in one day, we did the boat trip the next day, and then we flew out the following day.
But if you could give yourself one more day as a buffer because you don’t know what could go wrong, everything’s unpredictable in Alaska, that would probably be preferable.
9:48
And we tried to do this as quick as possible, not because we don’t want to stay longer, but because we have, you know, work to get back to limited amounts of PTO, trying to see as much as possible in the little time that we do have.
But what do you mean by something could go wrong?
What could go wrong?
10:03
The boat could not work that day or weather wise, maybe you can’t fly in to Gustavus because of weather, something like that.
Those are all common things that happen.
What do you mean the boat could not work that day?
Oh, we’ll get into it.
We will.
I will dive more into that when we hit that section.
10:21
So an extra day just for the elements or things that could be mishaps.
But if you had that extra day and things went right, what would you do with it?
Hiking There’s a lot of hiking to do in the area.
You could just relax at the Lodge 2.
It’s a very beautiful lodge.
10:36
It’s rustic with a fireplace.
There’s no Wi-Fi in your room, so if you want Wi-Fi, you have to go sit in the lodge.
But it’s just a way to disconnect and just like be in nature.
Wonderful Squatty.
So I want to take a quick break before we get into the episode to let you know that we will have a downloadable PDF itinerary for Glacier Bay National Park.
10:54
So if you like what you hear as you go through this or you’re interested in coming out and navigating this crazy National Park and destination, then check out our show notes.
We’ll link it there.
You can also always find at shoptravelsquad.com.
Before we dive into the chunk of Glacier Bay, I’ve never really dedicated an episode to anyone, but I’m going to dedicate this episode to my boss.
11:15
And his name’s Michael.
Alaska is his like bucket list destination and he specifically wants to go to Glacier Bay.
And so he was so jealous that we were here.
And when we got back and I got to show him all of the pictures, it’s really inspired him to take this trip and he’s really looking into it.
11:34
So this one goes out to him.
Shout out Michael.
I think in that case you should give Michael the free itinerary.
I should, yeah.
But he wants to do it via cruise.
Like he wants to book a cruise and he wants to do like a 7 to 14 day cruise that goes to a lot of Alaska.
So we’ll see what he does.
11:49
I think I would like the cruise too, like the lodge sounds cool and all that but visiting for the day and taking it easy sounds like my cup of.
Tea Well, it really depends on what you want real quick because of course, before we get into the episode, because the cruises when you go to Alaska, when they sail through Glacier Bay here, it will take you up the inlet to the glacier.
12:07
If I’m not mistaken.
I don’t even think it has a stop here for you to do anything on land.
Right.
So the cruise sounds nice.
We were even looking into cruise options that did Glacier Bay and Kenai Fjords, but didn’t really have a lot of land options that also intrigued us.
12:25
So you’ll just see it visually, which for some people is great.
And if that’s your cup of tea, then do it.
Yeah.
But if it’s not, then the land portion and not doing it via cruise may be a better option for you.
OK, so let’s go through.
Let’s tell the squaddies why the land portion might be something they want.
12:42
Yeah.
So first you have to travel to Glacier Bay.
So to make this happen, it was quite an adventure, actually.
I had originally booked flights from Anchorage to Juneau and Juneau to Gustavus, all with Alaska Airlines, all in points.
However, Alaska Airlines, something had happened.
12:59
They lost a contract and they cancelled our tickets to get to Davis so they could get us to Juneau, but they couldn’t get us to Gustavus.
So I called Alaska.
They’re like, sorry, we don’t know we’re going to fly again.
You can try and wait it out or, you know, you might just want to book at a later date.
13:17
But we had this booked with another trip already.
So we were like, you know what, we just have to find a way to get there.
So we ended up booking the flights from Juneau to Gustavus with Alaska Seaplanes.
These are small Bush plane flights.
The flights fit nine people, so it’s very small, and the flight’s only about 30 minutes long, so it’s not a long flight, but really cool way if you aren’t afraid of Bush planes to get to Gustavus.
13:44
Yeah, this was our second or third time really flying Bush planes.
We did it when we were in Uganda.
It was really cool to do it in Alaska because those planes, they don’t really get a high elevation.
So you’re seeing everything from above, but from a really close level too.
But also, I mean, I love flying, but even being in these type of planes always makes me a little bit nervous.
14:03
But I just go with the flow.
But a really unique experience to fly this way.
So that was a whole debacle.
And getting back to the point of what you were saying, Kim, of like, why would you give yourself a buffer day if we weren’t able to find flights or those flights were sold out that day when we were really figuring out, like, when are we supposed to get there?
14:20
You know, we may have needed that extra day because they only do so many jumps back and forth and nine people per plane.
You may not be able to find tickets.
So we were really lucky on that front.
But we had early morning flights out of Anchorage to Juneau.
We landed in Juno.
14:35
We had a little bit of a layover, about four hours worth.
