Misty Fjords

View within Rudyerd Bay in the heart of Misty Fjords National Monument.   Gray skies and
wispy clouds against the granite rock walls are typical.

Five days a week I serve as the naturalist aboard either the St. Nona or the St. John, on a four and a half hour tour to the Misty Fjords National Monument.   The voyage, to the heart of Rudyerd Bay, is 120 miles round trip using a catamaran with 4 jet engines.    With two decks with inside seating, these tours handle about 140 people, a far cry from my small, more intimate tours on the red and yellow historic buses of Yellowstone and Glacier, or even my 20 person walking tours at Bodie.

View of Rudyerd Bay on a sunny day.  These are far less common and this one was during training.  There is
still a lot of snow high up.  By mid July there are just patches

Small waterfalls and clouds, trees growing out of of the granite rock face
is a typical scene within the Monument.

    The boats were built specifically for this trip since speed, comfort and good visibility are all required.  Allen Marine started out as a boat building facility in Sitka.  They are still  in that business, but a number of years ago began giving tours in Sitka.    They designed and build the boats for their tours in Sitka, Ketchikan, and Juneau.
    The founders are Bob and Betty Allen.  She is Tlingit, Bob came to Alaska (after being born in my old stomping grounds of Humboldt County, CA) and most of their boats are named for saints  of the Russian Orthodox Church.   Russians were the first people of non-Native origin to settle in this territory, and Sitka still exhibits the ties to that past.   The third generation of the family now hold management roles in the firm.
     Our journey takes us through waterways carved by glaciers, between dozens of the 10,000 islands of coastal Alaska, past remnants of volcanoes, beneath monoliths of granite and peaks shoved up by tectonic activity.   Except for private lands in and around Ketchikan, Pennock Island, Gravina Island, and the only Native Reservation in Alaska on Annette Island, all of which are close to our starting and ending point, the day's tour is mostly in areas without human habitation.   Much of SE Alaska is in the  17,000 acre Tongass National Forest, the largest in the country, and one which is larger than 5 of the states in the lower 48.  Misty Fjords National Monument, established in 1979 is a 2.2 million acre area within the larger Tongass National Forest, and except for a small area with  molybdenum which may someday be utilized, it is a designated wilderness area.

Within a short geographical range, the environment goes from the depths of the ocean to alpine lakes and peaks.   It is a rich natural region.     Major currents meet here creating upwellings and rich marine life.   It keeps the weather wet and mild in temperature and maintains a highly productive mix of organisms that feed the larger fish and mammals.   A humpback whale eats very little during their migration or their time in Hawaii where they mate and calve. During those months they live off the blubber built up during their summers in rich SE Alaska where they eat up to a ton of food a day.

The temperate rain forest provides the perfect environment for salmon to spawn.   All the rain means plenty of clear creeks, the forest provides the shade\downed trees,and stream side vegetation and insects necessary to maintain creeks good for spawning and fry.  Five kinds of salmon; chum, sockeye, king, silver and pink begin and end their lives in those creeks with the interim spent in the salty waterways of southeast Alaska.  Between ocean and forest is a band of tidal zones, each with its own distinct crustaceans and flora.   The local saying is that when the tide is out, the table is set.   With 23 foot tides, there is a lot of intertidal life from giant sun stars and crabs, sea cucumbers, limpets, mussels and barnacles. 

The forests are home to bears, both black and brown (grizzlies), wolves, sitka black tail deer, mink, martens, weasels, beaver, eagles, and ravens,.  Waterbirds like pigeon guillemots, marbled murlets, sea gulls, and others finds nesting areas along the cliffs (or, in the case of the murlets, in old growth forests well inland).  Harbor seals pull out on rocky islands to give birth and to rest, dall's porpoises like to ride the bow waves of the boat, transient pods of orcas (killer whales) search for seals, fish and even whales to feed upon, while the resident orcas leave the bigger prey alone and feed largely on salmon.    Estuaries provide for places for river\land otters, herons, and songbirds to live.   Muskeg, with its acidic water is great for cranberries and blueberries and the sphagnum moss acts like giant sponges capturing and releasing the abundant rains and releasing water into streams and waterfalls.  High above it all, in the alpine regions, mountain goats and pikas live.

"Fjords" are salt water inlets and waterways created by the glaciers.   The large carved, U-shaped glacial valleys filled with salt water as glaciers melted creating the marvels of southeast Alaska's land of fjords, islands and waterway links throughout the region  

And in Misty Fjords National Monument are some of the most spectacular of these fjords.  In Rudgear Bay in the heart of the Monument, granite cliffs rise straight up 3,000 feet and waterfalls spill down the faces.  

New Edystone Rock, named by explorer George Vancouver after the New Edystone
Lighthouse in Plymouth England is a 237 foot,6 million year old spire, a volcanic plug of basalt.   Only this much remains
of a once much larger cone but has been eroded by later glacial action.  It sits in Behm Canal not far from where two "new" volcanoes were discovered by NOAA this spring.  These new volcanoes are old and extinct, "new" only in the sense that it was a new discovery for humans.

