Thomas Bay (mainland) & Petersburg, Mitkof Island
Early this morning, the National Geographic Sea Lion entered Thomas Bay and sailed into the very scenic cove at the northern end. This was a great place to wake up. Our Southeast Alaska cruise then took us past the great Baird Glacier, which has receded a considerable ways inland in recent times... it is now fronted by a large moraine, cut by an impressive braided network of meltwater rivers.
After breakfast, we had near perfect conditions to make a landing and hike on the aptly-named Cascade Trail. The U.S. Forest Service has recently built a wonderful raised wood plank trail that led us through a beautiful mature forest (consisting mostly of western hemlock trees) to a high vantage bridge (Figure A) which we used to cross the raging river. This particular forest walk had so much going for it the naturalists were able to present a college-level course on temperate coastal rain forest ecology.
Thomas Bay is also a place of wonderful folklore, and was long thought to be a dangerous and spiritual place by the Aborigines. The early white prospectors believed it to be a haunted place that was infested with bizarre, foul smelling, demon like animals called Koostacahs. According to local lore, many a prospector and hunter has gone insane here.
We spent the afternoon in and around the great little fishing community of Petersburg. Originally settled in 1897, this town of 3,500 is still known as "Little Norway" in honor of its original inhabitants. Its location was originally chosen because of the close proximity of Le Conte Bay…the abundant ice produced by the Le Conte Glacier was used in the canneries.
Even though the glacial ice is no longer used, the people of Petersburg are still tied very closely to the natural environment. Salmon canneries, a crab and shrimp cannery, and lumber mills are located in or near Petersburg, and the harbor was filled with purse seiner, troller, and gill netter fishing boats, many of which were in the process of preparing for the upcoming fishing season (Figure B). It is interesting to note that Petersburg once held a higher percentage of millionaires than any other town in the U.S., owing to the valuable fishing industry.
We offered a plethora of activities here, including a walk in a nearby muskeg, a tour around the harbor area, a bicycle trip in the outskirts of the town, as well as flight seeing tours by both helicopter and small float plane over the Le Conte Glacier and Stikine Ice Field. Just before we sailed, Dr. Fred Sharpe came aboard to tell us about the fascinating work he has been conducting on the humpback whales of Southeast Alaska…a very worthwhile project long supported by Lindblad Expeditions.
Petersburg is a real working town with almost no emphasis on tourism, and it gave us a good chance to get a glimpse of the life of an Alaskan resident.
