Our fabulous last day in Southeast Alaska was spent among the wonders of the fjord complex called Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness. A morning stop in William’s Cove for hikes, kayaking, and expedition landing craft cruises found us walking on a jumble of rounded granitic rocks—the terminal moraine pushed here by the Sawyer Glaciers and left behind in the last great retreat some 10,000 years ago. Walkers discovered an abundance of bear signs—from scat filled with grass and barnacle shells, to hair caught on the trees and some rather freshly dug roots along the shoreline. Lots of wildflowers were present too; large swaths of bright red paintbrush mingled with the whites of yarrow and cow parsnip, setting off the many shades of green foliage along the forest edge.
Navigating our way up the stunning narrow fjord of Tracy Arm past countless waterfalls streaming down the mountainside from a thousand feet above the decks was a grand way to start a perfect afternoon. The scenery became more spectacular as we moved around icebergs and along exposed rock walls, where finally, outlined by bare rock, the blue glacier came into view.
While the National Geographic Sea Bird carried some of our guests to view the Sawyer Glacier, everyone else piled into the expedition landing craft to make our way past mother harbor seals and their pups hauled out on the ice, gaze up at dwarf fireweed blooming in rocky crevices, circumnavigated large cerulean blue icebergs, and take each other’s pictures in front of the South Sawyer Glacier. What a grand conclusion to a great expedition! It’s been a delightful week.
