Cascade Creek & Petersburg
Cascade Creek is well-named for its crashing whitewater and spectacular waterfalls. Once ashore here, we entered the trees and followed a trail that wound upstream adjacent to the riverbank. Thick mosses, lacey ferns, and bunchberry dogwoods brightened the shady forest floor. We reached a magnificent waterfall that spun mist up and across a set of primitive steps that many ascended for a longer walk. The route eventually crossed a bridge above a steep-walled corridor filled with a racing, rushing torrent that tumbled down the steep hillside and then disappeared into the woods below.
Soon after lunch, the ship approached the fishing town of Petersburg. The afternoon offered something for everyone. Bicycles were available at the top of the dock for those interested in pedaling the streets. Others investigated the town on foot, visiting the local bookstore, hardware and fishing supply stores. For centuries native Tlingit people fished at this site, but today the area is better known for its Norwegian heritage. Decorative paintings on the Sons of Norway Hall and a small replica of a Viking ship reflected the Scandinavian ancestry of this busy community.
Hikers climbed into Zodiacs for a quick shuttle to the Petersburg Creek Trailhead. The path climbed through spruces and hemlocks to a peat bog, or muskeg. Dwarfed trees and small ponds dotted the blankets of sodden mosses that carpeted the landscape. This acidic, water-logged habitat is home to a number of unusual plants. Carnivorous sundews and species known as bog laurel, bog orchid, bog blueberry, and bog cranberry manage to survive here. Dragonflies and damselflies perched on sedges, and water striders skated across the surface film in search of prey.
Purse seiners, trollers, gill-netters, and long-liners filled the sheltered harbor. It was a perfect place to search for the different rigging that identified each type of fishing boat. Beneath the docks it was crowded as well. Anemones, mussels and feather-duster worms filtered the water to glean meals of plankton from the nutrient-rich sea. Giant plumose anemones were the most striking of these organisms. They looked a bit like white or rusty-colored hoses anchored at one end and branched into frilled cauliflowers at the other.
All were back aboard for dinner in time to for another highlight of today’s visit to Petersburg. The stewards filled and refilled platters of Dungeness crab until we could eat no more. The Video Chronicler then shared a preview of his account of the voyage, bringing back memories from the first part of our time together exploring Southeast Alaska on the National Geographic Sea Lion.
Cascade Creek is well-named for its crashing whitewater and spectacular waterfalls. Once ashore here, we entered the trees and followed a trail that wound upstream adjacent to the riverbank. Thick mosses, lacey ferns, and bunchberry dogwoods brightened the shady forest floor. We reached a magnificent waterfall that spun mist up and across a set of primitive steps that many ascended for a longer walk. The route eventually crossed a bridge above a steep-walled corridor filled with a racing, rushing torrent that tumbled down the steep hillside and then disappeared into the woods below.
Soon after lunch, the ship approached the fishing town of Petersburg. The afternoon offered something for everyone. Bicycles were available at the top of the dock for those interested in pedaling the streets. Others investigated the town on foot, visiting the local bookstore, hardware and fishing supply stores. For centuries native Tlingit people fished at this site, but today the area is better known for its Norwegian heritage. Decorative paintings on the Sons of Norway Hall and a small replica of a Viking ship reflected the Scandinavian ancestry of this busy community.
Hikers climbed into Zodiacs for a quick shuttle to the Petersburg Creek Trailhead. The path climbed through spruces and hemlocks to a peat bog, or muskeg. Dwarfed trees and small ponds dotted the blankets of sodden mosses that carpeted the landscape. This acidic, water-logged habitat is home to a number of unusual plants. Carnivorous sundews and species known as bog laurel, bog orchid, bog blueberry, and bog cranberry manage to survive here. Dragonflies and damselflies perched on sedges, and water striders skated across the surface film in search of prey.
Purse seiners, trollers, gill-netters, and long-liners filled the sheltered harbor. It was a perfect place to search for the different rigging that identified each type of fishing boat. Beneath the docks it was crowded as well. Anemones, mussels and feather-duster worms filtered the water to glean meals of plankton from the nutrient-rich sea. Giant plumose anemones were the most striking of these organisms. They looked a bit like white or rusty-colored hoses anchored at one end and branched into frilled cauliflowers at the other.
All were back aboard for dinner in time to for another highlight of today’s visit to Petersburg. The stewards filled and refilled platters of Dungeness crab until we could eat no more. The Video Chronicler then shared a preview of his account of the voyage, bringing back memories from the first part of our time together exploring Southeast Alaska on the National Geographic Sea Lion.
