Tracy Arm Fjord
Today was a day of great contrasts. We started out walking quietly, but not too quietly (we don’t want to surprise any bears) in the beautiful, lush temperate rain forest of Williams Cove. And, today’s fair weather meant there was no rain in that rain forest. It was bright and sunny, some would even say hot, but once we walked inside the forest it brought us into a totally shady, cool, and quiet world, except for the occasional call of a hermit thrush or a “Yo, bear!” call from the lead naturalist. This place has an amazing density of trees. The trees are surprisingly close together, as compared to forests we are familiar with back home, and we figured this closeness is due to the fact that the soil is very shallow atop bedrock that was scraped clean just a few centuries ago by ice and the trees benefit by interlocking their roots together for stability
Our well-worn footpath paralleled the shoreline, just a few meters in from the cobblestone beach, and is obviously maintained by constant usage—not just from occasional human visitors, such as ourselves, but also from bears. The evidence that bears use this trail is irrefutable. In fact, that abundant evidence clearly showed us the bears have been eating blueberries, grasses, barnacles, and mussels. So, why should it surprise anyone that bears use the trail? It obviously makes for the easiest way through the forest and underbrush.
The contrast to this dense, forest habitat was the fjord of Tracy Arm itself. As we sailed farther up the inlet towards the head, the forests became sparser, thinner, and composed of smaller and smaller trees until there were no more trees…only moss-covered or totally exposed bedrock. We witnessed a de-evolution of the forest, so-to-speak. It was very clear to us that glacial ice had recently (geologically speaking, that is) filled the fjord and scraped the rock faces of the cliffs completely clean of any vegetation. Two tidewater glaciers are still to be found at the head of the fjord, but they are only a shadow of what once was. The forests are trying to fill in now, but it must be very difficult before any kind of soil has been produced first. Imagine what it takes to do that!
