Ideal Cove & Petersburg
Morning found us sailing full speed down Frederick Sound, along the island of Mitkof. Pretty soon we had attained our morning destination: Ideal Cove. The tide was extremely low, and after breakfast we disembarked at this place. Clams squirted up at us, and sea stars were everywhere. It was quite a walk up to our forest entrance, and soon we had divided the group into fast and medium hikers. Then we entered the forest, along a well-kept boardwalk, which paralleled a river.
Quite a few plants were to be seen in bloom, and many were extremely interesting, especially those that were not good for our health (poisonous!).Great numbers of skunk cabbage plants where the water seeped through and slowly ran down the slope were to be seen. Mosses covered every square inch of the ground, as well as a good number of liverworts. Yes, a temperate rainforest.
Back on the ship, we began our travel north again, along the eastern shore of Mitkof, and then into Wrangell Narrows, where we tied up at a big dock in Petersburg. Wrangell Narrrows is a shallow waterway that is a good shortcut to Seattle, but navigable only by small and medium-sized boats. It is called “Christmas Tree Alley” due to the enormous amount of red and green flashing navigation lights.
Once at the dock, a group took off on float planes to see the Le Conte Glacier from the air. What views!
Another two groups visited the docks, with good information about the different types of fishing vessels tied up there. A third group visited a bog or muskeg on the neighboring island of Kupreanof. This bog is home to a good number of plants that could not live in any other type of environment: acid. Among them were the small sundews, which catch insects with heir sticky leaf-projections, to digest them later, slowly.
And a third group walked into this charming town of three streets, and two t-shirt shops. Not too much to see!
