Johns Hopkins Glacier, Tidewater glacier in Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska

Johns Hopkins Glacier is a 12-mile tidewater glacier in Glacier Bay National Park, flowing from the east slopes of Lituya Mountain and Mount Salisbury to the head of Johns Hopkins Inlet. Its terminus stands 225–330 feet above the water and is 1 mile wide. Around 50 tributary glaciers join it, marked by dark medial moraines that streak the pale blue ice.

Harry Fielding Reid named the glacier in 1893 after Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The glacier has been advancing since the 1920s, and by around 1990 its tongue reached the Gilman Glacier, with which it now forms a continuous ice wall.

The Tlingit name Tsalxaan Niyaadé Sít' ties the glacier to the Fairweather Range. In summer more than 2,000 harbour seals gather in Johns Hopkins Inlet, the largest haul-out in Glacier Bay, and boats must keep their distance to avoid disturbing them.

Visitors can only reach this glacier by boat tour through Johns Hopkins Inlet, where navigation is restricted to protect the marine environment. Plan to arrive prepared for water conditions and follow all guidance from tour operators.

Two distinct meltwater channels flow from the eastern and western edges of the ice, creating visible upwelling patterns in the inlet. These surging currents are easily spotted from tour boats and reveal how actively the glacier releases water into the bay.