We spent the morning traversing the mature glacial valley or fjord of Tracy Arm. With its 2,000-foot cliffs and water depths of close to a thousand feet, this fjord is one of the most impressive in the world, let alone southeast Alaska. As we moved closer to the two glaciers that lie at the end of the fjord, Sawyer and South Sawyer, the ice became thick. It slowed our progress but made us anticipate the sight of the great walls of ice. We were rewarded with wonderful views of the blue walls of ice that make these two tidewater glaciers. The floating ice precluded us from making a close inspection of the face of the ice so we might witness one of natures great noisemakers, glacier calving. So in an ironic turn of events we listened as the glacier calved but could not watch it because it had calved so much in the past few days.
We spent the afternoon kayaking or hiking at the western end of Tracy Arm in a small bay called William's Cove. Some of the kayakers saw a bear from the water as it walked along the shore for a moment before dipping back into the forest.
