Icy Strait and Idaho Inlet
As the name of the area implies, the morning was cold and foggy. We had planned early hiking and kayaking at Fox Creek, but we had to wait a while as the fog banks moved away. Then we went ashore and had a marvelous time kayaking in a quiet, solitary bay, and hiking to different places of the forest and along the river, including a lovely muskeg or bog, where we found a series of plants that only live in such an acidic place like this one. Bog orchids, bog asters, copperbush, and trees that manage to grow here, including mountain hemlock, shore or lodgepole pine, and yellow cedar. Skunk cabbage grows here, as well as in many other places of the wet forest.
In the afternoon we had moved to the Inian Islands, where the open Pacific creates great currents among the small islands, where a good group of the huge Steller sea lions congregate, to rest and to feed off the numerous salmon entering Icy Strait and the interior of southeastern Alaska. A good three-quarters of an hour were used to watch these animals frolic in the currents and catch small and large fish. Birds partook in the bounty also, such as pelagic cormorants, pigeon guillemots and numerous species of gulls. As we moved on north into Dundas Bay, we found a black bear at the beach, foraging for edibles. Slowly we approached it to a good distance, and watched it for a good time. Then two younger black bears were seen and we enjoyed their wandering for a good time also.
As the name of the area implies, the morning was cold and foggy. We had planned early hiking and kayaking at Fox Creek, but we had to wait a while as the fog banks moved away. Then we went ashore and had a marvelous time kayaking in a quiet, solitary bay, and hiking to different places of the forest and along the river, including a lovely muskeg or bog, where we found a series of plants that only live in such an acidic place like this one. Bog orchids, bog asters, copperbush, and trees that manage to grow here, including mountain hemlock, shore or lodgepole pine, and yellow cedar. Skunk cabbage grows here, as well as in many other places of the wet forest.
In the afternoon we had moved to the Inian Islands, where the open Pacific creates great currents among the small islands, where a good group of the huge Steller sea lions congregate, to rest and to feed off the numerous salmon entering Icy Strait and the interior of southeastern Alaska. A good three-quarters of an hour were used to watch these animals frolic in the currents and catch small and large fish. Birds partook in the bounty also, such as pelagic cormorants, pigeon guillemots and numerous species of gulls. As we moved on north into Dundas Bay, we found a black bear at the beach, foraging for edibles. Slowly we approached it to a good distance, and watched it for a good time. Then two younger black bears were seen and we enjoyed their wandering for a good time also.
