Icy Bay (Alaska)

Icy Bay is a body of water in southeast Alaska, formed in the last 100 years by the rapid retreat of the Guyot, Yahtse, and Tyndall Glacier Glaciers. It is part of the Wrangell-Saint Elias Wilderness.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the bay entrance was permanently blocked by a giant tidewater glacier face that calved icebergs directly into the Gulf of Alaska. A century-long glacial retreat has opened a multi-armed bay more than 30 miles long.

Icy Bay is popular destination for sea kayakers, and is reachable by bush plane from Yakutat.

Famous quotes containing the words icy and/or bay:

    “If we shake hands with icy fingers, it is because we’ve burnt them so hatefully before.”
    —Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946)

    “Baltimore lay very near the immense protein factory of Chesapeake Bay, and out of the bay it ate divinely. I well recall the time when prime hard crabs of the channel species, blue in color, at least eight inches in length along the shell, and with snow-white meat almost as firm as soap, were hawked in Hollins Street of Summer mornings at ten cents a dozen.”
    —H.L. (Henry Lewis)