Tracy Arm & Williams Cove
John Muir (1879) “No ice work that I have seen surpasses this, either in the magnitude of the features or effectiveness of composition… glaciers are seen, still busily engaged in the work of completing their sculpture… Everywhere icebergs abound… and the water spaces between the bergs were as smooth as glass, reflecting the unclouded sky, and doubling the ravishing beauty of the bergs as the sunlight streamed through their innumerable angles in rainbow colors.”
This morning we awoke to icebergs floating by our window. We were still in awe of the show we had the night before under a red setting sun… humpbacks cooperative feeding until the night sky took away our view. The ice was not to be outdone…. intense blue bergs that could only come from deep within the glacier.
South Sawyer Glacier did not disappoint… Zodiac tours navigated among the ice up to the face of the glacier. An almost unbelievable calving show began with a few random blocks dropping off into the water with an impressive boom that the Tlingit’s called sumdum (white thunder). Then the big stuff started with a whole serac toppling down. This was followed by the main event. Almost the entire face of the south side of the glacier came cascading down with a huge roar. This generated a mini-tsunami wave 20-30 feet high that rushed towards our zodiacs. The drivers whipped around so the wave would hit stern first and we actually went Zodiac surfing in Alaska!
The afternoon was spent hiking and kayaking in Williams Cove. A few bergs made it down this far in the fjord and provided an extra incentive to paddle nearby to check them out. Hikers had their first experience inside the Tongass National Forest. We learned about the succession from beach rye to Sitka alder to the conifers of the rainforest which is controlled by the slow glacial rebound that has happened here. We discovered that is hard to go hungry during the summer in Southeast Alaska with all the many edible plants and berries and seafood on the beach. Salmonberry, wild blueberry, Nagoon berries, and trailing brambles, clasping twisted stalk berries all provided a snack for us as we traveled through the forest.
A special treat for the evening was a visit from the U.S. Forest Service Wilderness Rangers, Sean Rielly and Jenny Chamberlain, who came on board from their campsite at Tracy Arm. They described their role as wilderness kayak rangers.
Our first 48 hours in Alaska could not have been better… we are off to a fabulous start and anticipate the many adventures ahead.
