Northern British Columbia
Fifteen thousand years ago the areas through which we now motor our ship and paddle our kayaks, and the land surfaces over which we walk, were all under ice. Ice literally thousands of feet deep filled the valleys and covered the landscape. Only the tallest peaks stuck up through the ice as islands in a white sea. The ice was not stationary but flowing, slowly, inexorably, from the land toward the sea, and as it moved forward it carved the landscape that we now experience. For two and a half million years the ice has advanced and retreated, over and again, with the waxing and waning of the ice ages and the episodes of warming and cooling within them. We are now in the latest warm interglacial period. With the retreat of the ice, sea level has risen and the oceans have flooded the glacial valleys to form fjords – the marine highways of the Northwest Coast.
Not all of this was evident this morning as we awoke at anchor in Lowe Inlet, British Columbia. Mist filled the valley, snagging on the tops of the western redcedars, hemlock, and Sitka spruce of the Temperate Rainforest and obscuring our vision of the surrounding landscape. We launched our morning’s explorations by kayak, Zodiac, and boot-clad feet, all focused around a powerful waterfall that was bringing the water of the spring snowmelt into the head of the inlet. The more strenuous hike turned out to be a scramble over moss-covered rocks and fallen trees to reach the top of the falls – definitely not for everyone. Kayaks offered a more leisurely way to explore. Partners paddled with perfect synchrony… or not… to interact with curious but wary harbor seals, and with pairs of Barrow’s goldeneyes, common mergansers, and harlequin ducks. All of the birds are at the peak of finery of their nuptial plumage as they prepare for breeding. Zodiac tours poked along the shore as we learned to identify the tree species or simply admired the myriad shades of green of the leaves, mosses, and arboreal lichens of the forest. One group had a fortunate encounter with a river otter as it foraged in the sea along the shoreline and then scampered into the forest. Suddenly in late morning, as if on a signal, the mist dissipated, sunshine streamed into the inlet, and we could see beyond the shoreline to snow-topped mountain peaks rising sharply into the sky all around us.
We departed Lowe Inlet and progressed up Grenville Channel, the narrowest section of the Inside Passage to Alaska. It was a fine place to scan the shoreline for wildlife of the quadruped variety but, alas, they eluded us. We stopped for another Zodiac cruise in Klewnuggit Inlet, then returned to the National Geographic Sea Lion for Sharon Grainger’s presentation on portrait photography – of people and horses – followed by a tasting of Pacific Northwest wines and smoked seafood arranged by our Hotel Manager and her staff of stewards. Then, with another fine dinner we concluded our passage through British Columbia and crossed Dixon Entrance to enter the waters of Southeast Alaska, where further adventures await us.
Fifteen thousand years ago the areas through which we now motor our ship and paddle our kayaks, and the land surfaces over which we walk, were all under ice. Ice literally thousands of feet deep filled the valleys and covered the landscape. Only the tallest peaks stuck up through the ice as islands in a white sea. The ice was not stationary but flowing, slowly, inexorably, from the land toward the sea, and as it moved forward it carved the landscape that we now experience. For two and a half million years the ice has advanced and retreated, over and again, with the waxing and waning of the ice ages and the episodes of warming and cooling within them. We are now in the latest warm interglacial period. With the retreat of the ice, sea level has risen and the oceans have flooded the glacial valleys to form fjords – the marine highways of the Northwest Coast.
Not all of this was evident this morning as we awoke at anchor in Lowe Inlet, British Columbia. Mist filled the valley, snagging on the tops of the western redcedars, hemlock, and Sitka spruce of the Temperate Rainforest and obscuring our vision of the surrounding landscape. We launched our morning’s explorations by kayak, Zodiac, and boot-clad feet, all focused around a powerful waterfall that was bringing the water of the spring snowmelt into the head of the inlet. The more strenuous hike turned out to be a scramble over moss-covered rocks and fallen trees to reach the top of the falls – definitely not for everyone. Kayaks offered a more leisurely way to explore. Partners paddled with perfect synchrony… or not… to interact with curious but wary harbor seals, and with pairs of Barrow’s goldeneyes, common mergansers, and harlequin ducks. All of the birds are at the peak of finery of their nuptial plumage as they prepare for breeding. Zodiac tours poked along the shore as we learned to identify the tree species or simply admired the myriad shades of green of the leaves, mosses, and arboreal lichens of the forest. One group had a fortunate encounter with a river otter as it foraged in the sea along the shoreline and then scampered into the forest. Suddenly in late morning, as if on a signal, the mist dissipated, sunshine streamed into the inlet, and we could see beyond the shoreline to snow-topped mountain peaks rising sharply into the sky all around us.
We departed Lowe Inlet and progressed up Grenville Channel, the narrowest section of the Inside Passage to Alaska. It was a fine place to scan the shoreline for wildlife of the quadruped variety but, alas, they eluded us. We stopped for another Zodiac cruise in Klewnuggit Inlet, then returned to the National Geographic Sea Lion for Sharon Grainger’s presentation on portrait photography – of people and horses – followed by a tasting of Pacific Northwest wines and smoked seafood arranged by our Hotel Manager and her staff of stewards. Then, with another fine dinner we concluded our passage through British Columbia and crossed Dixon Entrance to enter the waters of Southeast Alaska, where further adventures await us.
