The major gateway to Glacier Bay National Park is Gustavus. This town can be reached by flying or boating from Haines or Juneau, or by riding the Alaska ferry. From there, you can travel by boat or kayak, skirting the shore to watch scattered bears, wolves, seals, sea lions, orcas and a host of other wildlife.
The upper reaches of Glacier Bay have only recently been uncovered by melting back of glaciers. This newly-exposed land is covered with “glacial flour” -- rock turned to powder by the grinding action of ice. This makes for extremely rich soils and lush growth of succulent plants, such as those favored by hungry bears. These regions tend to be usurped by brown bears, and this is where you are most likely to see brownies. By contrast, the lower regions of the bay, where shores are heavily forested, are used primarily by black bears. These areas are differentiated in the above diagram with brown vs. black shading along the shoreline.
Most human visitation and nearly all camping are confined to beach areas -- which is where bears do a lot of foraging. Any camp is likely to be visited by bears. So take precautions to prevent trouble by storing all food and garbage in bear-resistant food containers and by surrounding your camp with an electric fence and perimeter alarms.
Bear-inflicted injuries are uncommon, but be wary and carry pepper spray and marine flares.
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