After an exciting morning kayaking in front of Harvard Glacier in College Fjord the captain was heading back towards Port Wells. We anchored up in a small bay and the skiff was put on the water. We were ready for a hike in the yellow and orange fall colours of the Chugach National Forest.
Chugach National Forest was formed in 1907 and is covering large areas of Prince William Sound. Three fun facts about Chugach National Forest:
- Its Bald Eagle population larger than the lower 48s combined
- Approximately 30 percent of the national forest is covered by ice
- It is the world’s northern-most temperate rainforest
Photo credit: USDA
BLUEBERRIES
Despite this being a short hike it was fairly strenuous walking as most of the hike was through swamp, there are no hiking trails out here in the wilderness. But with such a spectacular view that was soon forgotten. It is amazing that glaciers and lush forest live hand in hand like in the Chugach. There was no evidence of human activity except from a couple of boats out in the fjord.
The hike was at a comfortable speed as everyone frequently stopped to pick blueberries, There was lots of them and they were very sweet and tasty. We found both low bush and high bush blueberries, the latter being my favourite. There was also lots of wild Alaskan low bush cranberries, but they were quite sour so I sticked with the blueberries.
BALD EAGLES & WATER LILIES
We also spotted a this juvenile Bald Eagle keeping an eye on us from the top of his three crown. Only the adults have the easily recognisable white head. We actually saw lots of Bald Eagles, no wonder since the population of these magnificent birds is more than 30.000 in Alaska.
On our way down to Esther Passage, where Discovery have sailed ahead and is waiting for us, we passed this wonderful pond that had water lilies probably blooming earlier in the summer. I was not expecting to come across water lilies in Alaska, what a nice surprise.
ALASKAN SUMMER
Once onboard Discovery again our excellent chef Matt served up a delicious treat while local refreshments were served on ice. Ice cubes freshly picked up from Harvard Glacier earlier in the day. The ride through the narrow Esther Passage was a delight (could be the Alaskan Summer talking) and we spotted both harbour seal and mountain goats.
Our next stop will be a meeting with the loud and smelly sea lions! More to come …
This post is part of our mini series from our Alaskan Honeymoon. We are currently on post 6 – Hiking on a field of blueberries. If you missed any of the previous posts check out the links below the map.
Relevant posts
Talkeetna – at the base of Mt.McKinley
Kayaking under a roaming glacier
Thanks for visiting! Comments are much appreciated.
You got some fabulous postcards photos there. Congrats.
Thanks a lot Alix! Impossible to not get some good photos in such a stunning landscape. Thanks for commenting.
Thank you for these beautiful photos, I love.
Have a nice day.
Thanks for your generous comments on the photos Hervé, much appreciated! 🙂
Stunning pictures, thank you for sharing them! What a fantastic adventure.
Thanks for your comments on the pictures! It was quite an adventure, and one of the best days we had seen in Prince William Sounds so far. Thanks for stopping by and hope you training is going well!
Beautiful photos. 🙂
Thanks Alison! You always feature great photos on you site so your generous comment is much appreciated:)
Looks like a wonderful place to be. Love the photos. Blueberries look fantastic!
It was heaven! I could have stayed forever – ok maybe not forever but I would definitely not mind going back! And the blueberries were great. The cranberries however..not for me:) Thanks for you comment!
You were fortunate to have such beautiful weather. Lovely photos and post.
Absolutely! This was one of the best days we had in Prince William Sound (some rainy posts to come …) and we enjoyed it a lot! Thanks for you comment!
Seeing this post, as well as most of your posts for that matter, makes me wonder what the eff I’m doing in London. And London, Ontario it ain’t!
Hehe..London is nice as well, I’ve been there a couple of times, but I can imagine living there is very different than coming for a long weekend for shopping and trying out the local drafts;)
Beautiful photos. I really like the combination of the autumnal colors and greens in the trees and the blue sky. Such a perfect day.
Thank you so much! A bit different than Muir Pass right, but both have their charm:) I also loved the combination between the orange and the blue, it was beautiful! Could be any better! Thanks for your comment.
