Ideal Creek & Petersburg, Southeast Alaska
Southeast Alaska is the heart of the temperate rainforest that extends along the west coast of North America, from northern California to Alaska’s Prince William Sound. This rich and productive forest derives its characteristics from the moderate climate conditions, both summer and winter, and from frequent rain. Moist winds coming from the Pacific Ocean are deflected upward by the coastal mountains. As the air rises, it cools and drops its moisture as rain near sea level and as snow in the mountains above. The tall trees, festooned with mosses and lichens, the carpet of moss that grows over every available surface, the rich understory of forest floor plants ... all thrive on frequent rains. The glaciers that we have come to see and admire would not exist but for the accumulation of snow in the mountains. Rain brings life to the forest.
Clad in brightly colored raingear, we headed ashore at Ideal Cove on Mitkof Island. Here the U.S. Forest Service, custodians of the Tongass National Forest, has constructed a boardwalk trail through a magnificent stand of old growth rainforest. In single file, shouting out an occasional greeting to any bears that might share our trail, we passed tall trees of Sitka spruce and Western hemlock that have been growing in this forest, undisturbed, for hundreds of years. We stopped and quietly, absorbed the sounds and scents of the forest, employing all of our senses. The trail reached a bridge across the stream, and then proceeded through a meadow where beavers have turned the stream into a series of lakes. The colors of summer are just returning to the forest in the form of new green leaves, delicate pink flowers of early blueberry, white marsh marigold, and vibrant yellow skunk cabbage, spring food for deer and bears recently emerged from their winter sleep.
We spent our afternoon visiting the town of Petersburg. The livelihood of its 3,200 residents depends, directly or indirectly, on the productivity of the sea. It is one of Alaska's most successful fishing ports, its harbors filled with boats rigged to harvest the prodigious bounty of wild salmon, halibut, black cod, king and Dungeness crabs, and more. No farm-raised Atlantic salmon will be found here. The mantra of the Alaskan fishing industry: "Friends don't let friends eat farmed salmon," and we concur! The seafood served on the National Geographic Sea Bird comes aboard here in Petersburg, fresh from the sea, pure, and scrumptious. Some of it appeared on our dining tables tonight in the form of steaming platters of Dungeness crab, all you can eat.