And I didn’t realize how small the Juno airport actually is, coming from Anchorage.
Then going to the Juno airport, which is actually the state capital.
Oh my gosh, It’s like a little baby terminal.
14:52
There’s nothing to do there.
Sitting in there for four hours.
I mean, it’s just ridiculous.
So we were like.
There was no Chase Sapphire Lounge.
There was no chase.
No lounge at all.
No lounge at all and terrible food we.
Could have just left the airport being that it’s such a small destination.
15:07
Well, that’s exactly what we did because we’re like, it’s not going to be much to get back through security, which by the way, flying Alaska seaplanes, you don’t need to go through security because you’re just boarding a little Bush plane from a corner edge of the terminal there, right?
But we decided to venture out.
15:23
We caught a lift to go into Juneau to go to a breakfast spot called Sandpiper that came very highly recommended.
We got the country fried steak and eggs.
Absolutely, absolutely delicious.
If you’re just going to Juneau in general, I just want to throw this out here.
15:39
Breakfast at Sandpiper, you’re not going to be disappointed.
And what’s really cool is if no one’s ever been to Juneau, there’s like 2 tall waterfalls that come from the mountain.
When you’re eating at Sandpiper, if you’re at the right table, you have window views and you could see it.
So I’m just sitting here looking at this beautiful 1000 foot waterfall coming off of the mountain.
15:57
It was breathtaking, but the food was really good here.
Yeah, we actually left our luggage with Alaska seaplanes because we were flying with them later that day.
And so while we were there talking to her, giving her our bag, she was like, oh, your flight’s at one, just be back here by 12:30.
So and then we’re like, OK, no security that we have to go through or anything.
16:16
So it was perfect.
And then we said, hey, if you were to go eat in town, where would you go?
And she was the one that actually recommended the Sandpiper Cafe.
So she had a great recommendation from there.
Since we didn’t have our luggage or anything, we went and checked out the state capitol building.
We walked through downtown Juneau, we window shopped and we checked out the views from the cruise dock.
16:35
So we are just kind of able to explore Juneau for a few hours.
Brittany and I have been to Juneau before when we did our Alaska cruise, but we did an excursion, that’s when we did the helicopter ride on the Mendenhall Glacier.
So this time it was just fun to walk around.
16:52
But Juneau, quite honestly, small town, it really is geared around the fact that it is a cruise port terminal area.
And so when we talk about the shops and bars, that’s really what you’re going to find here.
So you really don’t need much time to do that, but it was, it’s still fun to get out of the airport and do that before our flight with Alaska Seaplane.
17:10
So we headed back to the airport to catch our flight.
Our flight was at 1:00 and we landed at 1:35.
But again, getting on the Bush plane is an experience in and of itself.
We walked out through sliding glass doors onto the tarmac, went walking on to there.
17:27
We didn’t go through security.
They don’t care if you bring water on board.
Completely different experience than flying normal commercial.
But did they have to weigh you and put you in a certain spot?
Well, they did not weigh us to put us in a certain spot, but they did ask us our weight because they were trying to of course figure out the entire weight for the plane.
17:46
They even weighed our carry on.
They for sure weighed our checked luggage that went to the side of the plane too, but they did not put us in a certain seat based off of our weight.
Yeah, I literally sat behind the pilot which was such a cool seat because I got to watch him land the plane.
18:04
Would recommend and that I really liked it.
And then Jamal was saying that they do weigh everything so you get 50 lbs but that includes your check luggage, your carry on.
And so if you go over the 50 lbs with your check luggage and carry on, then you just pay the difference.
And what they charge for the excess over 50 is not like commercial airlines.
18:23
It was actually relatively cheap, so not too bad at all.
But like Brittany said, she was right behind the pilot.
There is no cockpit door.
You’re just there.
You’re watching the pilot fly.
You get on, they give you do a very brief safety briefing, but it makes you think about what you’re doing a little bit more because they put the onus on you like, oh, if there’s an emergency in a fire, here’s the fire extinguisher, We’re going to need one of you guys to throw it out.
18:48
If we happen to go down, here’s the transponder that you would Click to let I know he’s like, here’s the transponder that you would Click to let Alaska seaplanes as well as the Coast Guard know where to come.
Our Survival kit is under the plane.
If we can’t get it, we just got to move on.
You might have to use those skills.
19:06
So they give you those type of safety briefings when you get on these planes, which I think is a unique Alaska experience.
Lots of people who live in Alaska fly this way versus commercial route because some of the airports are so small, they don’t need commercial flights.
You just have these small little planes that get you there.
19:22
I remember when I was going out to visit my dad who lived in Kenai, I took a little plane from the Anchorage airport to Kenai because it’s a 2 hour drive.
So some people even commute that way even in the more populous areas that you don’t necessarily necessarily needed as a requirement.
Right.
So the flight was only about 2530 minutes.
19:39
It was really beautiful and scenic.
