Punchbowl Lake in Misty Fjords National Monument, Alaska

Tonight, we are anchored in Donkey Cove adjacent to Shearwater. We are within a stone’s throw of home port but not yet ready to come in.

Tonight’s post is about Punchbowl Cove in Misty Fjords National Monument. The cove gets its name from the 3000’ granite cliffs that dominate the eastern shore. The cliffs continue past the southern end of the cove and form the eastern shore of Punchbowl Lake, 600 feet above.

This is the view as we entered Punchbowl Cove.

On the southern shore there is a lower but still imposing precipice. The trail to Punchbowl Lake, which is the source of most of the photos in this post, climbs that precipice. The trail is steep, rocky, rooty (new word), and muddy. It is theoretically maintained by the US Forest Service but it looks like this trail is a very low priority for them. Most of the improvements (boardwalks, ladders, bridges) are rotten and dangerous. 

The precipice. The trail to the lake is just left of center.

But it was so worth it! We will remember this hike and this place for a long time and we recommend it to anyone that happens to be in the vicinity (long shot).

 
The trail climbs through a dense, lush, verdant forest. The richness of vegetation is astounding. From massive hemlock and cedar to minuscule flowers, mushrooms and mosses, the trail was a visual feast and we both now have callouses on our shutter release finger.

It’s amazing to see so many plant species growing on and in each other. And they are all perched on a slope steep enough to require ladders and attached by their roots to jumbled rocks and huge boulders which have fallen from above. There are several places where you can hear water running underneath your feet, but you can’t see it. It’s cool to see that these really big trees resist wind, water and gravity to remain upright as long as they can. It’s cool to see the feeding frenzy on their carcasses when they finally do fall.

This tree grew over a boulder and eventually lifted it up off the ground.

 

Floating boulder

Heart shaped lichen

This beautiful carpet of moss and flowers was covering the upturned root wad of a fallen giant.

Here the trail follows a narrow ledge.

Every exposed surface is covered with something green.

There was no apparent bottom to the hole under this bridge.

We both loved the yellow racing stripe on this toad.

Liverworts.

A fungus eating a fungus.

Lichens everywhere.

That white dot is Invictus at anchor. The trail goes up through the slight gap left of center.

Drone view looking straight down at the base of the trail.

A drone view of the lake and its cliffs.

 

 

Oblio found the canoe a bit tippy.

Heading back down the trail.

Oblio spent a lot of time waiting for the elders to catch up.

Ta da!

In this rainforest setting, just by good fortune we had a beautiful day: sunny and warm, no bugs, and no other tourists. We had the cove and the trail all to ourselves. The tour boats from Ketchikan make this cove a regular stop. One of them was leaving just as we arrived at the cove.

Here is a video clip of the cliffs, lake and waterfall that you might enjoy. Watch it full screen for the best effect.

 

A Beach, a Dog, and a Wolf

Tonight we are anchored in Meyers Passage Cove.

This post is about our dinghy excursion yesterday to our favourite beach, which is on Campania Island. And Campania Island is one of favourite cruising destinations. The beaches there always have fresh wolf tracks crisscrossing them and we were hoping to see one or more wolves.

We had slid our dinghy above the high tide mark and were getting ready to go for a walk when a youngish wolf loped towards us. We think his focus was Oblio, maybe as a nice snack.

The wolf was very bold and showed no fear. The beach is a popular camping spot for kayakers and boaters so he is likely habituated to people.

Usually, photographing wildlife happens in a big rush to get the shot before they move away. And usually the light is low or there is something in the way. In this case we had time to secure the dog and adjust our cameras in perfect lighting for lots of photos and video. On top of that the wolf was out in the open and not in a hurry to leave.

This photo demonstrates how hard it can be to spot a wolf if they aren't out in the open. To make it easier to see the wolf you can click to enlarge.

 

Oblio sought refuge at the dinghy while we got the wolf
situation under control.

Incognito.

Back at the boat, Oblio was on guard for the evening.