Tracy Arm
Our last day exploring the wilderness of Southeast Alaska was spent in one of the most stunning and wild places of all. Tracy Arm is a long narrow fjord that snakes along for more than twenty miles before ending at a monstrous wall of ice. The entire day was spent within an official wilderness area, which is amongst the best protected lands in the world. What we saw today should be unchanged by humanity, in perpetuity!
The South Sawyer Glacier fills the end of Tracy Arm and is currently calving huge amounts of ice. Exploring by Zodiac allowed us to weave through this sea of ice for a surreal experience. Every tone of blue was represented by the refraction of light in the ice. The face of the glacier especially had some deep blue parts, and a few of the giant icebergs were multihued. Every so often giant chunks of ice plunged off the face, creating a visual and audial feast.
Later in the morning we set off in the kayaks to further explore this area. For me, this was the perfect way to enjoy the tranquility of this wilderness area. Quietly paddling around the ice was a start, but being able to approach the many waterfalls was especially rewarding. The peace and quiet, in tandem with the grand vistas, is what makes Tracy Arm so special.
In the afternoon we continued cruising down the fjord. We visited various other glaciers, waterfalls, and valleys. Every view was a scenic photo, but it was nearly impossible to capture the grandeur of this spot. Tracy Arm, like most of our voyage, is so massive and so wild that words do not give them justice. To float amongst the crackling ice in front of a brilliant blue calving glacier is a glorious affair that one needs to experience in person.
