After five full days of sunshine, we finally experienced the true Southeast Alaska temperate rainforest today. We awoke to overcast skies, but nothing could dampen our enthusiasm for one last chance to explore. We crossed the Sawyer glacier's terminal moraine around breakfast time, and entered the dramatic fjord known as Tracy Arm. Our morning was spent hiking among 800 year-old Sitka spruce trees and paddling our kayaks on the glassy surface of Williams Cove. By mid-afternoon we'd reached the end of the fjord and piled in to our Zodiacs for close-up exploration of the bergs near the face of South Sawyer glacier. While we watched 20-storey high slabs of ice fall to the water, the Sea Bird sneaked in behind us. It seemed a fitting finale to a wonderful week - glacial blue ice, white thunder and a farewell to the intrepid Wilderness Ranger kayakers.
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 17 Aug 2001
From the Sea Bird in Alaska, 8/17/2001, National Geographic Sea Bird
- Aboard the National Geographic Sea Bird
- Alaska
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