Tracy Arm-Ford’s Terror Wilderness Area
It is extremely rare these days to be surrounded by wildlands where no human settlement exists, or has ever existed before. Today we had the experience of looking agape at the immense cliffsides of Endicott Arm fiord. As we approached the Dawes Glacier the vegetation became lower and smaller. The rocks have only recently been exposed after centuries, possibly millennia of being hidden by ice thousands of feet deep. The sides of Endicott fiord have been scraped clean, and the “concentric chattermarks” half-way up tell us the direction of the glacier flow when they formed: down arm towards Holkham Bay. A few low shrubs, goat’s beard, willow and Sitka alder, have colonized the shoreline up to several thousand feet high. Booms sounded infrequently; ice fell creating rolling waves which moved under the ice floes. Harbor seals, mothers and pups, lay quietly for the most part. However, eerie wails periodically pierced through the cold air. Pups, who had reached the ripe old age of three months, are now reluctantly separated from their mothers. Independence is not at all what it’s talked up to be.
After lunch, despite the Alaskan liquid sunshine coming down in a soft, grey haze, Zodiacs departed for Ford’s Terror. In 1889, H.R. Ford was sent into this calm fiord to explore the interior. Entering at slack tide, there was no indication how different a roaring tidal bore could make the bottleneck on his return. This afternoon, the only shiver of danger we felt was when a pod of five Orcas appeared unexpectedly at the mouth of Ford’s Terror. Who clipped the coupon for this bonus? A grounded iceberg provided the perfect backdrop, just as we loaded Zodiacs and followed the Orcas inside. The first round of Zodiac tours found them at the head of the bay, but by the time the second group set off, they were practically out the fiord; and so instead, the Zodiacs followed them out into Endicott Arm, where they took a left towards Dawes glacier. The suspicion is that they were transient killer whales, as they spent a good amount of time underwater and the location. Not too many fish around here, but plenty of seals hauled out on the ice and rocks... hmm.
What a truly spectacular, unexpected ending for an extraordinary week in Southeast Alaska.
It is extremely rare these days to be surrounded by wildlands where no human settlement exists, or has ever existed before. Today we had the experience of looking agape at the immense cliffsides of Endicott Arm fiord. As we approached the Dawes Glacier the vegetation became lower and smaller. The rocks have only recently been exposed after centuries, possibly millennia of being hidden by ice thousands of feet deep. The sides of Endicott fiord have been scraped clean, and the “concentric chattermarks” half-way up tell us the direction of the glacier flow when they formed: down arm towards Holkham Bay. A few low shrubs, goat’s beard, willow and Sitka alder, have colonized the shoreline up to several thousand feet high. Booms sounded infrequently; ice fell creating rolling waves which moved under the ice floes. Harbor seals, mothers and pups, lay quietly for the most part. However, eerie wails periodically pierced through the cold air. Pups, who had reached the ripe old age of three months, are now reluctantly separated from their mothers. Independence is not at all what it’s talked up to be.
After lunch, despite the Alaskan liquid sunshine coming down in a soft, grey haze, Zodiacs departed for Ford’s Terror. In 1889, H.R. Ford was sent into this calm fiord to explore the interior. Entering at slack tide, there was no indication how different a roaring tidal bore could make the bottleneck on his return. This afternoon, the only shiver of danger we felt was when a pod of five Orcas appeared unexpectedly at the mouth of Ford’s Terror. Who clipped the coupon for this bonus? A grounded iceberg provided the perfect backdrop, just as we loaded Zodiacs and followed the Orcas inside. The first round of Zodiac tours found them at the head of the bay, but by the time the second group set off, they were practically out the fiord; and so instead, the Zodiacs followed them out into Endicott Arm, where they took a left towards Dawes glacier. The suspicion is that they were transient killer whales, as they spent a good amount of time underwater and the location. Not too many fish around here, but plenty of seals hauled out on the ice and rocks... hmm.
What a truly spectacular, unexpected ending for an extraordinary week in Southeast Alaska.
