Johns Hopkins Glacier - Glacier Bay National Park

August 27, 2005

The Reads in front of Johns Hopkins Glacier.

Johns Hopkins glacier from a distance.   

Johns Hopkins glacier is 250 feet high above the water, and another 200 feet deep below water. It is one mile wide and 12 miles long. The glacier is advancing at a rate of about 11 feet per day. From a distance, you can see a little glimpse of its 12 mile length. As you get closer, all you can see is its huge, mile-wide and 250 foot high face. It is an advancing, actively calving glacier, and hundreds of seals live in the water and on the ice in front of the glacier.

A huge glacial waterfall.

Calpurnia in front of Johns Hopkins glacier.

The captain of Spirit of '98 cruise ship, of the Cruise West cruise line, took some pictures of us while we were in the inlet together, then he burned them on to a CD and left them for us at the Ranger Station. Thanks, Captain Dave Yurman!

Seals, checking out the tourists. There were hundreds of them "sunning" on the icebergs in front of the glacier. If you look at some of the wider views, they look like mud spots, but they are really Harbor Seals.

Below, a snowstorm is brewing in the mountains facing Johns Hopkins.

As Amy gazed into the snow storm brewing atop the mountain.  It occurred to her, that just perhaps, it was time to start heading back south.  Their was great "concern" that we would be trapped for the winter in Juneau.

This would be our most Northern point reached in our cruise.  It was late in the season, to be this far north and still have plans of heading south.  From this Glacier it was another 80 miles south just to get out of the National Park.  We would have our pick of places to anchor, because their was no one else here!

Johns Hopkins is an advancing glacier, which means it is calving, or dumping ice, into the ocean. Here you can see some huge chunks of ice falling into the water.