Southeast Alaska
If given the opportunity to summarize this place, to construct just one day that would embody the essence of southeast Alaska, the result could quite likely be today.
Alaska is blue, not a sad and moody blue, but an intense azure. The color bounces from sky to sea exploding in full glory on a sunny day or changing gray to silver when clouds dominate. Glacial ice seems to concentrate it and fling it back in cerulean gelid form. Within the forest canopy it enriches the greens and becomes the feathers of a squawking Steller’s jay.
From tiny Elfin Cove the sea stretched north to the Fairweather Range. Brady Glacier cascaded from its flanks. Majestic mountains surrounded the day. Their sharp and craggy peaks shyly hid within the clouds or peered from behind their cover. We awoke on the outer fringes of the Inian Islands exposed to the ocean’s whims, but she was quiet and calm today. Two humpbacks sedately fed at our side, their gentle breathing alternating with the murmurs of common murres and squeaking of marbled murrelets. Over the trails of George Islands, the boardwalks of Elfin Cove and the depths of Dundas Bay, those same mountains maintained a constant vigil. Their U-shaped valleys played in the mirror-like waters as we searched for wildlife along the shores of a pristine inlet.
Like icebergs cast from a glacial face, the mountains seem to have children too. Rounded islets are scattered here and there in bays or straits or passages. Some are minuscule and as devoid of cover as the hairless head of a newborn. But they are seldom barren. Gulls and cormorants rested on the polished rocks while Steller sea lions lounged on the edges. Nervous harbor seals furrowed their brows in puzzlement at the appearance of our vessel. Bobbing in the current, bull kelp pneumatocysts camouflaged the furry heads of sea otters as they smacked on crabs and clams.
Other islets are forested from edge to convex dome leaving only space enough for mink and otter to roam. Their bigger brothers host human trails and hide stories of days gone by. The archipelago named George encompasses some of each. Skirting its edges in kayaks we could sense the wilderness here. Yet walking upon the shores of the largest island in the group we discovered that man had been living here in the not too distant past. Reading the clues of vegetative changes and piecing together artifacts we took ourselves back to a time when our land was threatened by invasion from across the sea and there was a need for artillery power to protect our naval fleet.
From long before the last world war to the present day, boats have been a part of this region. Fish and the vessels that pursue them form the economic base of many communities. Sport-fishing lodges surrounded the bay on Chichagof Island where Elfin Cove perches. But the real heart of the town could be found by watching the coming and going of fishing trollers and the tenders that purchase their catch.
As the sun sets and the day draws to an end, gold dances on a navy sea. Splashes of rosy red appear behind the mountain peaks. We reflect upon the day and discover southeast Alaska.
If given the opportunity to summarize this place, to construct just one day that would embody the essence of southeast Alaska, the result could quite likely be today.
Alaska is blue, not a sad and moody blue, but an intense azure. The color bounces from sky to sea exploding in full glory on a sunny day or changing gray to silver when clouds dominate. Glacial ice seems to concentrate it and fling it back in cerulean gelid form. Within the forest canopy it enriches the greens and becomes the feathers of a squawking Steller’s jay.
From tiny Elfin Cove the sea stretched north to the Fairweather Range. Brady Glacier cascaded from its flanks. Majestic mountains surrounded the day. Their sharp and craggy peaks shyly hid within the clouds or peered from behind their cover. We awoke on the outer fringes of the Inian Islands exposed to the ocean’s whims, but she was quiet and calm today. Two humpbacks sedately fed at our side, their gentle breathing alternating with the murmurs of common murres and squeaking of marbled murrelets. Over the trails of George Islands, the boardwalks of Elfin Cove and the depths of Dundas Bay, those same mountains maintained a constant vigil. Their U-shaped valleys played in the mirror-like waters as we searched for wildlife along the shores of a pristine inlet.
Like icebergs cast from a glacial face, the mountains seem to have children too. Rounded islets are scattered here and there in bays or straits or passages. Some are minuscule and as devoid of cover as the hairless head of a newborn. But they are seldom barren. Gulls and cormorants rested on the polished rocks while Steller sea lions lounged on the edges. Nervous harbor seals furrowed their brows in puzzlement at the appearance of our vessel. Bobbing in the current, bull kelp pneumatocysts camouflaged the furry heads of sea otters as they smacked on crabs and clams.
Other islets are forested from edge to convex dome leaving only space enough for mink and otter to roam. Their bigger brothers host human trails and hide stories of days gone by. The archipelago named George encompasses some of each. Skirting its edges in kayaks we could sense the wilderness here. Yet walking upon the shores of the largest island in the group we discovered that man had been living here in the not too distant past. Reading the clues of vegetative changes and piecing together artifacts we took ourselves back to a time when our land was threatened by invasion from across the sea and there was a need for artillery power to protect our naval fleet.
From long before the last world war to the present day, boats have been a part of this region. Fish and the vessels that pursue them form the economic base of many communities. Sport-fishing lodges surrounded the bay on Chichagof Island where Elfin Cove perches. But the real heart of the town could be found by watching the coming and going of fishing trollers and the tenders that purchase their catch.
As the sun sets and the day draws to an end, gold dances on a navy sea. Splashes of rosy red appear behind the mountain peaks. We reflect upon the day and discover southeast Alaska.
