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.