I spent the summer of 2013 working on a fishery research vessel in Alaska's Prince William Sound. This was a truly formulative experience that changed me forever and bound the PWS to my soul. Over the years there have been so many beautiful moments that stood out from a larger story or adventure. After a decade hiatus, I'll continue updating this post with images from these beautiful moments.
2013
Looking north from Esther Rock, the entrance to College Fjord, Port Wells, is visible in the distance. Esther Rock means different things to different people. For the commercial fishermen, it is often the boundary of one of the salmon fisheries in the Sound. For others, it is a floating "internet cafe" of the Sound.
Glaciers are essentially mass balance problems - they transport snow and ice from higher elevations to lower elevations where it can melt. These Passage Canal glaciers extends over such a short elevation range; I love how even this minuscule change in elevation and distance is enough to produce ice dynamics. They are also rapidly disappearing.
Some people call those who live in Whittier WhitIdiots, those who live there part time are Half-Wits. But, how much of a dimwit can you be if you to choose live in a place that is not only so beautiful, but also has skiing 12 months of the year?
Located between Cordova and Montague Island, Hawkins Island guards the Sound from the Gulf of Alaska. I took this picture of the fog spilling over the Heney Range from the Gulf as we drove north past Hawkins Island.
If it had internet, Culross Cove would be our Captain's favorite anchorage in the Prince William Sound. With blue skies and temperatures in the seventies, we hiked to the top of Culross Island, complete with views of Culross Cove and the Chugach.
Just outside of Cordova, we watched these commercial fishing tenders float in and out of the fog of Orca Inlet as they waited for the next fishing period to open.
Waiting to head out to the Sound the next morning, we anchored in Orca Inlet, just offshore of Cordova. Bathed in Alpenglow, Mount Heney clashed with the industrial waterfront of Cordova.
After work one evening, we went kayaking from our anchorage in Eleanor Island's northwest bay. The days are starting to get noticeably shorter, and with the shorter days come seemingly endless and beautiful sunsets over the Sound.
I took this picture in the spring, but just stumbled across it this morning. Taken from our back deck, low fog hangs over Lake Eyak just after the ice finally broke up on the lake.
Driving out to the Alaganik Slough for a walk on a gray day, we saw these trumpeter swans. The swans, which can apparently fly at altitudes of 8 km, spend winter on the ponds, bogs and lakes of the Copper River Delta.
Each spring, millions of western sandpipers stop at the Copper River Delta to refuel on the journey north to their breeding grounds in Western Alaska. In May we went out to Hartney Bay to watch them as they trickled in.
Our captain Matt refers to the Prince William Sound as the wild west - On our way back from a day in the field we stopped by to pick up the shrimp pots we had dropped the other day. When we pulled them up we found they had been raided and thrown back into the water in a big knot. Rachel checking out the "wild west" of Port Fidalgo:2013
Looking north from Esther Rock, the entrance to College Fjord, Port Wells, is visible in the distance. Esther Rock means different things to different people. For the commercial fishermen, it is often the boundary of one of the salmon fisheries in the Sound. For others, it is a floating "internet cafe" of the Sound.
Glaciers are essentially mass balance problems - they transport snow and ice from higher elevations to lower elevations where it can melt. These Passage Canal glaciers extends over such a short elevation range; I love how even this minuscule change in elevation and distance is enough to produce ice dynamics. They are also rapidly disappearing.
Some people call those who live in Whittier WhitIdiots, those who live there part time are Half-Wits. But, how much of a dimwit can you be if you to choose live in a place that is not only so beautiful, but also has skiing 12 months of the year?
Located between Cordova and Montague Island, Hawkins Island guards the Sound from the Gulf of Alaska. I took this picture of the fog spilling over the Heney Range from the Gulf as we drove north past Hawkins Island.
If it had internet, Culross Cove would be our Captain's favorite anchorage in the Prince William Sound. With blue skies and temperatures in the seventies, we hiked to the top of Culross Island, complete with views of Culross Cove and the Chugach.
Just outside of Cordova, we watched these commercial fishing tenders float in and out of the fog of Orca Inlet as they waited for the next fishing period to open.