You’re going to get a window seat no matter where you sit.
And then I had called the lodge in advance a few days beforehand.
I had given them our flight information.
So they had a shuttle at the airport that will take us to the lodge.
19:54
We were the only ones in the van and the shuttle driver stopped at the National Park sign for us, which was very nice of him and he continued on to the lodge.
The shuttle is free by the way, I just want to throw that out.
If you’re staying at the lodge, the shuttle is free round trip from the airport to the airport when you arrive and leave.
20:13
And we talked about how short of a season it is to visit.
So the lodge this year was open from May 22nd and it will close on September 2nd, 2025.
It’ll change a little bit every year just based on the dates, but it’s a very short window that you can actually visit if you’re going to stay at the lodge.
20:31
We mentioned earlier that the Lodge is a sole lodging option within Glacier Bay National Park.
There’s a main lobby building with a boardwalk that branches off to the rooms and it’s really just like amongst the Sitka spruce trees.
And so it’s just a really spread out kind of lodge hotel.
20:47
It has about 48 rooms and then the one dining room.
So the dining room has breakfast, lunch and dinner.
I wouldn’t say it’s super expensive, but it’s also not cheap.
And so when Jamal was saying earlier to bring snacks and some food, like we brought oatmeal to have in the morning because we didn’t want to pay $22.00 a person for the buffet every day.
21:05
So that’s just like something that we did to save on cost.
But we checked into our room, we got a king size bed with a view and immediately we could see sea otters in the water that were in the Bay from our bedroom.
So that was really cool.
It’s very rustic, feels like you’re in a log cabin in a way.
21:23
I really liked it.
I mean I don’t want to say that it’s dated, but it’s what you would expect a lodge to be and it’s not a high end one, but it’s not a dump either.
It’s just in the middle with that slight date this to it, but I thought that almost enhanced to our Alaska experience being here.
21:39
Really appreciated that Brittany had mentioned that there is Wi-Fi available, but only in the lobby, not in the room.
So do keep that in mind.
But when we arrived, you know, Brittany alluded earlier when you ask him like, what could go wrong?
There’s that very common for the boat.
21:54
We were told when we arrived that the boat tour that day was cancelled because there was mechanical issues.
They actually had to take the boat all the way to Juno to get repaired.
And they said, we’re hopeful tomorrow we’re going to have it and we’re going to be good.
22:10
But, you know, it’s still up in the air.
We don’t know.
And so we were already starting to plan like, oh, well, shit.
If we’re unable to do the boat cruise, that’s half the reason why we’re here, because where we’re at on land here in Gustavus, this lodge area, yeah, there’s hiking trails around, but you could only do so much and go so far.
22:29
The majority of this park is to be explored on the water in the Bay and in the inlets.
Otherwise, you’re not seeing any glaciers, you’re not seeing any wildlife in the water.
I mean, I know Brittany mentioned we saw the sea otters, but in terms of the whale stuff, you’re not going to be seeing that.
So we’re like, can we really count Glacier Bay if we don’t even see a glacier in Glacier Bay?
22:49
Well, yes, you, yes, you can, but it’s not really the same in that.
Yeah.
OK, So what did you do?
Well, they said it was closed that day.
Well, we our boat tour, it wasn’t that day.
Our boat tour was the next day.
So they said that they were hopeful for the next day.
So we just had to wait it out.
So we got into a room, we checked in and.
23:05
There’s no like other option for a boat tour, no.
Because again, there’s only 48 rooms at this lodge, minus the people that are camping, so no other boats do tours out of here except for the lodge’s boat.
But we decided to go check out the visitor center and the lodge on the 2nd floor.
23:24
That’s where the visitor center lives.
So it’s just all right in one.
So we walk up to the second floor of the lodge.
We speak with a park Ranger.
We went through the exhibits up there.
We got an ornament and she gave us some recommendations for hiking.
She gave us a little map too.
So Jamal and I decided to do the Bartlett River Trail.
23:40
It’s 4 1/2 miles.
We hiked there to the trailhead from our lodge and we actually got to see a porcupine that was in a tree munching on some leaves along the way to the trailhead.
This is my first time seeing a porcupine in the wild.
I had no idea that they lived in Alaska and also no idea that porcupine climbed trees.
24:01
Yeah, that was actually really cool to see.
It didn’t have its quills all stuck out because it wasn’t threatened or anything.
But of course, you can just see how fluffy it is with the quill.
So I thought that was pretty cool.
But this trail had that.
We’re doing the Bartlett River Trail.
It’s a short walk from the lodge.
I would say that it’s, what, less than half a mile even to get to the trailhead?
24:20
But Kim, you would have loved this trail.
You want to know why you would have loved this trail?
This area is a rainforest in Alaska.
I am, I am telling you, more so than when we were at Key Knife Yards National Park here in Glacier Bay.
When we were hiking through, you felt like you were in the whole rainforest in Olympic National Park.
