Even though the inside of Ford’s Terror was apparently
dangerous because of rockslides, the outer area is supposed to be scenic and
easily accessible. So today we decided
to make the roughly 20 nm trip up Endicott Arm.
Dawes Glacier, 12 nm past Ford’s Terror, was apparently quite clogged
with ice preventing boats from getting close to its’ face, so we opted to have
a relaxing day at Ford’s Terror rather than a longer day trekking up to the
glacier and back.
The trip up Endicott Arm was easy and we saw no other boat
traffic. The water was glassy, the wind
nonexistent. While the scenery was not
as dramatic is Tracy Arm, it was nonetheless beautiful. As with Tracy Arm, we had to fight a bit of
current on our way into Endicott Arm, even entering on a flood.
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| Glassy |
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| This bald eagle was perched on an iceberg near the entrance to Endicott Arm |
When we pulled into Ford’s Terror, a small cruise ship (less
than 200 feet) was pulling anchor. I
called them on the VHF and they confirmed recent rock fall inside the
rapids. With this information confirmed,
we proceeded to find a suitable spot for anchoring overnight.
Anchoring in the outer basin of Ford’s Terror wasn’t
easy. The walls plunge nearly vertically
into the water, making most areas too deep or too shallow. Additionally, a strong current rips through a
reversing tidal rapid and a drying shoal sits right where anchoring would make
the most sense. After a few attempts at
anchoring, though, we got the hook set in an appropriate spot and ran a stern
tie to shore to keep us from swinging out towards deeper water and dragging
anchor.
The weather was perfect and I quickly got out in the
kayak. Sunny and temperatures in the
80’s! The outer basin is spectacularly
beautiful, similar to Princess Louisa Inlet and Misty Fjords National
Monument. Lots of waterfalls, streams,
etc.
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| Summer in Alaska |
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| The rock walls are immense |
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| Many waterfalls around the inlet |
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| This stream emptied right near our anchorage |
An hour or so after we arrived a seaplane landed in the cove
and taxied around for a while. I
couldn’t figure out why. After another
hour or so, a 70+ foot Viking yacht pulled in and anchored and the seaplane
taxied to its swimstep. I paddled over
and talked to the captain of the yacht for a few minutes, and it turns out the
owners are avid pilots who use the boat as a base for seaplane flights. And I thought the Mokai was a cool toy! They also had kayaks, a big inflatable
dinghy, and a seadoo.
After dinner they dinghied over to us and invited us over
for drinks. There were 8 or 9 people
aboard, all pilots except for the hired captain of the boat, up from California
for just a few days. Tomorrow some of
the family is taking the boat to Juneau, others are taking the seaplane to
Ketchikan where they’ll switch to another of their planes, fly to Juneau to
pick up the rest of the family, and then fly to southern California. They’ll repeat this shuffle several more
times throughout the summer. Certainly a
unique way to travel! The owner said he
would have given us rides over the glaciers yesterday in the seaplane, but his
wife had burned all the fuel in the morning and he spent the afternoon flying
to Juneau to fill up the tanks instead.
Oh well.
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| Sunset on the mountains |
22.2 nm today and 1,073.8 total
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