After the sheer scope of size that Glacier Bay brought us yesterday, it was refreshing in an almost comfortable way to return to exploring a somewhat more comprehensible environment that Lake Eva had to offer. Soaking in the details, appreciating the sensation of being surrounded by the forest, while taking time to stop and smell the flowers, literally and figuratively. Punctuating the serene tranquility of this place, birdsong lilted through the trees. The weather continued to wean us off from the rain that characterizes this temperate ecosystem but any complaints were kept to themselves as the sun blazed away throughout the entire day almost unobstructed by clouds. The light penetrating through the upper branches of the western hemlock and Sitka spruce, trickling down the Devil’s Club undergrowth and setting the leaves aglow. Bear tracks, scratch marks, and even coarse hair are seen along the path, letting us know we are not entirely alone out here, despite the sense of peaceful solitude that seems to permeate out of this wilderness.
Since sometimes it’s hard to see the forest through the trees, setting out to kayak around the shallow tidal lagoon proved an effective solution to this dilemma. Slicing through impossibly clear, glass calm waters in cheerfully canary colored conical craft gives one the sense you’re hovering just above this landscape. Bridging the two planes of air, water and land all at once. Absorbing the moment, watching bald eagles soaring above or landing on nearby trees, backdropped by impossibly green mountains rising up all around us, there is no doubt that this is Alaska. An already full day was then capped off with a killer whale escort before dinner followed by cruising into the beyond picturesque Red Bluff Bay then for a distant double helping of brown bears for dessert.
