Tracy Arm Fjord, Tongass National Forest, Southeast Alaska
This very special trip starts in a very special place – Tracy Arm Fjord. In geologic terms, a fjord is a long glacier-carved arm of the sea, and Tracy Arm is one of the most beautiful fjords in all of Southeast Alaska, winding through the jagged peaks of the Coast Range to Sawyer and South Sawyer Glaciers.
Our wake-up call this morning is made by small pieces of ice, called growlers, clinking against the hull of the National Geographic Sea Bird. This special trip, called Wild Alaska, is an extra-special photo expedition with not just one, but two National Geographic Photographers on board, Cotton Colson and Kim Heacox. And for the gear junkies, we also have Jason Friedman, a representative from B&H Photo from New York City, who has brought along a treasure trove of camera goodies in perhaps the world’s largest Pelican case.
Photography and travel go together, and we are here to learn the fine art of expedition photography – telling the story of this epic adventure with our images. But we are also here to learn, and experience, the wild wonders of Southeast Alaska.
And this trip is indeed wild. We start the day experiencing the icy wilderness from water level. We navigate in our Zodiacs between growlers and bergy bits all the way to the face Sawyer Glacier, which is particularly active today with calving events sending huge 100-foot splashes into the air. Meanwhile, curious harbor seals approach our boats for a closer look.
During the afternoon we navigate back down the fjord to Williams Cove, where we go ashore for walks in the forest. The adventurous among us take to the water in the kayaks, paddling in solitude along the rocky shoreline. As a gentle rain makes perfect circles on the calm water, it’s a magical afternoon exploring this vast coastal wilderness that is the Tongass National Forest.