What a wonderful adventure with great photos. Have fun and enjoy life
We are enjoying every day Jim:) Thanks for your comment!
Great photos, love the eagle.
It was definitely nice seeing the eagle on this hike, they are magnificent birds. Thanks for visiting and taking the time to leave a comment.
Blueberries: one of the highlights of my trip to Alaska. I ate them until I was full and still could’ve had more!
Thanks Sarah! It was such a treat finding all the blueberries on the hike. It made the hike much slower, but oh so enjoyable! Thanks for your comment:)
I am of the opinion that any hike made slower because of blueberries is about as excellent a hike as I can imagine!
Beautiful photos and stunning scenery. We used to vacation regularly in northern Minnesota and western Ontario and loved picking blueberries. We always kept our eyes peeled for Bears 🙂
Thanks Ingrid, appreciate the comment! The terrain was fairly open and since we were group I wasn’t too concerned about bears on this hike. Also the bears seemed to have moved higher up in the mountain getting ready for hibernation. We did however have some hikes later where we kept our eyes open and bear spray close:)
That pic of the eagle is really cool.
Thanks! It was for sure a treat so meet the eagle on our hike:)
Wow, absolutely beautiful pictures! What a gorgeous place!
Thanks Lucy! It was an amazing place. I wouldn’t hesitate for a second going back (we have actually considered doing so this summer….). Highly recommended if you are into nature and that stuff;) Thanks for you comment.
There is nothing quite like wild blueberries. We like to eat them on the trail when we visit Maine. They are great stirred into pancake batter, also! 🙂
I love wild blueberries too, such much better than the giant blueberries we get at the grocery store here. And with pancakes – even better:) Thanks for stopping by again!
Another super post with beautiful photographs! I’ll definitely have to visit Alaska soon! I’ve invited you to a five day black and white photo challenge, there are more details here http://rockiesoutdoors.com/2015/03/26/lake-louise-snow-fences/ 🙂
Thanks Rob – it is sure worth a visit. I will have to go back as there are so many things up there I still want to see & thing I want to do! Hmmmm….wonder if I could get a job up there… And I never say no to a challenge;)
Awesome adventure! We will be volunteering this summer at the Bald Eagle Preserve in Haines, Alaska, also part of the “Banana Belt!”
Thanks for your comment Ron! Seems like you are up for a great summer then! I would love spending my summer in Alaska. Hopefully we’ll hear from the summer in your blog!
Looks lovely and luxuriant vegetation where you went in Alaska by the coast.
Thanks Jean! It was for sure a very lush area! Much more than I had expected being Alaska. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to leave a comment:)
Beautiful Alaska !!!
Yes, it was beautiful for sure. We loved it! Thanks for stopping by:)
Beautiful pictures!!
Thanks for you comment on my pictures! Easy taking pictures when you are surrounded by such a stunning scenery:)
I think I would stop all the time to eat them 🙂 In Iceland in August, we’ve seen so many people picking them in the bush 😉 Are blueberries jam famous over there ?
And we did, that’s why the hike took forever, but speed was not a goal for this hike:) I think blueberries and blueberry jam is quite popular in Alaska. We saw lot’s of blueberry pickers while in Alaska. Even when the rain was poring down they were out thee picking berries:)
Awesome photos, Inger. And the blueberries are so big and plump. Thanks for sharing this beautiful day. 😃
Thanks for commenting Jet! It was a amazing day, weather was gorgeous which isn’t always the case in this wet eco-system. The blueberries were so tasty and sweet, nothing like the ones we get in the grocery store here which has to be defined as a bit tasteless compared to the wild ones in Alaska. Yummy!
Gorgeous colours, and such variety of landscapes, it is a beautiful place
Most definitely a large variety – I am still amazed over how lush the forest was. I had seen lots of pictures of the glaciers, so they were expected. But that there would be this green, luxuriant forest next to the glaciers was a surprise to me:) Lovely!