Ideal Cove & Petersburg
Fair skies and placid seas greeted early risers and stretchers, a promising start for hiking and exploring this most scenic area around Frederick Sound, and specifically Ideal Cove. It is one of the most beautiful walks we do in the Tongass National Forest, and although somewhat challenging with a single boardwalk much of the way and sometimes slippery in places, its rewards are well worth the challenge! Twelve of us set out for the faster walk, covering more than 5 miles and taking us into a most verdant forest along the Stikine River with open meadows, around two lakes, muskeg bogs and lots of up and down on an impressive boardwalk and picturesque overlooks. One of our younger hikers exclaimed “I feel like I’m in the movie Avatar, and would love to have this much green in my backyard.” Everything was more overgrown and lush compared to just a week ago, and the wildflowers spectacular! Adding to the list we saw many shooting stars, zillions of dwarf dogwoods, marsh marigolds, butterworts, chocolate lilies, shy maidens, fiddlehead ferns, and the notorious skunk cabbage, just to name a few. Others took shorter walks and Zodiac cruises around Coney Island (Alaska!), and were rewarded with sightings of Pigeon Guillemots not just in the water, but also on land with their notable fiery red feet!
Afternoon we sailed into the scenic town of Petersburg, settled in 1897 by a Norwegian named Peter Buschmann. Because of the abundance of seafood and ice nearby, he started a working fishing community, which even today processes around 100 million pounds of seafood annually. Besides exploring this small town, other activities to choose from included floatplane rides over the nearby LeConte Glacier, checking out a large bog area across the channel on Kuprenof Island, a dock walk for a close-up look at the invertebrates around the huge pilings or another informal option overheard during re-cap, meeting a few locals at the two bar options in town! A fun afternoon with something for everyone, including cell phone coverage!
Dinner was a satisfying menu of local Dungeness crab and afterwards, a delicious dessert of fruit cobbler, with an informal talk about whale research being done in this area by Andy Szabo and friends. He is with the Alaskan Whale Foundation, which Lindblad Expeditions-National Geographic supports and encourages our guests to do the same. It was a full and rewarding day as we pulled up anchor and headed for tomorrow’s adventure towards Williams Cove and Tracy Arm.
