The first leg of our trip by cruise ship was glacier viewing at College Fjord in Prince William Sound.
The fjord contains five tidewater glaciers (glaciers that terminate in water), five large valley glaciers, and dozens of smaller glaciers, most named after renowned East Coast colleges (women's colleges for the northwest side and men's colleges for the southeast side). College Fjord was discovered in 1899 during the Harriman Expedition, at which time the glaciers were named. The expedition included a Harvard and an Amherst professor, and they reportedly "took great delight in ignoring Princeton."
In 1964 College Fjord was the epicenter of the Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in U. S. history. From one place, it is possible to see eight of the College Fjord's glaciers at once.
The scenery in the Fjord is awesome, made special the day of our visit, by the clear weather, something unusual in this part of Alaska. It is worth pointing out that all of Alaska's glaciers have shrunk dramatically in recent years.
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