Rudyerd Bay is filled with waterfalls.  They do disappear, mostly, if there is a period of dry, warm weather.  But then
reappear after a rain.   They are fed by snow melt, overflow from alpine lakes and release of water by sphagnum moss in muskeg areas.    A good rainfall fills the lakes to overflow and re saturates the muskegs.

Here I am as a naturalist, interacting with guests.  Chris took this photo during his
vacation the week of the 4th of July.

One of many waterfalls in Rudgear  Bay, Misty
Fjords National Monument.

Harbor seals on rocks in Behm Canal in Misty Fjords

George Inlet Cannery

That's the Sea Lion Express, the boat we travel in for this tour

One day a week I am the naturalist for one part of a three part trip by visitors.   We take guests from the dock, along the Tongass Narrows and up George Inlet.   We view some of the natural history along the way and then deposit guests at the dock at the George Inlet Cannery.  The cannery, once owned by Libby Corporation,  is no longer in operation and the property is now owned by the Cape Fox Native Corporation.   Our company has a permit to give guided tours of the property and the corporation leases space to local fishermen to store their gear.  Someone has collected and restored all the mechanical parts of the operation.  And while no fish go down the line now, our crew there turns on and runs each of the machines which form the cans from flattened disks (easier to ship them up from "outside,") put the bottoms on, behead the fish, slice it open and gut it (all the unwanted parts dropped thru shoots on the floor and fed a voracious quantity of crabs, eagles, river otters and other animals), cut into slices the right size for the cans, stuff the cans, weigh and sort (with the  light cans diverted to humans to top off), to putting on the lids, extracting air and sealing before going into the ovens.  If anyone wants, they can take a can of sealed, local air, as a souvenir.

 After a tour of the cannery, guests board a bus for the trip back to town.  The road ends just before the cannery so they  is a short nature walk through the forest and across a bridge with nice waterfall.  The bus stops at Saxman Village to see the totem poles.



This is an old dormitory

Sometimes two tours run in opposite directions and we pick up passengers who have come by bus and return them to town by water.  If not, we "deadhead" which is a relaxing trip for me.

My part of the tour is on the water.   While it covers some of the same materials as the Misty Fjords tour in terms of the geologic history, I emphasise the diversity of ecosystems which give rise to the rich fishing of these waters.  That way it ties in well with the cannery tour.

When this was a functioning cannery there was no road to the site.   Workers arrived by boat and were housed in dormitories on the site.   Early contract Chinese workers were used, then Filipino workers, as well as Native Americans and Anglos who  were from South East Alaska. The cannery buildings are in good repair but the dormitories and other outbuildings, except one where the caretaker lives, are no longer safe to enter.  But they are interesting to look at from the outside and to photograph.

Today fishermen store equipment at the site.  Our captain stores his dungeness crab pots here and uses them in the winter months.

At low tide, the ramp is steep.

View up from the dock at low tide

 

KETCHIKAN, Settling In

Totem pole at Saxman Village.   Modern paints are used today but red, black and blue green are traditional colors, once made from local minerals and set with salmon eggs.  These magnificent poles are made of cedar.

I am settling in to my new apartment and getting to know my way around town.  I have finished an intense period of training and have given my first tours.   I still have lots to learn, plenty to polish up on to improve my presentations, but I have two days off now to relax, regroup, and assimilate the two week since my arrival in Ketchikan.

Ketchikan has many nicknames; "Totem Pole Capitol of the World," "Alaska's First City," and " Salmon Cannery Capitol of the World" are three common ones and all of them tell you something about this community.   It is the first stop in Alaska for people heading north along the Inside Passage.   It has several excellent collections of totem poles, old and new, connecting the community with its Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian heritage.   It's Anglo history begins with the establishment of salmon salteries and canneries.   Today, salmon fishing is still its biggest industry although with modern transportation and refrigeration, many of those salmon reach the rest of the world fresh and fresh frozen and canned salmon is a smaller portion of the delectable fish that leave its harbors.

I flew up.  Ketchikan is located on an island.  It is accessible only by air or water.  I could say it is accessible only by water as the airport is located across Tongass Narrows and a five minute ferry ride is required to reach town.    

For this summer's employment, I am working as a naturalist aboard the Allen Marine fleet operating out of Ketchikan.   I decided there was no point in bringing the motorhome.  The cost of getting it here and staying in the one RV park I could locate, was more expensive than an efficiency apartment.   And with a very limited road system, I decided to leave the car behind as well.  This will be a summer to walk, a lot, and get into better shape.  

View of cruise ship arriving in town as seen from my window

Another view from my window.  The landlord's house and chimney are in the foreground.  The Lutheran Church below

View from Tongass Narrows from my side window.  

