Tracy Arm, Ford’s Terror Wilderness
An early wake-up brought us rushing to the bow to see a most unusual sight. Among the bits and pieces of glacial ice floating around the National Geographic Sea Lion were occasional small blows….to see a gray whale in Southeast Alaska is strange indeed, but this far up a fiord it is pretty much unprecedented. This small animal is probably a very lost yearling. We all wish it well on its difficult journey.
The towering two hundred foot face of the Dawes Glacier met our eyes when we stepped onto the deck after breakfast. Cracked and crevassed, the river of ice winds back through the mountains nine miles to the Canadian border where it joins the Stikine Ice field, the southernmost of three ice fields in Southeast Alaska. We quickly boarded the Zodiacs and enjoyed close looks at sapphire blue icebergs, water falling from thousands of feet above us, female harbor seals hauled out on the ice with their pups and Arctic terns flying past on their pointed fairy’s wings. This narrow fiord is spectacular and gives an opportunity to see the bare rock recently exposed by the retreating ice, and to marvel at the pioneering plants that find a toehold in this rugged and dramatic place.
Em’s interesting talk on Pacific salmon started us thinking about bears and forests and streams, and the afternoon walks through coastal temperate rainforest in prime bear habitat were stunning. The moment we stepped from the wildflowers and salmonberry bushes on the beach into the rainforest, a watery green curtain closed behind us and everything changed. Tall conifers stretched to the canopy above and underfoot was a soft dense carpet of moss, lichens and needles. Even the air seems to be tinted a spring green.
Spring is in full swing here in Southeast Alaska. It offers the joy of finding new wildflowers unfolding every day and the sight and sound of nesting seabirds on the rocks and in the water. We’ll be underway tonight, dreaming of new adventures in this wild and unpredictable place.
