Williams Cove, Southeast Alaska
Today was a glacier day, as well as a fun day. We spent all morning long in what many people (including John Muir) call the most beautiful place in Alaska; it is also considered the most beautiful fjord of Alaska - Tracy Arm. On the mainland of Southeast Alaska, this site includes two marvelous glaciers: Sawyer and South Sawyer. Both of these are tidewater glaciers, that is, their front or face is in contact with the ocean. During this quite cold morning, we went up to the face of both of them, and enjoyed their beauty, as well as the wait for a calving of a piece of ice to occur. It happened at South Sawyer, when a huge piece of the face fell into the ocean; with a tremendous splash and roar the natives called "White Thunder". Fauna seen in the fjord included harbor seals on the ice flows, harbor porpoises in the water, and mountain goats on the quite sheer cliffs of the canyon walls. Many seabirds were seen, such as pigeon guillemots, murrelets, different gull species, bald eagles, and Arctic terns. At midday we turned around and sailed back out of the fjord and into Williams Cove, where we hiked in the spruce-hemlock forest, and kayaked for a good while in the small bay. Kayaking allowed us to see places that would otherwise be difficult or inaccessible to us and to approach wildlife slowly without causing any disturbance.
Today was a glacier day, as well as a fun day. We spent all morning long in what many people (including John Muir) call the most beautiful place in Alaska; it is also considered the most beautiful fjord of Alaska - Tracy Arm. On the mainland of Southeast Alaska, this site includes two marvelous glaciers: Sawyer and South Sawyer. Both of these are tidewater glaciers, that is, their front or face is in contact with the ocean. During this quite cold morning, we went up to the face of both of them, and enjoyed their beauty, as well as the wait for a calving of a piece of ice to occur. It happened at South Sawyer, when a huge piece of the face fell into the ocean; with a tremendous splash and roar the natives called "White Thunder". Fauna seen in the fjord included harbor seals on the ice flows, harbor porpoises in the water, and mountain goats on the quite sheer cliffs of the canyon walls. Many seabirds were seen, such as pigeon guillemots, murrelets, different gull species, bald eagles, and Arctic terns. At midday we turned around and sailed back out of the fjord and into Williams Cove, where we hiked in the spruce-hemlock forest, and kayaked for a good while in the small bay. Kayaking allowed us to see places that would otherwise be difficult or inaccessible to us and to approach wildlife slowly without causing any disturbance.
