Your visit to Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve might include a glimpse of a rare bird. Or perhaps a park ranger guided walk through a temperate forest. Or it might be a day sailing up to a tidewater glacier. Or the feel of the warm sun on your back as you raft a wilderness river.

Dynamic Change

Glacier Bay's story is one of dynamic change in the wake of dramatic glacial movements. The Bay collects many glaciers flowing from the tall surrounding mountains with abundant snowfall. As recently as 1750, a single glacier thousands of feet thick filled what is now a 65-mile long fjord. This glacial retreat has exposed a resilient land that hosts a myriad of marine and terrestrial life. While visiting the Great Chinook Lodge, you have the opportunity to see how the physical world shapes the biological.

Natural Laboratory

Botanist William Cooper spearheaded efforts to preserve not only a place to view glaciers, wildlife, and grandeur, but also a living laboratory to study and enjoy through the ages. Glacier Bay offers unexcelled opportunities to study the earth's most fundamental geologic processes. It is a center where researchers from multiple disciplines collaborate to conduct management and ecosystem directed research.

"Having worked as a charter boat captain in some of the worlds hottest fishing destinations, I can tell that Gustavus is not to be missed!   The fun and excitement never stop! Something is always happening (or about to) and we like to keep it that way."

Captain John Young