24:39
You really had the hanging Moss from the trees.
It was green.
The floor was even green with Moss and ferns.
So it was just a beautiful, lush green rainforest environment that was actually really cool.
Yeah, it was a really, really great hike.
24:55
We did see a bear paw in the mud, so we knew that there was a bear around.
And we also came across fresh bear scat, but we didn’t come across a bear.
They said that in a few weeks it’ll be the salmon season coming through the river and that we should be more concerned about coming across bears then, but we were not there at that time, so no bears for us.
25:15
It does open up out of the forest into a river estuary and there’s views of the mountains and the wildflowers are starting to bloom at this time year.
So it was just very pretty.
We were, like I said, two weeks away from the salmon run on this river.
But it was just a really nice quick hike.
25:31
It’s not like a huge elevation gain.
And we just kind of took it leisurely and slow.
And then we went back to the lodge and had dinner at the one option Fairweather Dining Room.
I just want to say about this hike real quick, there is a longer one that you can do.
25:47
It’s called the Bartlett Lake Trail.
And so it starts in the same spot and it splits off.
If you do the lake, it’s a lot longer of a hike and of course goes to a lake where this one follows along the trail.
The park Ranger did mention she did this hike less than a week ago and she did come across a bear.
26:04
As we were just getting onto the trail.
People were coming out and saying that they saw the scat.
And then we passed some other people and they said, oh, we actually saw the bear.
So we just didn’t happen to see it.
But to the point of what we were talking about in last week’s episode, they are around.
But she did say that again, the park Ranger, that if you see bears right now, it will likely be black bears in two weeks when the salmon are there, you’ll definitely see them.
26:28
And later in the season, like even though this is grizzly territory, she said you could definitely see a grizzly now, but the Grizzlies are more north and won’t come down until later in the season, even after the salmon start running.
So you have both black and brown bears here.
So I just want to point that out.
26:43
But yeah, depending on when you go is going to be really when you might have the more or less likelihood of seen it based off of salmon run season.
Jamal called the Brown Bears grizzly bears.
They actually don’t call them grizzly bears in this area.
They call them coastal bears, so.
Well, coastal brown bears, yes.
27:00
Coastal brown bears, and they actually get larger than the traditional grizzly bear because the food source is abundant on the coast.
I was going to say, are they trying to rebrand them from scary grizzly to coastal brown?
No, you know, there’s technically so all Grizzlies are brown bears, but all brown bears aren’t Grizzlies.
27:18
I forget what makes a grizzly a grizzly, but there is a specific definition of that.
Right?
But I just always say grizzly bear when I think of brown bears.
But Brittany is very correct in correcting me and stating that yes, these are coastal brown bears.
Not technically.
27:34
So we had dinner at the Fairweather dining room.
I was joking with Jamal on the trail like, hey, I know where I’m going to take you on a date to dinner and if you like it, we can go back tomorrow too because you know, there’s the one option.
So tonight Jamal had gotten fish and chips and then I got a Beast burger, which was like a blend of bison, Wagyu beef, wild boar and elk.
27:52
It was actually a pretty good burger.
I added on cheddar cheese and it came with like bacon, garlic aioli, lettuce, tomato and onion and Pickles.
So it was a really good burger.
Actually.
There’s inside seating and outside seating, but it was a little too early in the season still to sit on the outside.
But we did go out there later and we just had a nice quick dinner before calling it a night.
28:12
And I just want to reiterate again, for a captive audience that they have here, Alaska’s just inherently expensive.
Again, Brittany said it earlier, it’s not cheap, but they don’t price gouge you here.
So what are we talking?
I appreciate, I would say the fish and chips was about like 22 to 25 bucks.
28:29
The burger, they had a cheaper one, but Brittany got a blend of all the meat, so one of their burgers was about 20.
She got one what in the 25?
Yeah, it was $26.
Yeah, for the burger, both for the fish and chips and the burger, 26 each.
About that.
Yeah.
So not necessarily terrible, right.
28:46
I mean, if you had a captive audience, I could see them charging like 3233.
I mean like in today’s day and age with inflation, it doesn’t sound too crazy.
Yeah, I mean it’ll add up when you get 2 things and maybe drinks to boot if that’s what you want to do.
But again, I just really didn’t feel like they’re price gouging me because they’re really is nowhere else to go.
29:05
Yeah.
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29:23
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So during dinner, I had to use the restroom.
So I excuse myself.
And when I came across the lodge desk, I was like, hey, what are our chances of us getting on the water tomorrow with the boat tour?
29:43
And they said we think that it’s going to be on, you know, come prepared.
So we’re like, okay, tomorrow it’s going to be on.
Perfect.
The next day, which was June 2nd, it was a Monday.
We had the ferry of Glacierberry booked.
It boards early 6:50 in the morning and it departs at like 7/10, 7:15 and then it doesn’t usually return until about 3:30 later in the day.
