Tracy Arm Fjord, named for Civil War general Benjamin Franklin Tracy, is a fjord, a small inlet formed by glacial activity, and it is roughly 30 miles long. And also includes some of Alaska’s greatest glaciers, including the Sawyer twins, which calve off huge chunks of ice into the ocean below in a spectacular display.
The landscape is dominated by rugged mountains, and its steep valleys are adorned with glistening waterfalls. To an altitude of about 1,500 feet, a young Alaskan rain forest of spruce and hemlock develops. There are numerous species of furbearing animals, including brown and black bears, mountain goats, wolves, a limited number of Sitka black-tailed deer, and a wide variety of other critters. It is not uncommon to spot whales and sea lions in the fjords, and harbor seals have been known to raise their pups on floating ice. The shoreline is a popular habitat for bald eagles and other seabirds.
The fjord that ascends to Sawyer Glacier’s two sides is known as Tracy Arm. The fjord is not like a wide bay; rather, it has high granite walls that are home to several waterfalls. Sawyer Glacier, near the end of the Tracy Arm fjord, is[…]
