We woke to a pearly grey Alaskan morning just as the National Geographic Sea Lion made her way into Scenery Cove, a intimate little inlet in the mainland coast at well deserves its name. Ghosts of mist wound through the forests on the steep walls all around us and hung in silence over the small meadow and rushing creek at the head of the bay. And waterfalls, more waterfalls than we could count, strung white threads among the dark trees and laced through the rocks into the sea. During breakfast we moved on and as soon as we were well fed we were off on another adventure. The ELCS came ashore at Cascade Creek at low tide and we squelched our way up through the rocks and barnacles to the edge of the trees. Striking out on the trail, we passed once again through the magical door that separates the light and space of the coast from the quiet green interior of the mossy forest. Walking past the towering spruce and bright clusters of ferns we soon came to the rushing rapids that give the creek its name where we turned to ascend beside the roaring cascades. Long walkers surged ahead and made their way up into some serious mud, the medium group found a rough-skinned newt and learned about tetrodotoxin while the leisurely walkers explored the exposed intertidal flats and then hiked up to the base of the dramatic falls that marks the beginning of the ascent.
By the time we finished lunch we found ourselves in the midst of a very different scene, pulling into the busy fishing harbor of Petersburg. Captain Nettles and his crew made a very impressive maneuver with our nimble ship to bring her into a tight spot at the dock and we disembarked to explore the town and a beautiful muskeg bog on the Kupreanof Island, across the narrow channel. The bog hikers encountered some carnivorous plants but were not eaten and returned to the ship in time to join guided walks on the docks focusing on photography or on the fishing vessels themselves. There was also plenty of time to stroll through the small town to visit the smoked salmon store, the bookstore and the hardware store before we all gathered back on board to hear a talk from one of the local fisherwomen and enjoy a delicious dinner of smoked salmon and Dungeness crab. Yum!
