Misty Fiords National Monument Wilderness
I made my way up to the bridge as usual for my morning conversation with the Captain; we were making our way through the “Behm Narrows” named by the United States Coast and Geological Survey (USC & GS). However, this simply followed the precedent set much earlier by Capt. George Vancouver in 1793 when he named the waterway we had been sailing “Behm Canal”, for Major Magnus Carl Von Behm, commandant of Kamchatka in 1779.
We were sailing into Misty Fiords National Monument Wilderness, and tendrils of clouds caught on the highest spruce, hemlock and western red cedars, feeding the dripping olive-colored moss. With an average of half-an-inch of rain daily, the 2.3 million acres are aptly named.
Liz gave us a presentation on bear appetites relating to salmon and the effect of both on the temperate rain forest we were traveling through. Therefore our earlier sightings of feeding brown bears in salmon streams was put into perspective, and the understanding for future sightings were sharpened.
Late morning saw the Sea Bird slip into Rudyerd Bay (named by W.H. Dall - USC & GS - for English engineer John Rudyerd who rebuilt the Eddystone lighthouse after destruction in 1703 off the south coast of England) a deep but narrow fjord which allowed us to penetrate ever more into the wilderness. Almost immediately cliffs loomed up on our starboard side. A small indented cove possessed immense walls rising over 3,000 vertical feet. Named “Punchbowl Cove” for the steep circular formation, it is one of the more dramatic geologic features I’ve ever seen.
We continued on into the eleven-mile-long fiord until we could go no further in the ship, and so continued on in Zodiacs and kayaks. Deeply forested slopes towered on both sides of us, and tall, very tall, waterfalls cascaded down the stoic gray cliff sides. In the words of one of our guests, the water was in an awful hurry to get down. Misty Fiords is an enchanting place, and deserving of detailed attention. Only days, or perhaps weeks of exploration could do justice to such a marvelous place.
Evening had us cruising out of the fjord leaving a lot of unexplored land behind, but we were already imagining more adventures in the future.
I made my way up to the bridge as usual for my morning conversation with the Captain; we were making our way through the “Behm Narrows” named by the United States Coast and Geological Survey (USC & GS). However, this simply followed the precedent set much earlier by Capt. George Vancouver in 1793 when he named the waterway we had been sailing “Behm Canal”, for Major Magnus Carl Von Behm, commandant of Kamchatka in 1779.
We were sailing into Misty Fiords National Monument Wilderness, and tendrils of clouds caught on the highest spruce, hemlock and western red cedars, feeding the dripping olive-colored moss. With an average of half-an-inch of rain daily, the 2.3 million acres are aptly named.
Liz gave us a presentation on bear appetites relating to salmon and the effect of both on the temperate rain forest we were traveling through. Therefore our earlier sightings of feeding brown bears in salmon streams was put into perspective, and the understanding for future sightings were sharpened.
Late morning saw the Sea Bird slip into Rudyerd Bay (named by W.H. Dall - USC & GS - for English engineer John Rudyerd who rebuilt the Eddystone lighthouse after destruction in 1703 off the south coast of England) a deep but narrow fjord which allowed us to penetrate ever more into the wilderness. Almost immediately cliffs loomed up on our starboard side. A small indented cove possessed immense walls rising over 3,000 vertical feet. Named “Punchbowl Cove” for the steep circular formation, it is one of the more dramatic geologic features I’ve ever seen.
We continued on into the eleven-mile-long fiord until we could go no further in the ship, and so continued on in Zodiacs and kayaks. Deeply forested slopes towered on both sides of us, and tall, very tall, waterfalls cascaded down the stoic gray cliff sides. In the words of one of our guests, the water was in an awful hurry to get down. Misty Fiords is an enchanting place, and deserving of detailed attention. Only days, or perhaps weeks of exploration could do justice to such a marvelous place.
Evening had us cruising out of the fjord leaving a lot of unexplored land behind, but we were already imagining more adventures in the future.