30:06
So the boat fits 150 people, but there was only 30 people aboard when we went.
My gosh.
I loved it, actually.
I love the fact that there’s less people because of course there’s always the inside to stay warm.
You’re in Alaska, but you’re going to want to go outside to see the wildlife.
30:22
And when you have that many people fighting for so little space around the rails, it can really suck.
So it was nice that there really wasn’t a lot of people, Like everyone had their own adequate space to see wildlife, to take photos if they wanted to.
So 30 out of 150, we felt really good.
30:39
There are two decks we recommend sitting on the upper deck.
So Kim, this is what we were talking about.
We got on the boat and we’re so excited.
They’re saying like we’re going to go off.
They start the boat, but this second engine wouldn’t start.
They just got the boat back last night.
And so they’re panicking.
30:56
They’re like, we got to turn it back around because we want to restart the engine, but we don’t want to restart it because we’ve already left the dock.
So they don’t want to shut the boat off in like the middle of nowhere.
So they had to turn the boat back around, then troubleshoot it.
And at this point, Jamal and I are like, we’re going to have to make a return trip to come back to Glacier Bay because you can’t go to Glacier Bay and not see a glacier that’s in the name.
31:19
So literally after two hours of them troubleshooting we were finally able to take off but it just seemed like they would fix 1 issue but that would cause another issue.
You know, that is the the trope of a boat owner’s life.
31:34
You’re constantly fixing something.
Yeah.
And so we got back to port when they originally sailed off and like, well, we can’t really fight the current upstream without the second engine.
It’s going to take too long.
So we got back to the dock.
They turned it off when they turned it back on, I heard 1/2, I heard both engines fire.
31:53
I was like, yes, we’re good to go.
And then you hear the captain basically say, uh oh, well, that triggered a breaker fuse that really killed the the power steering that they had.
And then they tried to fix that.
So I’m really surprised at how long it took them to fix it after one issue for the next, once they fix something to get out there, I really thought that they were just going to cancel it, but they were really determined to do it and I’m so glad that they were.
32:18
We had a park Ranger that was on board because one in the conditions even when the cruise ships sail through there is that they have to have a park Ranger on just giving educational information and of course making sure that the cruise ships don’t do anything that they’re not supposed to not do in terms of sailing speed through their time spent at the glacier, etcetera.
32:38
So there’s even one on our boat.
We had Ranger Ashley, really cool, really fun, informative.
She was saying like, Oh yeah, this boat, like we love her, but we never know what’s going to happen.
So we got really lucky to make our way out onto the water.
There were people that were actually flying out at like 5:00, and so if this boat didn’t go out, they wouldn’t have been able to do it at all because the day before it was cancelled completely.
33:03
So after two hours, they were finally able to get it going.
Thank you to Captain Naomi and her team.
And then luckily, Ranger Ashley is very entertaining.
She told us a lot about the history.
She told us a lot about the park, she told us a lot about the wildlife.
So she kept us entertained for sure.
33:19
That was really nice.
I know on a lot of whale watching type boats they’ll have a bar.
Did they have one on this boat?
They absolutely did.
You can buy alcohol.
Well, that’s nice while you’re waiting.
Yeah, well, if we didn’t do that in the morning, they had complimentary coffee, hot chocolate, little finger bites, and I don’t want to say hors d’oeuvres, but little pastries that you can eat that would go with that.
33:41
But yeah, they did have a bar just as well for you on that.
So by the time we started making our way out, of course some of the first things that we see are going to beat the sea waters.
Come to find out that Glacier Bay has the largest sea Otter population in the world and they only recently started inhabiting this area not too long ago.
34:00
So I mentioned earlier that of course this whole area was covered 250 years ago with ice all the way to 65 miles inland where you could finally going to start seeing the glaciers.
But that’s not what I mean by recent.
Like this is within the last like 10-15 years that this population has really moved into this area and they are abundant here.
34:18
Yeah, we would sail by and there’s just like groups and groups of sea otters.
It was really cute to shoot when they’re next to the boat was really cute.
But we also saw several seabirds, bald eagles, puffins.
We spotted a humpback whale.
And in this region in 2024.
34:34
Last year, the researchers counted 187 humpback whales within Glacier Bay.
That’s a ton of whales in the area.
And out of the 100 and 8724 were mother and calf pairs.
So as we’re sailing, our first stop that we went to was S Marble Island.
34:52
So of course, because we got off to the two 2 1/2 hour delay while they were troubleshooting it, they’re like, all right, we’re going to get to the very end of the glacier, but we’re going to have less stops along the way.
And what stops we make, obviously we’re not going to have a lot of time.
But this island right here is where you can see a ton of seabirds.
35:09
So we did see the puffins.
Sea lions are here.
And in this area, we also did see our first sightings of humpback whales.
They weren’t doing anything cool other than coming up down.
We got to watch them for a little bit, but still really exciting at this point to, to start seeing the wildlife.