Ketchikan is built on a narrow strip along Tongass Narrows.  With only a small tidal flat area, early Anglo settlers solved the issue of building by putting in pilings and building on top of them.  Carved by glaciers, the region offers deep water channels with vertical mountain slopes right to the water line.   The main road runs  along the waterfront and the houses rise on the steep hillsides above.  So, besides walking to and from work and to downtown, I have a three block hill to climb, plus a flight of stairs inside.

I hardly saw the apartment when I entered it the first time because my attention was drawn to the picture window overlooking the Narrows, with views of  Pennock and Gravina Islands.  I watch fishing boats, the ferry, cruise ships, barges, float planes and bald eagles from my window.  


My apartment.  You can see the chimney from the house below in the window and the vista beyond

A cruise ship leaving town with raindrops on my window.

  And walking will be the name of the game.  There is a great little bus system, with a $25 monthly pass which gets me to stores, and out of town to parks and recreation area.   I've ridden several times and have gone to the end of the line to the south and as far as Walmart to the north.  Tomorrow I will ride the blue-line to its end, past Ward Cove to Totem Bight Park which includes another collection of totem poles and some nice hiking trails.   The library isn't far away from where I live although the hill will push my leg muscles.  It is also accessible by bus.  

So how steep are the hills of Ketchikan?   Well some of them are staircases rather than roads.  However, they bear a street name, street sign, and are maintained by the city streets department. 

Chapman Street is one block south of the vehicular street leading to my apartment

My windows are circled in yellow. 

This is Lund Street where I live.  My entrance is just around the corner to the left at the top of the street.

 

 

For fun, here are a few Ketchikan facts:

 

*Annual rainfall: 13 FEET.   Why bother with inches when it is this much?

 

*Annual days of rainfall:   228 days with measurable precipitation.

 

*Wildfires:   almost never.  Forest regeneration is through landslides or windstorms.  There have been some large and notable building fires in town however.

 

*Revillagigedo Island:   the island on which Ketchikan is named.   Named by an early          

  Spanish explorer for a viceroy of Mexico, the pronunciation is not Spanish.  The double "ll:s which should be a "y" are not.   But locals don't bother with the full name; it is known as Revilla.  It is 35 miles by 55 miles and most of it is roadless.   Mountains, glacial lakes, rivers, and hundreds of waterfalls are found here.  the Tongass Hwy goes 12 miles south of town, becomes dirt for a few more miles and ends.   North of town it goes 20 miles and ends in a cul de sac.   A dirt road goes into the interior and there are residential roads.  But, like all of SE Alaska it is mostly roadless.  The statistic for SE is 89% roadless.

 

*It is not particularly snowy or cold.  An average winter snowfall is 37" and this year was light.   My second day in town it did snow, and we could see it on surrounding peaks, but what came down in town melted before it hit the ground.  Average winter temperature is 31 degrees and summer is 55 degrees.

 

*Fishing and tourism are the major industries.  But is also has a strong art base with many artists, visual and performing arts, living here.  The Coast Guard has a large facility here which handles major repairs on the entire Alaskan Coast Guard fleet.  It employs about 300 people, military and civilian.    My mother served in the SPARs during WWII and was stationed here.

 

*Tidal fluctations reach 23 feet.    I haven't experienced an especially low minus tide yet, but even a moderate low tide makes the ramps from ships to dock pretty steep.   It is often an issue for guests from the cruise ships.

 

*It is situated within the Tongass National Forest, a 17 million acre entity set aside by Teddy Roosevelt.  

 

*wildlife includes whales, notably humpbacks, orcas, porpoises, seals, river otters, deer, black bear (occasional brown bear or aka grizzly, but more are found on other nearby islands), sea lions. lots of bald eagles, pigeon guillimots, loons, and plenty more.

 

*Population is about 13,000.   And most of the folks stay year round.   And it sounds like the biggest problem is winter is figuring out which event to go to.   I rather like the idea of the monthly concert, featuring local performers, at the clan house at Saxman Village.  Admission is $5.00 but it is waved if you bring a desert.  At intermission everyone gets coffee and a potluck of deserts.  A panel judges the deserts and local businesses give prizes.  

 

*The population  figure above is for the folks who live here.  In the summer, huge cruise ships dock and this year they anticipate over 950,000 people will visit Ketchikan.  the ships are only here for a day.  But evening the berths are empty.  

 

*Its population began with Tlingits, who arrived about 10,000 years ago.  Haida moved up from the Haida Guai\ Queen Charlotte Islands about 200 years ago.  Tsimshian arrived from BC with Father Duncan to settle Annette Island, across the channel in 1887.   The Russians arrived in southeast Alaska in the 1700's.   People from the US arrived, first opening canneries and salteries.  The gold rush that followed brought more.  And while the big rushes were further north,  mining for gold and copper occured here and on the neighboring islands.  There was also a good sized marble quarry on one of the  islands.

 

More interesting information on this area will follow in later blog entries.   Since my tours include Misty Fjords National Monument and George Inlet, look for photos and information on those areas later on.