Chichagof Island, Southeast Alaska
Water. Water existing in each of its phases - solid, liquid, and vapor - at ordinary environmental temperatures and passing freely between these. Can you think of another material with this property? I can’t.
Perhaps in no place other than Southeast Alaska do the properties of water so influence what we experience. For most of the past two and one half million years, water in the solid phase - snow, metamorphosed into ice - predominated. The land was covered by glaciers flowing from the mountains into the sea. The glaciers carved the landscape that we now enjoy. Some 12,000 years ago, a mere blink of the eye in earth history, Alaska entered a warmer interglacial interlude. Glaciers retreated and sea water flooded the glacially-carved valleys to form fjords: the marine highway system that carries us to our various adventures. Today they led us to Chichagof Island, one of the “ABC islands” of Southeast Alaska.
As we neared our destination of Pavlof Harbor, water was demonstrating another phase change - vapor to liquid - that makes this a Temperate Rainforest. Undaunted, we took this as an opportunity to demonstrate the qualities of our beloved boots and rain gear. Our Zodiacs took us to land in the intertidal zone, alternatively water and land, changing with the huge tides of the area. Many slipped into colorful kayaks to zip gracefully across the water. We entered the mouth of a stream where water cascades over the rocks carrying snow melt and rainwater from land to sea.
Later in the season sockeye salmon, driven by an irresistible urge, will leave the ocean and throw their bodies into the rushing torrent, trying again and again until they finally reach the lake above to spawn. Brown bears will take advantage of the multitude of salmon to lay down the fat that they will need for their winter sleep, and the carcasses of dead salmon will fertilize the forest.
Now there was plenty of evidence that bears are in the area feeding on plant material as they wait for the return of the salmon. Unlike the salmon, we bypassed the cascade by clambering over the rocks beside it. Our path (it can scarcely be called a trail) passed along the lake and through a broad, wet meadow, past evidence of beaver gnawing on the trees. Spring flowers are just appearing, yellow and purple violets and bright yellow marsh-marigolds, and ferns are unrolling from their fiddleheads to spread their fronds to the sun. New leaves adorn the red alders, and bundles of new pale-green needles mark the branch tips of Sitka spruce, all evidence that spring has come to Alaska.
In the afternoon we cruised toward our final destination of Sitka. We entered Sitkoh Bay to scan the shoreline for large mammals. Find them we did - first a single, very dark brown bear feeding on grass and sedge near the shoreline, and then five dark spots in a large meadow far away at the head of the bay.
We can attest that the ABC Islands have very healthy populations of coastal brown bears. Hopefully, long after we have returned to our everyday lives, and even as we visit other destinations in this marvelous world, the brown bears of coastal Alaska will continue to graze in the meadows and take their fill of salmon, humpback whales and sea lions will harvest the bounty of the sea, sea otters will float in their adorability in the kelp, and Alaska will remain the wild and wonderful wilderness that we have experienced.
Water. Water existing in each of its phases - solid, liquid, and vapor - at ordinary environmental temperatures and passing freely between these. Can you think of another material with this property? I can’t.
Perhaps in no place other than Southeast Alaska do the properties of water so influence what we experience. For most of the past two and one half million years, water in the solid phase - snow, metamorphosed into ice - predominated. The land was covered by glaciers flowing from the mountains into the sea. The glaciers carved the landscape that we now enjoy. Some 12,000 years ago, a mere blink of the eye in earth history, Alaska entered a warmer interglacial interlude. Glaciers retreated and sea water flooded the glacially-carved valleys to form fjords: the marine highway system that carries us to our various adventures. Today they led us to Chichagof Island, one of the “ABC islands” of Southeast Alaska.
As we neared our destination of Pavlof Harbor, water was demonstrating another phase change - vapor to liquid - that makes this a Temperate Rainforest. Undaunted, we took this as an opportunity to demonstrate the qualities of our beloved boots and rain gear. Our Zodiacs took us to land in the intertidal zone, alternatively water and land, changing with the huge tides of the area. Many slipped into colorful kayaks to zip gracefully across the water. We entered the mouth of a stream where water cascades over the rocks carrying snow melt and rainwater from land to sea.
Later in the season sockeye salmon, driven by an irresistible urge, will leave the ocean and throw their bodies into the rushing torrent, trying again and again until they finally reach the lake above to spawn. Brown bears will take advantage of the multitude of salmon to lay down the fat that they will need for their winter sleep, and the carcasses of dead salmon will fertilize the forest.
Now there was plenty of evidence that bears are in the area feeding on plant material as they wait for the return of the salmon. Unlike the salmon, we bypassed the cascade by clambering over the rocks beside it. Our path (it can scarcely be called a trail) passed along the lake and through a broad, wet meadow, past evidence of beaver gnawing on the trees. Spring flowers are just appearing, yellow and purple violets and bright yellow marsh-marigolds, and ferns are unrolling from their fiddleheads to spread their fronds to the sun. New leaves adorn the red alders, and bundles of new pale-green needles mark the branch tips of Sitka spruce, all evidence that spring has come to Alaska.
In the afternoon we cruised toward our final destination of Sitka. We entered Sitkoh Bay to scan the shoreline for large mammals. Find them we did - first a single, very dark brown bear feeding on grass and sedge near the shoreline, and then five dark spots in a large meadow far away at the head of the bay.
We can attest that the ABC Islands have very healthy populations of coastal brown bears. Hopefully, long after we have returned to our everyday lives, and even as we visit other destinations in this marvelous world, the brown bears of coastal Alaska will continue to graze in the meadows and take their fill of salmon, humpback whales and sea lions will harvest the bounty of the sea, sea otters will float in their adorability in the kelp, and Alaska will remain the wild and wonderful wilderness that we have experienced.