Awe-inspiring Alaska

Alaska is by far the largest American state. It has thousands of miles of coastline, five times more than Florida, which comes second. The total land touching the sea is ten times greater than its coastline, because of all its islands, inlets, and fjords. The southeast coast of Alaska stretches far south, along the Canadian border, and it is the perfect doorway to this fascinating state.

Because there are very few paved roads, the best way to explore southeast Alaska is on a boat and the easiest way is to board a cruise ship. We opted for a cruise that started in Vancouver, with ports of call in Ketchikan, Haines, Sitka, and Juneau, the capital. Each of these towns has a colourful past and a modern-day dynamism. Although we were told to expect mist and rain every day, we did not have a single day of rain during our ten-day cruise.

There were lectures on different topics offered on the ship throughout the voyage. In addition to our own preparation, those talks, given by an eminent naturalist, a geographer and other experts, brought the economic and social history, natural history and magnificent scenery to life. As we travelled up the Inside Passage along the British Columbian and Alaskan coasts, we marveled at the pristine landscape surrounding us. We sailed through fjords, lingered close to several glaciers, observed wildlife, visited frontier towns and witnessed the seasonal salmon run in two rivers.

We learned about the history of the Indigenous peoples of the region, the Russian colonization of the area to exploit the fur trade, and the purchase of Alaska by the United States in 1867, negotiated by Secretary of State William Seward, for $7.2 million or about two cents an acre.

Alaska has a lot of glaciers, about 100,000 separate ones, covering five percent of the state. Each glacier, each fjord has its own story and characteristics. The scenery, truly breathtaking, made us made us rename the state: Awe-laska! Four natural locations we visited were particularly memorable.

Mendenhall Glacier

Mendenhall Glacier is one of thirty-eight large glaciers that flow down from the Juneau Icefield, which measures 1,500 square miles. It is useful to think of an icefield as being like a lake of compacted snow and ice from which glaciers flow.

Mendenhall Glacier has been described as Alaska’s most accessible glacier. It can be viewed from the observation deck at the Mendenhall Visitor Centre, about a mile away from the face of the glacier. Although it has been retreating for two hundred years, just ninety years ago, the glacier used to extend as far as where the visitor centre stands today. Luckily, there are now several trails leading closer to the face of the glacier and to the impressive Nugget Falls, fed by a glacial meltwater stream from the Nugget Glacier. 

Glaciers are dynamic and this may lead to some surprises. For two years in a row, in August, the Mendenhall River, which runs through northern Juneau, broke its banks and caused a major flood that displaced all residents in the area. A glacial outburst was the cause of the flooding. This happens when water that is dammed up by a glacier suddenly gives way and is released downstream. Although the different Alaskan glaciers have been advancing or retreating over time, experts believe that climate change is the only possible explanation for these recent severe floods.

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve

Three hundred years ago, the members of the Tlingit Nation were displaced from the fertile valley that was their homeland by the rapidly advancing Grand Pacific Glacier, measuring four miles across. About fifty years later, a short period in geological terms, melting ice started to expose land again, signaling the end of the area’s “little ice age”.

Captain James Cook reported in 1778 that ice was occupying most of the area. In 1794, Captain George Vancouver saw a bay that was five miles long. In 1879, John Muir wrote that he could navigate as much as forty-eight miles into the bay. Today, Glacier Bay is sixty-five miles long, ending at the face of the fully retreated Grand Pacific Glacier.

With the retreating ice, vegetation and animal life are returning to the exposed land. This is why Glacier Bay is viewed as a living laboratory for studying the development of all life forms: from recently established lichens, that do not need any soil, to more mature forests of Sitka spruce and western hemlock, on land that has been exposed for the longest time and where soil had time to develop.

Under the guidance of a park ranger who boarded the ship at the entrance to the bay, we slowly made the 130 mile round trip through Glacier Bay, which is breathtaking. The park ranger provided an ongoing commentary on the natural history and geology of the area, and at times, alerted us to the presence of marine wildlife that we could observe with our binoculars.

The Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve comprises 3.3 million acres of snow-covered mountains, forests, glaciers, islands and waterways. The park is recognized as a Biosphere Reserve and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Today, most of the glaciers in the bay are retreating, except for the Johns Hopkins Glacier (advancing) and the Margerie Glacier (stable). Some of the tidewater glaciers, such as the Lamplugh Glacier, no longer touch the sea at low tide. The land around Glacier Bay is rising by approximately one inch per year, due to the reduced weight of the glaciers. The face of the Margerie Glacier, which is 250 feet high and a mile across is often the site of dramatic iceberg calving. Although we did not witness a calving, we observed that the bay was speckled with blue icebergs.

Misty Fjords National Monument Wilderness

The Monument comprises 2.2 million acres of pristine, undeveloped wilderness in the Tongass National Forest, the largest intact coastal forest in America. The area was carved out by retreating glaciers 17 thousand years ago and today it offers a magnificent spectacle of long and deep fjords with monumental cliffs, up to 3,000 feet high, waterfalls and abundant wildlife. Situated twenty-two miles east of Ketchikan, it can only be accessed by sea or air. Our excursion to Misty Fjords in a small boat took most of the day and the commentary given by the naturalist on board was captivating.

Tracy Arm Fjord

Holkham Bay is situated twenty-five miles south of Juneau. It is the entrance to two famous fjords: Tracy Arm and Endicott Arm. The glaciers that shaped the area retreated 3,000 years ago. This is why the vegetation along the fjords is mature and consists of old-growth forest reaching down to the shoreline. The beautiful turquoise colour of the water comes from glacial silt running into the fjord. North Sawyer and South Sawyer glaciers could be seen in the distance however the cruise ship could not get close to them because of the amount of ice in the fjord.  

In all four locations, we had an opportunity to savour the tranquility, and we felt privileged to get a glimpse of a unique corner of our beautiful planet. In the short video, we share some of the images that will stay with us until our next Alaska trip.