Thomas Bay and Petersburg
As we made our way into Thomas Bay, located on the mainland near Baird Glacier, the muted early morning light accentuated the misty-moody clouds draped over the mountains like silver cotton. Soon we entered, and were completely enveloped in Scenery Cove. We donned our boots that we have come to love, and started our morning hikes along the spectacular Cascade Trail that led us to Cascade Falls seen in the above photo. The rich-green forest was particularly stunning today, with lush carpets of mosses, great varieties and textures of lichens including lungwort and Lipstick Cladonia, and of course, more boot-sucking mud! Both the soft mist and roar of the powerful falls reminded us of the extremes in nature. As we emerged from the forest we had to pause and reflect on what we had done, and to admire our home for the week in such a spectacular setting (Sea Bird at anchor in second photo.)
We spent the afternoon exploring the fishing town of Petersburg, located on Mitkof Island. Originally settled in 1897, this town has salmon, crab, and shrimp canneries and a great variety of fishing boats. Some of us took a short Zodiac cruise to Kupreanof Island where we explored a beautiful muskeg that was in such complete contrast to the vegetation we were immersed in during our morning adventures. We learned of the many interesting adaptations the bog plants have to their acidic environment. Others strolled through town, or went flight-seeing from floatplanes and helicopters and were thrilled to see the icy scenery from such a spectacular perspective. We saw not only jagged peaks of the glaciers but also moose and bears! During our nightly re-cap, the Cone family summed up our day as follows:
Rapped by Elijah Cone (lyrics by Sabrina Swanson) MC’d by Ed Cone:
Got in a helicopter to go for a ride
Flew over Petersburg, my family at my side
Everything in check Gotta make sure
Rick tells us we are headed for a glacier
Over the river and through the hills
Check out that white stuff, Oh what a thrill
‘Tis Patterson Glacier just ahead
It’s so heavenly, I must be dead!
You’re not gonna believe this
We landed on this frozen water
Off the ‘copter and away we go!
We loved the trip, we loved the ice
See, this glacier was quite a site
Sons enjoyed it and even daughters
If we start acting silly, it’s ‘cause we drank the water!
With a brief poetic interlude by Sydney Cone:
From the air we looked for a bear
It was not there but.....
A moose was seen amidst the green
