Prince William Sound de Valdez a Meares Glacier
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 139.8 mi
- Elevation gain
- 3 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Easy
- Elevation loss
- 3 ft
- Max elevation
- 11 ft
- TrailRank
- 25
- Min elevation
- 11 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Coordinates
- 2342
- Uploaded
- August 5, 2022
- Recorded
- June 2022
near Valdez, Alaska (United States)
Viewed 19 times, downloaded 0 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
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Commercial boat tour of Prince William Sound from Puerto de Valdez to enjoy the spectacular marine landscape, surrounded by high snow-capped mountains, from which glaciers fall that flood the water with icebergs and spotting a great diversity of fauna (whales, seals, lions sailors...).
In Valdez there are several companies that offer cruises through Prince William Sound with different routes. We chose the 8 hour route to Meares Glacier from Stan Stephens . Although at first glance 8 hours seems like a long time, it is not long, because the landscape throughout the journey is spectacular and you can see a lot of fauna.
We leave from the Stan Stephens terminal, in the Port of Valdez, we cross the entire bay enjoying the views of the mountains and glaciers that surround the town, we pass the Valdez Narrows and continue through the Valdez Arm to enter Prince William Sound. Throughout this tour we see bald eagles, a multitude of birds and sea lions (steller sea lions).
We are skirting the west shore of the Valdez Arm, passing through the outlet of Columbia Bay, full of icebergs, and with the imposing Columbia Glacier in the distance. In this area we are surprised by a couple of humpback whales that slowly move away and allow us to enjoy their dives for quite some time.
We pass Glacier Island to the north and enter the Unakwik Inlet, a long fjord that ends in the Meares Glacier. On the way to the glacier we enjoy the funny sea otters (sea otters), some playing with each other and others floating calmly belly up. When the icebergs from the glacier begin to appear, so do the harbor seals that doze on the ice floes.
The front of the Meares Glacier is spectacular, more than 1 km wide and about 60 m high, and with beautiful blue tones. On the front you can see part of the descent of the glacier from the tops of the Chugach mountains. Meares is a tidewater glacier, that is, it ends in the sea, and in recent years it has been advancing, unlike most glaciers. We stayed for quite some time in front of the glacier, observing the noisy falls of blocks of ice and the continuous moaning of the glacier.
We start our way back through Unakwik Inlet, returning to the main body of Prince William Sound, this time passing through the south of Glacier Island. Whales reappear in this area, this time several groups of northern fin whales (sei whales) - very rare in this area of Alaska - with characteristic water spouts. Shortly after we approached a colony of sea lions (steller sea lions), resting on the beach of an islet. And finally we return to Puerto de Valdez, seeing on the way more sea otters (sea otters), puffins (horned puffins) and other birds.
In Valdez there are several companies that offer cruises through Prince William Sound with different routes. We chose the 8 hour route to Meares Glacier from Stan Stephens . Although at first glance 8 hours seems like a long time, it is not long, because the landscape throughout the journey is spectacular and you can see a lot of fauna.
We leave from the Stan Stephens terminal, in the Port of Valdez, we cross the entire bay enjoying the views of the mountains and glaciers that surround the town, we pass the Valdez Narrows and continue through the Valdez Arm to enter Prince William Sound. Throughout this tour we see bald eagles, a multitude of birds and sea lions (steller sea lions).
We are skirting the west shore of the Valdez Arm, passing through the outlet of Columbia Bay, full of icebergs, and with the imposing Columbia Glacier in the distance. In this area we are surprised by a couple of humpback whales that slowly move away and allow us to enjoy their dives for quite some time.
We pass Glacier Island to the north and enter the Unakwik Inlet, a long fjord that ends in the Meares Glacier. On the way to the glacier we enjoy the funny sea otters (sea otters), some playing with each other and others floating calmly belly up. When the icebergs from the glacier begin to appear, so do the harbor seals that doze on the ice floes.
The front of the Meares Glacier is spectacular, more than 1 km wide and about 60 m high, and with beautiful blue tones. On the front you can see part of the descent of the glacier from the tops of the Chugach mountains. Meares is a tidewater glacier, that is, it ends in the sea, and in recent years it has been advancing, unlike most glaciers. We stayed for quite some time in front of the glacier, observing the noisy falls of blocks of ice and the continuous moaning of the glacier.
We start our way back through Unakwik Inlet, returning to the main body of Prince William Sound, this time passing through the south of Glacier Island. Whales reappear in this area, this time several groups of northern fin whales (sei whales) - very rare in this area of Alaska - with characteristic water spouts. Shortly after we approached a colony of sea lions (steller sea lions), resting on the beach of an islet. And finally we return to Puerto de Valdez, seeing on the way more sea otters (sea otters), puffins (horned puffins) and other birds.
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