Tracy Arm Fjord
An appropriate theme for the first day of our expedition might have been, “Water – beautiful and powerful!”
We awoke in Tracy Arm Fjord, a steep-walled valley extending over twenty miles into the mainland coast. Tracy Arm was carved by water in the form of glacial ice, and as the ice retreated, the gouged-out landscape was filled in with seawater (this is, in fact, the definition of a fjord). Everywhere around us, water’s role in determining the character of this incredible wilderness was evident.
It was apparent in the hanging U-shaped valleys branching off the main channel of the fjord, in the countless waterfalls – some tall, graceful and narrow, others wide, rocky, multi-level cascades – returning fresh water to the sea, in giant bergs dominating the narrow entrance to Sawyer Glacier, and of course, in the tremendous rivers of ice themselves.
Even the thin mist and low clouds hiding the mountain tops and the occasional rain reminded us that here, water is king. Granite is no match for it. Gneiss is at its mercy. But for us, the omnipotence of water was a joy.
As we wended our way between mansion-sized bergs by Zodiac during the morning, we marveled at the deep blue color of the ultra-dense glacial ice, the roll of the green, silt-laden sea beneath us, the gentle reminders from above that yes, this is a rainforest.
In the afternoon, we took to land and experienced the effects of a saturated climate in new ways – in the spongy ground absorbing our steps and the profusion of plant life drinking in Alaskan “liquid sunshine.” Kayakers cruised the shoreline to get a closer look at submarine species as they paddled beside bergs so large that they remained impressive even after the long trip out the fjord to our landing beach.
We may not always like rain, but here, without it, there would be no parade.
