We woke up this morning approaching the mouth of Peril Strait on our way to the northeastern shore of Baranof Island where we were to have our morning activities.
While we were practicing our daily stretch exercises on the upper sundeck, we were peeling off layers of warm clothes as the temperatures were rising…John announced 59 degree Fahrenheit at 6.55 a.m.!
After breakfast, we went to shore in Hanus Bay, for our hike to Lake Eva. We followed the well-maintained trail alongside the river and through the beautiful rain forest. Although still early in the season the vegetation was already lush and abundant with tall devil’s club, flowering skunk cabbage, a rich understory of mosses and ferns, yellow butter cups, and purple shooting stars blooming in the meadows.
We heard the song of the Pacific wren and varied thrush; we came across a very curious red squirrel eating seeds out of a pine cone.
We admired some of the largest old growth Sitka spruces upon our arrival at the lake.
We had a wonderful morning of exploration and lunch was well deserved after our long hike in the forest.
The afternoon was spent cruising Chatham Strait. We saw the beautiful Kaznitu waterfall and saw a mother humpback and her calf as we were entering Peril Strait.
It was a perfect day and weather to end an amazing two weeks journey from Seattle all the way to Sitka, Southeast Alaska.
