MISTY FJORDS

One of the most beautiful and untouched places on the planet, the Misty Fjords National Monument is located in the Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska. Myself, my wife, son and a friend of his had the privilege to visit the Fjords a few weeks ago.  Here are a few of  the best pictures, which survived the jamming of my camera.
 
 

One the tallest of the falls... It must be spectacular when it is raining hard.  The "Misty's" get over 200 inches of rain most years.  This was an exceptionally clear and beautiful day!
 
 

One of the many falls which grace with sides of the fjords.  We got incredibly close to this one.

A larger falls.  Misty Fjords has no permanent human structures and is accessible only by air or boat.  There are no roads into the area.

Part of the Punch Bowl, formed by huge glaciers hundred of thousands of years ago.  The ice here was up to a mile thick in places.  You can see the striations on the rocks from the passing of the ice.

One of the many peaks that make up the mountain range the the Misty's cut through and neighbor.  It was July and there was still snow on tops of the mountains and even in some of the shadows near the water.

The waterline is in a continuous state of change, with 12-15 foot tidal swings the norm.  Here you can see at the waterline spruce pollen, then barnacles, then clear rock.  Above it is greenery which grows as a result of bird dropping from the many nests built into the rock crevices above.

A shear rock face... and another waterfall.  There must be hundreds or thousands of these in the Misty's.

One of the many small islands in the fjords, where sea lions can be seen pulled out or eagles nesting.  The wildlife we saw included a brown bear, eagles, killer whales, seals, many other water birds, a marten, as well as dolphins.  In season there are hundreds of thousands of spawning salmon, which the killer whales, seals and eagles feed on.

More of the Punch Bowl.
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I hope you have enjoyed my little photo essay!!

Lance Mertz
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