The Park’s staff is scurrying to get everything in place for the summer season. Today, only the Visitor’s Center is open but come Friday the lodge, restaurant, gift shop and fuel dock will also be open. We walk past trucks that are bringing in food supplies and seem piles of plastic bags containing fresh linens. Everyone we see is hard at work.
The Ranger who briefed us on park history and rules this
afternoon comes down to the boat while we are still moored at the Guest
Dock. He has seen lots of boats come and
go but this is his first Krogen and he is interested in touring our boat. Soon the Ranger and Barrie are at opposite
ends of the engine room discussing the mechanics of the boat. Before long their conversation changes course
(but there position in the engine room stays constant) and they begin talking
about the local community and the geology of the park.
We learn that our Ranger grew up in California but moved to
Gustavus, Alaska 40 years ago. He worked
for Glacier Bay while in graduate school and has returned to work here again
after his retirement from a career with British Petroleum as a mechanical
engineer. His work took him from the
North Slope to Azerbaijan but ultimately he returned to the small town (500
pop.) of Gustavus to retire. His
understanding of the geography and geology was fascinating. We learned that the glaciers being fed by the
high Fairweather Mountains are growing while most of the other glaciers are
retreating. The Fairweather’s are so
high (Mt Fairweather – 15,300) that they are snowier than ever due to increasing
moisture from global warming. And we
learned the significant impact of seismic activity on glacier retreat. An amazing hour that went by so quickly. We soon said our goodbyes, departed the guest
dock and set our anchor is Bartlett Bay for the evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment