A Hike in Glacier Bay

Everyone else took a Ranger-led hike through the forest while I kept Doodle back at the lodge for her nap.

I couldn't wait for them to learn about Glaciation from a ranger, instead of my mumbo-jumbo lessons. When John Muir was exploring the area just 120 years ago the face of the glacier was nearly at the Lodge! Now it takes us several hours on a boat just to see it. Amazing stuff. I also wanted them to learn about some of the native plants. Devil's Club is jammed with thorns on the stock as well as under the 10 inch wide leaves, but it's essential to native medicine. And the pretty little white flowered Baneberry plant could kill a kid with just a few of its red berries!

Well, here’s what they each had to say about the hike:

Little Man, “I saw all the national park dirt! I’ve never seen anything like it before. It’s really fluffy and squishy. I really like those Ranger hats and I got a Ranger Vest with lots of pockets so I can put lots of treasures in there. I’m collecting rocks and I’m going to make a rock collection with my dad when I get home."

Peanut, “First of all, it’s fun! Second of all, we learned that the ground is squishy because the glacier was in there. When the glacier moved away, the ground started puffing up. And it was all mossy, but we could only step on the squishy stuff for a picture. Otherwise we had to stay on the trail. I saw black bear scat and tons of moose scat. Scat is a meaning for poop in case you don't know that already. Alaska is GREAT. It’s one of my favorite places I’ve been! And on our last day in Alaska it’s going to be my 8th birthday!”

Grandma, “Well, trees have fascinated me. I expected to find giant evergreens in Alaska. Now I know that the glaciers wiped the landscape clean and so far the earth only has about 18 inches of soil built back up. So the roots can’t go down very deep, and that’s also why the trees can fall over so easily.

The Alders grow first and all the trees are fighting for light so they stretch toward the shore. That’s why all the trees are in a row and leaning. I mean, they look like they’ve been planted in a row! The ground rises each year now that the glaciers aren’t weighing it down. In fact, the shore is 6 feet lower than it was in 1966 and the trees just keep creeping down, following the shore, always keeping in a perfect row! Cool, huh?”

Tomcat, “I was surprised to learn how much the earth was springing back up after being squashed by the glaciers for thousands of years. And it was interesting to learn how many of the different animals eat bark off the trees in the winter time – and actually learn to identify which animals ate it by the markings on the trees.”

The delight of our night? After the kids were asleep, Tomcat went out to see if he could find any wildlife. He heard munching sounds, looked up, and there was a big porcupine chomping a branch in the tree above him!