LeConte Bay & Petersburg
Today was a day of superlatives: we woke to the clearest skies, cruised through the largest icebergs, visited the prettiest bog, and ate the tastiest (and messiest) dinner.
This morning, we boarded Zodiacs and toured the massive pieces of ice that have calved from LeConte Glacier and still linger within LeConte Bay. A rising tide shuffled the pocked and watermarked ice, lifting grounded bergs to swing and drift with the current. A few harbor seals, murrelets, and harlequin ducks moved with us, but for the most part, it felt like we drifted alone through sculptures of dazzling array.
The small town of Petersburg was our afternoon destination. Docking along with the crabbers, purse seiners, and trollers, we hiked up the ramp and into town. Some took float planes over the glacier, getting a bird’s eye view of the source of all that morning ice. Others explored the streets of Petersburg, appreciating the town’s obvious pride in its heritage as a Norwegian fishing community.
Kupreanof Island’s lovely trail through muskeg and down to a slough drew many across the bay. Although it’s heading toward mid-June, spring flowers like bog laurel, deer cabbage, and buckbean (pictured) studded the dark pools of the peat bog.
And what could appropriately finish off such a night? Dungeness crab, of course! We dug in, cracked and poked and pulled the meat without a hint of shame. After all, why should we be shy about a bit of mess in the midst of all this splendor?
Today was a day of superlatives: we woke to the clearest skies, cruised through the largest icebergs, visited the prettiest bog, and ate the tastiest (and messiest) dinner.
This morning, we boarded Zodiacs and toured the massive pieces of ice that have calved from LeConte Glacier and still linger within LeConte Bay. A rising tide shuffled the pocked and watermarked ice, lifting grounded bergs to swing and drift with the current. A few harbor seals, murrelets, and harlequin ducks moved with us, but for the most part, it felt like we drifted alone through sculptures of dazzling array.
The small town of Petersburg was our afternoon destination. Docking along with the crabbers, purse seiners, and trollers, we hiked up the ramp and into town. Some took float planes over the glacier, getting a bird’s eye view of the source of all that morning ice. Others explored the streets of Petersburg, appreciating the town’s obvious pride in its heritage as a Norwegian fishing community.
Kupreanof Island’s lovely trail through muskeg and down to a slough drew many across the bay. Although it’s heading toward mid-June, spring flowers like bog laurel, deer cabbage, and buckbean (pictured) studded the dark pools of the peat bog.
And what could appropriately finish off such a night? Dungeness crab, of course! We dug in, cracked and poked and pulled the meat without a hint of shame. After all, why should we be shy about a bit of mess in the midst of all this splendor?
