Pills of Death and other Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, AK Warning Or Danger Tips

While Alaska is glutted with a dozen or more varieties of berry which ripen throughout the tourist season, there is one particular species you should avoid without fail. Usually composed of a cluster or red or white glassy-looking fruit, the baneberry is instantly recognized for berries on a stem that lifts upward. Locals joked of the "seven and out" quality of this fruit, literally meaning that seven berries were sufficiently fatal to the average human. Other berries (red currants for instance) look similar, but only the baneberry fruitstems point upward -- the tell-tale signature to leave the fruit alone.

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Glacier Bay is traversed by no roads, and though the west arm is most visited by boats and motorcraft, the east arm is comparatively empty. Once every afternoon a motorized park patrol boat will cruise the arms as part of his daily routine, but in the east arm he hugs the eastern shores, so accidents on the west side are not likely to be seen without a blazing bonfire for your signal. If you plunge into this water, rated at 42-45 degrees Fahrenheit, your chances for survival are slim the longer it takes for you to recover your kayak and/or to dry off and warm up on shore. If you lose your food to a bear or the surf, or you snap a bone and can't paddle back, you're still on your own.

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Website: http://www.nps.gov/glba/index.htm

If the weather is murky or drizzly in Glacier Bay (which frequently happens), your park tour is liable to be almost depressing. Visitors on the tour boats and even the kayaks will oftentimes not be able to see a mountain range or even a mountain peak, and the forests nearby will often become obscured by a thick veil of fog. Photography is almost useless. From the tour boat, the windy conditions and the cold and wet air will likely drive everyone indoors rather than brave the Bay from the observation decks. Unless the weather brightens, all things in the Bay usually remain cold and gray.

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Website: http://www.nps.gov/glba/index.htm

Park literature and every travel guide covering the coasts of Alaska will urge against consumption of shellfish due to a prolific neurotoxin in mussels and clams. Concentrations have been especially high in Glacier Bay. Without driving caution to the extreme, I would advise beachcombers who filter their water to begin pumping beyond the farthest reach of the shells on shore (normally no more than 80 or 100 feet).

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Part of the romance of Glacier Bay is the endless appearance of ice, both in tidewater glaciers and the countless series of icebergs. In seasons when these floating islands are more massive, the average kayaker might like to see one up close, if not to actually glide directly against the bluish towers. When icebergs calve however, the resulting wave might topple the kayak as easily as a surfacing whale. Icebergs should be considered dangerous at all times, so keep a respectful distance.

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Website: http://www.nps.gov/glba/index.htm