Glacier Bay, Alaska - This isn't a trail report as much as a ship report since we only saw these from the deck of the cruise ship, but it was so stunning I had to do a report. Glacier Bay National Park covers 3.3 million acres in Southeast Alaska. It's packed full of beautifully rugged mountains, forests, fjords and of course, glaciers. The cruise ship gets you as close as it can and then spins around in circles for a half hour so you can get a good look at everything.

We witnessed several chunks of the glacier calving into the sea with the most ominous noise you can imagine. It's breathtaking to witness. Prior to arriving at the glacier, a forest ranger boats out to the ship and gives a narrated tour throughout the day of the history of the park. We took the final sailing of the year in September and really lucked out weather-wise for the most part. This day was definitely cold though. It rained a bit, but the clouds and mist only made it more beautiful.