Waiting to head out to the Sound the next morning, we anchored in Orca Inlet, just offshore of Cordova. Bathed in Alpenglow, Mount Heney clashed with the industrial waterfront of Cordova.
After work one evening, we went kayaking from our anchorage in Eleanor Island's northwest bay. The days are starting to get noticeably shorter, and with the shorter days come seemingly endless and beautiful sunsets over the Sound.
I took this picture in the spring, but just stumbled across it this morning. Taken from our back deck, low fog hangs over Lake Eyak just after the ice finally broke up on the lake.
Driving out to the Alaganik Slough for a walk on a gray day, we saw these trumpeter swans. The swans, which can apparently fly at altitudes of 8 km, spend winter on the ponds, bogs and lakes of the Copper River Delta.
After heavy rain throughout the morning, the sky cleared delivering a beautiful sunset as we finished dinner in Port Fidalgo.
Dan and I went fishing for Dolly Varden Char up Ibeck Creek one evening last week. As we fished the marine layer rolled in and out of the Scott River valley.
Hoping to get a bird's eye view of the Sheridan Glacier, we hiked into the alpine on a July weekend. The marine layer limited the visibility to 1,000 meters, but it brought the color out of this dew-soaked wooly lousewort.
At 10:30 PM we watched the sun creep towards the horizon through the relic piles of the defunct Orca Cannery.
Our roommate Megan had the great idea of taking a couple canoes out to Sheridan Glacier's terminal lake. As we started the one mile portage it was raining lightly, by the time we left the lake a dense fog shrouded the ice.
Driving north out of Cordova, we watched these bald eagles fighting over fish in nearly perfect overcast light.
Headed back to Cordova, 40 knot winds slowed us as this bowpicker passed:
On our way back to the vessel after a day in the field, we stopped to refill our ice supply with blocks of glacial ice calved from the Chenega Glacier:
This pod of Dall's porpoise surfed on our bow-wake for an hour as we headed across the Sound:
Hunting 2024
As soon as I arrived in what Southeast Alaskans call the "alpine", deer trails appeared around me. Deer are not native to Prince William Sound. In 1916, the Cordova Chamber of Commerce had eight black-tailed deer captured near Sitka and transplanted to Hawkins and Hinchinbrook Islands. Sixteen more deer were transplanted over the following eight years. These stocky jungle creatures have since dispersed throughout the PWS. Fishery biologist J.D. Solf stated that he had seen deer or their tracks in nearly every major drainage of the Sound at one time or another.
I hunted until dark then crawled into my tent in the alpine. In the night I woke to what sounded like breathing outside my tent. You're dreaming I told myself, and rolled over. At first light I looked out my tent to see a coastal brown bear ambling towards the tent. Montague Island has a brown bear density ranging from 4–18 bears per 100 square kilometers. In comparison, Hinchinbrook, Kodiak, and the Alaska Peninsula which have brown bear densities greater than 18 bears per 100 square kilometers. When I saw three more bears from camp, I packed up my tent and left.
During a rare spell of high pressure in October, we camped up high for a few days. With a strong pressure gradient between cold high pressure over the interior and a warm low pressure spinning in the Gulf of Alaska, gap winds channeled by the mountains, passes, and channels of PWS kissed us with cold air whenever we left the shelter of local terrain.
The moon was waxing to full when we arrived. We could see pretty well by moonlight and I'm sure the deer could see even better. As each day passed the deer were less and less active, occasionally crawling out of their beds to stretch, yawn, and nibble. Maybe they were too busy partying all night to show themselves during the day, but who knows?
In late November we landed on the outside of Hinchinbrook. As we prepared to touch down on the beach, snoozing seals scurried for the water while fat otters rolled around lazily in the sand. In the woods we found fresh rubs, the smell of the rut in the air, and bucks running to the call.
It was still early enough when we were done hunting to skip over to Cordova for a sunset ice skate on Eyak Lake. Situated between the PWS, the Copper River Delta, and the Gulf of AK, the lake provides cornerstone habitat for ten fish species. Homeland to the Eyak people, this area has been a cultural crossroads for thousands of years for the Eyak, Chugach-Alutiiq, Tlingit, and Ahtna peoples.
More to come!
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