Cascade Creek & Petersburg
We cruised through Thomas Bay in the early morning, just as the extremely bright, white ball of sun made its way over the ridges to our east. With the dawning of yet another remarkably warm Southeast Alaskan day, we took shelter at Cascade Creek. We dove into the inviting, lush, green shadows for a morning hike with our rubber boot clad feet.
The well-maintained and recently reconstructed trail we followed up into the towering Sitka spruce and Hemlock trees is part of the 17 million acres of the Tongass National Forest, the largest National Forest in the U.S. The trail continued up and then up some more, crossing Cascade Creek itself. We found licorice ferns sprouting from the mossy fur on the granite cliffs we passed, deer fern alongside blueberry plants with berries just reaching their ripest, mauve mushrooms, as well as sphagnum moss-covered stumps and fallen trees.
Even those of us that may not have lived in the realm of make-believe for quite some time were led to imagine fairies flitting about and gnomes emerging from their homes among gnarled roots. Before returning to the landing beach, we descended the magical staircase past the cascade we first saw during our ascent. The sun filtering through the trees threw a wavering, yet vibrant rainbow up into the mist coming off the falls.
In the afternoon, we arrived in the fishing village of Petersburg for an afternoon packed with every imaginable choice of activities. Some explored the muskeg on Kupreanof Island, a short Zodiac ride from the dock at Petersburg. There were bikes awaiting anyone that wished to spin up a hill outside of town for 360 degree panorama of the wilderness surrounding the town. Float planes and helicopters took some guests high into the clear afternoon sky and over to Le Conte Glacier and Patterson Glacier for a different vantage of glacial ice. In town itself, there was local smoked fish, and galleries with beautiful artwork of all styles.
Petersburg is also a town full of Xtra Tuff rubber boots. Young and old, rain or shine, the fishermen, gardeners and shopkeepers can be seen with that trusty SE Alaskan trademark.
