Harvey Lake and Petersburg Bog, Southeast Alaska

The island of Woewodski lies at the southern end of Wrangell Narrows, in central Southeastern Alaska. A nice hike through a Sitka spruce and western hemlock forest, which turned into an almost pure stand of Alaska yellow cedar with a few shore pines and mountain hemlock trees, led us to Lake Harvey. Here some of us swam in the cool waters, and also enjoyed the marvelous views of the area. A great number of understory plants were seen, among which were blueberries, salmonberries, devil’s club, as well as dwarf dogwood and an orange wood-eating mushroom, called “chicken-of-the-forest.” A very delicious forest being!

After lunch, at the bog near Petersburg, we hiked and learned about the living beings that can survive in the acid waters of the muskeg environment: labrador tea, bog orchids and blueberries, and two species of the carnivorous sundew, as well as many more species!

Some of us wanted to see the glaciers from above, and took helicopter flights up to these incredibly large and beautiful rivers of ice. Walking in this little Norwegian fishing town was another interesting adventure, as the town has fish packing plants, as well as a main street where three small curio shops ply their wares.