35:26
And then after our first stop, then something that I really loved about this boat, giving us stuff along the way to keep us happy.
Our bellies filled.
They had some warm seafood chowder that was just absolutely delicious.
Once we were outside for the first time watching the wildlife then getting back in.
35:42
Great way to warm ourselves up.
And Jamal had mentioned that we went to South Marble Island to see the sea birds and whatnot.
When we said that Ashley, our Ranger, was on board, she had given us a quiz to fill out beforehand, and she kept it very educational and interactive.
And there was a quiz that you could take to see what kind of sea bird you were.
35:59
So with my personality, I was a black oyster catcher.
I can see that.
Can you?
Do you remember what you were, Jabal?
I don’t remember what I was, I’m not going to lie about that, but she would basically ask like a question and then it would be a multiple choice of like, what’s your response to it?
36:19
So it’s basically to find out your personality and character traits that would make you like these type of birds, right?
So just something fun silly to do, which was really cool.
And like Britney said, like trying to keep it educational, keep us entertained.
She also pulled up some cold water that was obviously on the edge of the boat as we are sailing.
36:39
And then she had these mitts that you can put your hand in to actually put in the water so you can see how warm or well insulated these animals are.
So then she had like feathers.
Then she had some fat, which of course she used like Crisco for that.
And I forgot what the other item was.
36:56
It was almost like aluminum that she put in there.
And I forgot what it was supposed to represent.
But it was trying to really figure out like, hey, this is the insulation source for these animals that are here.
Like, you can feel the water without this, see how cold it is and see them like, they don’t get cold, you know?
37:11
So I thought that was pretty cool too.
She actually brought out like a sea Otter fur because they have the most hairs per square inch than any other mammal and that’s how they keep themselves insulated.
So it’s very educational.
She was very interactive.
37:26
I really love that about it.
And then we even learned about the indigenous tribe that inhabited the area of Glacier Bay.
And she taught us about how the National Park was saying, like, oh, you can’t do this anymore.
But now they are starting to work together so that they can still live on the land that they’ve always lived on, but work with the National Park and away as well.
37:46
So we continued sailing from South Marble Island and we came across an area that’s known to potentially see brown bears along the coast and on the rocks looking for food.
We got really excited because one of the crew members was looking with binoculars.
38:02
They thought they had seen a bear and we got like really, really excited.
And then by the time we got close enough, they’re like, oh, we lost it.
And it was so devastating because if we want to see a brown bear, right?
I mean, we had already seen a black bear when we’re at Kenai National Park.
We wanted to see a brown bear here.
38:18
So we didn’t get the opportunity to see it at that moment.
But then right after that rocky shore area where the bears usually are, we came across the mountain side where it’s really steep, and we came across some more mountain goats, which were really cool to see.
So then we see the mountain goats.
38:34
We’re super excited, but we’re still on on a coastal brown bear mission to sea.
And so Jamal and I were sitting second deck right outside of the captains quarters.
And so we hear them get a call from another boat saying that they’ve spotted a coastal brown bear and it’s with a dead mountain goat.
38:55
And so they’re like, you guys, we got something really exciting in store for you.
So we got to sail up to it pretty close, even though we were from a distance, you can just see how huge this coastal brown bear was.
He was gigantic.
And they’re in the background, you could see the carcass of the mountain goat RIP.
39:14
But bears got to do with bears got to do.
There was a debate though of did the bear catch the mountain goat and bring it down there, or did the mountain goat fall and the bear just got lucky?
I don’t think mountain goats fall too much, they’re pretty used to walking on mountains.
39:31
That is my thought too.
And that’s why Ranger Ashley was basically saying like, she gives it a probability that he could have killed it.
But again, you’re on the coast and it’s a steep Cliff.
The bear can’t really climb.
And he’s at the point now on the cliff’s edge where he can’t continue to walk without being on the water because it’s starting to get really steep.
39:49
So it’s like he’s in an area of where and why would he bring a kill to this region?
Like just at a dead end?
Of course, maybe trying to protect it.
But she thinks that he probably ended up like smelling it, came to it because it probably fell.
40:06
But they are pretty nimble.
But that type of stuff still can happen.
They do slip, you know what I mean?
Because they don’t really hang out that low.
So he definitely didn’t climb.
So he either brought it to there or he got lucky.
So to be determined, but it’s still really cool.
To see a brown bear with a kill or maybe a happenstance meal, but it was sitting there protecting it.
40:29
It wasn’t eating it at that point in time.
But really cool to see this bear along the coast just with the dead mountain go.
Squat ease If you’re not already following us on Instagram at trouble Squad podcast, then get out your phone type that into Instagram right now and hit that follow button.
40:44
We post all of our stories while we’re on trips.
You can see the videos and photos of what we’re talking about and then when the episodes air, we re push out the stories so that you can see it in real time and you could watch it as you’re listening to us live.
So we continued on with the boat tour.
