Juneau, Endicott Arm, Dawes Glacier, and Ford’s Terror
What would a proper Fourth of July be without fireworks? Traditionally, Juneau has fireworks at midnight on July 3 so that it’s dark enough to see them…and technically, it occurs on July 4. If the weather is bad, however, they are cancelled until the following day. This year, the weather was overcast but with a high enough ceiling to allow fireworks. National Geographic Sea Bird stayed at the dock in Juneau until midnight and many of us braved the cool temperatures to watch the nighttime fireworks. The sky lit up with each firework that exploded in the sky above us and there was cheering and hollering from the rowdy crowd of locals lined up along the adjoining dock.
The next morning, a light frosting of snow on the high jagged peaks greeted us as we entered Endicott Arm, which is a glacially-carved fjord cut into the mainland of Southeast Alaska. The presence of icebergs floating in the fjord indicated that a tidewater glacier must be nearby. The clear blue color of many of the icebergs made them look like precious gemstones and some icebergs even appeared to have been sculpted at the hand of an expert ice-carver.
During breakfast, the National Geographic Sea Bird maneuvered carefully through the floating ice toward Dawes Glacier. Sheer granitic cliffs towered above us, polished and scraped by glacial activity during the Ice Age, which ended only about 10,000 years ago. After our morning briefings, we bundled up and were ready to depart the vessel to explore this impressive glacier up close.
When we reached the upper part of the fjord, Zodiacs were launched that allowed us to reach the fjord’s upper reaches and the face of Dawes Glacier, where all of us were able to observe several calving episodes. As we approached to within a quarter mile of the 250-foot-high face of this massive tidewater glacier, we were impressed by the deep crevasses and blue ice. Interestingly, both Dawes Glacier and North Dawes Glacier have retreated and thinned dramatically in recent years. Harbor seals on ice floes and in the water curiously watched our every move.
In the afternoon, we cruised toward a tributary branch of Endicott Arm called Ford’s Terror, so named because of a terrifying experience in strong tidal currents by Harry L. Ford of the U.S. Navy during an early Coast and Geodetic Survey at a bend in this narrow fjord. True to its name, there was a strong incoming tidal current as we arrived and we could easily see the whitewater rushing into the fjord, sucking in icebergs from Endicott Arm. Once it subsided a bit, we boarded the Zodiacs for cruises into Ford’s Terror and marveled at the classic signs of glaciation: glacial striations, bowl-shaped cirques, U-shaped valleys, rounded domes and hanging valleys complete with waterfalls. There was plenty of bird life to admire as well: Pacific loons, harlequin ducks, Arctic terns, and surf scoters.
In the evening, we exited Endicott Arm and cruised south down Frederick Sound. Humpback whales were sighted just after dinner and everyone enjoyed the massive spouts and tail fluking. As darkness slowly dimmed the Inside Passage, we cruised toward new adventures in this great land.
