Alaska - Inside Passage, Glacier Bay National Park

Alaska's Inside Passage
Aerial view of Margerie Glacier, Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

Photo: John Hyde

postmarked in 2012 with a 32 cent 'Aloha' stamp

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The Inside Passage is a coastal route for oceangoing vessels along a network of passages which weave through the islands on the Pacific coast of North America. The route extends from southeastern Alaska, in the United States, through western British Columbia, in Canada, to northwestern Washington state, in the United States. Ships using the route can avoid some of the bad weather in the open ocean and may visit some of the many isolated communities along the route. The Inside Passage is heavily travelled by cruise ships, freighters, tugs with tows, fishing craft and ships of the Alaska Marine Highway, BC Ferries, and Washington State Ferries systems.

Margerie Glacier is a 21-mile-long (34 km) tide water glacier in Glacier Bay.