Columbia Glacier and Heather Bay

Columbia Glacier and Heather Bay

Rather chilly near the glacier, 50s surrounding

Animals: Puffins, barnacles, seagulls, fish, Artic terns, crab, jellyfish, snail, limpets, shrimp, MOSQUITOES, evidence of bears found

Plants: Seaweeds, algae, willows, shooting stars, Sitka spruce, marsh marigold, Siberian aster, sundews, Caribou lichen, lily pads, bog beans


Our awesome Natural History class got to explore the terminal moraine of Columbia Glacier last Thursday (07-10). Columbia’s treacherous ice field kept us from going near the glacier itself, but we got a good view of it any how, and examining the ice bergs themselves satisfied us. After lunch we explored an island in Heather Bay.

The terminal moraine didn’t have many grasses or trees around it. Most of the plants and animals were in tidal pools. There were plenty of seaweeds and algae supporting the small fish, shrimp, snails, and barnacles that also lived in the pools. Like I said before there wasn’t too much found that couldn’t live in the sea, but we did find a willow and baby spruce on the high part of the moraine.

We spotted a part of the moraine where birds were gathering, and so we tried to make our way towards it. The water surrounding that part would be too deep for us to cross over, but we did happen upon a couple dead jellyfish, including a moon jelly that Emmanuel picked up. Around this time, an iceberg DROPPED into the water! The sound was sharp, loud and sudden, and we must’ve jumped about 9 feet!

We hopped back into our boat and made our way across the bay (rhyming not intended, but hey, make a way out of no way) to another island with a trail (or ‘easement’). We set up a grill and I grilled up some burgers (with everyone making sure I didn’t torch them). After our lunch, we headed up the easement into a meadow with a lake and lily pads. It was a meadow of peat moss and grass, with shooting stars and bog beans near the lake and stream. A forest surrounded this meadow, and someone mentioned that the moss growing on the trees meant that they had be at least a hundred years old. Dr. Julie lead us into the forest, and then the bugs came…They travel in CLOUDS. Our bug spray did nothing; Emmanuel would later say “it was like deodorant for them”. There were plenty of nurse logs with moss and baby trees growing on them. We found berry bushes, mountain heathers, and huckleberries. Dr. Julie also spotted a nice sized fungus growing on a tree.

We came out of the forest, but went BACK in. The bugs were unbelievable. I’d breathe them, eat them (when I’d open my mouth), and smear them whenever I wiped my face. Sheeeeeeesh…….We came out on the other side and into another meadow just like the other one, except this one had a stream. There was no other way to the shore from here, so we had to head BACK into the forest. We made it back just in time to spot our boat coming to get us. While boarding, I received a mosquito bite on my top lip, which swelled during the evening but went down the next day.

If you’ve been reading our blogs and aren’t convinced that you should come up to Alaska, you should be convinced now…