41:00
We saw 2 tidewater glaciers, which were called Marjorie and Grand Pacific.
The tidewater glaciers are glaciers that go into the body of water, which is why they’re called tidewater glaciers.
These glaciers are about 245 feet above the ocean.
They stretch another 100 feet beneath the water.
41:18
So these are huge.
And we were literally right on the edge of Canada.
So, so, so, so close.
Jamal was looking at a map and was like, are we going to go in Canada?
Are we going to go in Canada?
Well, because there’s the two glaciers at the very dead end where they had taken us to see that again, the Marjorie Glacier and the Grand Pacific Glacier.
41:36
So Marjorie happens to just be on the American side.
Not to say that the top part of the ice field that leads to it doesn’t spread into Canada, but the tidewater portion of the glacier is clearly here in the United States.
The other one, which is the Grand Pacific, leads you straight into Canada.
41:53
If that melts a little bit more than you’re actually going to be into Canada and and sail up a little bit further like you’re really right there.
It’s on the edge hugging into the United States not too far back then you’re right there in Canada.
So I thought that’s like pretty unique how once this melts a little bit more, it’s going to be an inlet to another country that way.
42:13
But again, once you get to the glaciers, this is where your opportunity highlight to see just this beautiful, magnificent sight of nature.
So we got to spend a little bit of time here less than we would have, of course, if we got there on time and didn’t have the boat issues in the morning.
42:29
However, there was a cruise ship in here at the same time as we were.
So the cruise ship, I believe it was a Princess cruise ship, was hanging out here for a little bit just as well.
Yeah, and while we were in front of the glacier, we did get to see some ice calving from the glacier.
42:44
We didn’t catch it on camera, unfortunately, but it was cool to see it in person.
Just some of the ice, just like break off of the glacier and land into the water.
You can hear like a crack and then you can hear the splash into the water.
It was a small calving of it.
Don’t get me wrong, it was still really cool to see, but one of these days I would like to see like a big chunk fall off, you know, and just see it really crash into the water and create like a giant wave.
43:08
That would be really cool.
But still, to see it melt and break off, pretty awesome.
There are over 1000 glaciers in Glacier Bay.
A lot of them are still in the mountains and there are fewer than 7 tidewater glaciers in Glacier Bay National Park.
But we did get to see two of them.
So Ashley again was telling us all about the National Park.
43:26
They do allow two cruise ships per day, but they do require the Rangers to be on board and give educational presentations.
And then the National Park also gives out to 25 permits for a small personal boat.
So if you happen to be one of the 600 residents that live in Gustavis, then you can have access into Glacier Bay National Park too.
43:46
There are other little adventures you can do from that area.
Like we met people that we shared the plane with who were going fishing.
So they had like a little outfitter that they were going with doing fishing for a few days.
So there are other options to do other adventures out of Gustavus if you wanted to. 1 cool thing that our boat did do and I didn’t realize you could do is after we were done with the glaciers, we’re turning around and they said we need to make a stop.
44:12
They dropped off 3 ladies who were going to do Backcountry camping out in the middle of Glacier Bay, and they dropped them off with the sea kayaks.
And those girls were going to set up camp there, but they were also going to take their sea kayaks and kayak to another glacier that’s inaccessible other than like by a small, small boat or kayak.
44:34
So in three days time they’re going to come back and pick them up.
Like how wild is that?
Like you were literally so remote in the middle of nowhere, right?
I mean, the only other things that are there are the boats that may come.
Otherwise, like I said, Gustavus is 65 miles away.
44:50
So you’re just isolated from people.
And not that something’s going to go wrong, but it’s just one of those things where, like, wow, Can you imagine that type of confidence you have to have in yourself to be like, yeah, just drop me off here in the middle of Alaska.
Yeah.
And then Brittany was even saying, Can you imagine if yesterday and by yesterday, the day that the boat go out was the day that you’re supposed to be picked up and then you’re there at the pickup spot and then the boat doesn’t come?
45:14
What would you be thinking?
Like what if you don’t have supplies anymore or anything like that?
That, that’s pretty.
I’m sure they would have sent a another smaller boat or something to come out and pick them up.
But that’s just wild.
So kudos to those girls for doing that.
I would love to get to a .1 day in my life where I’d be like, yeah, like just drop me off.
45:33
That would be cool.
I have enough faith in my survival skills and let me camp in the middle of Brown Bear territory with nobody else around.
When you said that the boat might not run, my mind immediately went to sea kayaking because I had just done this in Quebec and it’s a different type of of kayaking where you have a skirt that covers you so you don’t get wet and you’re like fully immersed in this boat.
45:54
I think that would actually be really cool to do.
Do you know if they offer sea kayaking options to go out near the?
Glaciers, I don’t know if they do it near the glaciers, but there are sea kayaking options to go within the Bay.
I don’t know if you would see a glacier or not because the glaciers we saw were 65 miles in.
