Discriminating Explorer: Touring Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve on the Sea Wolf

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Some folks are lucky enough to live within a day's drive of a park, and visit it fairly regularly. But then there are the parks that require not only a fair amount of travel, but a good amount of planning and expense, to reach, parks you might experience in a truly unique way, parks that definitely fall under the "once in a lifetime" a category.

Located in southeastern Alaska, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve spans 3.2 million acres and has but 9 or 10 miles of roads. As a result, you either see only a snapshot of the park, get out and kayak into the bay and its fingers, or explore via a mother ship such as the Sea Wolf.

This short slideshow was pulled together from photos collected during a week-long exploration of Glacier Bay on the Sea Wolf. Though they don't capture every incredible aspect of the park, they should be enough to get you thinking about adding Glacier Bay to your national park "life list."

Traveler footnote: Thanks to Kal Watsky for sharing the photo of his kids in front of Marjorie Glacier, and continued thanks to Randy Petersen and Robb Klein of Orange Tree Productions for once again sharing their music. Miasma, the background track to the slideshow, comes from their album, The Spirit of Alaska.