We journeyed up Tracy Arm's serpentine canyon awed by rising granite cliffs striated by ice-carried boulders. Waterfall forms fell from snowfields sliding down walls, braiding, rushing, seeping their way down to an opaque jade river-like vein of the ocean, here far inside Alaska's Inside Passage. Creamy mountain goat silhouettes graced high skylines backdropped by a clear blue sky. The progression of forest perpetuation unfolded as we throttled closer towards the icy architects of the land.
We slalomed our way through icebergs of fantastical shapes, detecting shiny spotted gray heads in the glacial milk. Mother harbor seals escorted pups on first watery journeys. From our Zodiacs we observed close looks at young pups and their moms nursing on icebergs. Over 1000 seals had been counted this week near the head of the fjord.
With our hard-bottomed rubber boats we threaded our way up to a clear safe vantage in front of South Sawyer Glacier. Here under truly sunny skies we watched and listened as icebergs were born. The surreally soft blue glacier face crumbled in several places dropping tons of ice with resounding splashes, thunderous booms and resultant shock waves.
Three wilderness rangers came aboard and traveled with us back down the arm sharing insights about this pristine natural environment. The rangers accompanied us on hikes in Williams Cove where we examined the rainforest primeval. We traversed meadows filled with blooming chocolate lilies, false lily-of-the-valleys and salmonberries.
Foraging sibling bears, newly born seals and icebergs, colorful geology and emergent flowers were just part of our experience today. We examined this beautiful ice-carved corner of the world as the rhythms of summer danced to their ordained beats.