46:11
So be quite a ways to kayak.
That is a kayak trek to do that. 65 miles?
Absolutely.
So we did make it back to the lodge around 3:50.
So right before 4:00, Jamal and I decided to do some light hiking around the lodge.
46:28
We did one trail called the Forest Trail, which is about a mile long.
You literally go outside of the lodge and there’s a little trail there.
It’s mossy green, passes a beautiful lake with a ton of reflection.
Like you can see all of the the trees and plants reflect into the water.
46:45
And then it heads out to the ocean.
So you can see along the coast or you can go back through the forest.
So we just turned around and went back through the forest after spending a little bit of time on the coast.
And then behind the lodge, there are a few exhibits, like there’s a totem pole, there’s a canoe built by the indigenous tribe that’s on exhibit.
47:06
And then there is the bones of a whale named Snow.
She was a very famous pregnant humpback whale that was actually hit and killed by a cruise boat.
And so they have her remains up there as well for you to look at and read about.
47:22
Really cool to see the skeleton of the humpback, but also really sad because of course it’s a display.
So they were talking about how it got hit by a cruise ship.
They even have the last image of her when she was alive because of course they got the camera shot from the wheelhouse or from wherever on the cruise ship where you could actually see, oh, here’s the whale and it’s dorsal fin and humpback right before it got hit.
47:46
And then you read the story about how it washed up on shore, how many years they actually had to wait for it to.
Decompose.
Decompose before they could get the bones, reconstruct it.
So it’s sad, but then you really hear, and it’s like when you see the whales when you’re on the boat, you really can’t grasp how huge these things are.
48:04
But then when you’re there and you just see its skeleton and you’re right up on it, it’s so impressive how big these whales are.
And after we were done with the exhibits, we just had dinner at the lodge.
We said, you know what, it’s our last night in this area and we’re going to be heading home soon.
So we decided to go big.
48:20
We got the New York strip, which was so good, and it came with potatoes and broccoli, and then we added on some salmon, prawns and a side of Brussels.
It’s a fantastic dinner.
It was really good, really fresh.
And was that most of what you did?
48:37
I think the next day you just fly home, right?
Yeah, that was it for us.
The next day we did fly home.
It was just a Family Day.
We got to the airport in Gustavus at 9:00 AM.
We did have a flight to Juneau, and then from Juneau we had a layover in Seattle and then back to San Diego.
48:55
So it pretty much took us all day to get back.
We got back at around like 9:45 PM, but really loved our time out here in Glacier Bay and in Kenai Fjord since we did both these parks on the same trip.
I really do love Alaska.
There’s something majestic about it.
49:11
You know, Brittany and I always talk about when we’re on vacation, we’re in a place, hey, do we think we could live here?
But like, I really wondered, like, can I live in Alaska?
I want to say yes, but the remoteness is what really gets me.
How hard it is to get from place to.
Place and you haven’t really seen it in the winter.
49:26
I know.
But the irony of that statement, Kim, is that’s what I was telling Brittany is like, yes, I would want to be there during the summer to be able to do things, but I think it it would be cool to be there during the winter, at least one winter in my life and just be like I’m hunkered in a cabin.
49:41
I have all my provisions, supplies, everything that I need, and I’m just riding out a winner in a cabin.
I think I might get cabin fever and a little bit bored, but I don’t think I’d get too wild out there.
We’ll.
See if you and Brittany could survive that, I think.
We could.
I think we could.
Well, we’ve survived what, 19 years now together 18 years.
50:00
So I think we could survive 1 winter in a cabin in Alaska.
I think this is a place where I could make my dreams of doing a dog sled come true.
So maybe we should do a little winter Alaska adventure.
We just have to find a place that has reliable Internet so that we could do whatever work that we need to do during the winter.
50:20
And not talking like Netflix entertainment.
Yes, I would want that because you’ll definitely need something to do.
But in terms of if we’re actually still working, yeah, we we do need that.
But I think it would be fun to be holed up for a little bit during the winter.
And we’ve done an Alaskan cruise before.
It’s when we got engaged age, you know, 10 years ago on the Alaskan cruise and I loved it then, but actually doing these national parks on our own and just really like immersing ourselves into it.
50:45
Cuz like on the cruise, you can only do so much.
You’re at port for a little bit of time.
You go on an excursion, you come back to the boat.
That is the experience and there are people that love that.
But to like immerse yourself into the nature and just like really get a true Alaskan feel.
This made me fall in love with Alaska even more.
51:02
Like while we were leaving Seward, I was looking up houses on Red.
I was like, can I live here?
Do I need to buy property here?
I was getting all crazy.
So I just completely fell in love with Alaska all over again on this trip.
Well, we do have six more Alaska national parks to hit off to hit the full 8.
51:19
So squatty, stay tuned to see if Brittanie and Jamal buy a house in Alaska.
And thank you so much for tuning into this week’s episode.
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