Download Tongass Fjords X Free
Giuditta Dea
The spectacular Misty Fjords National Monument, lying just 22 miles east of Ketchikan, is known for its steep-walled fjords, coastal cliffs, and 3,000-foot rock walls that rise dramatically from the sea. Taking its name from the almost constant precipitation characteristic of the area, the monument is covered with thick rainforest that grows on nearly vertical slopes from sea level to mountaintops. Dramatic waterfalls plunge into the saltwater through narrow clefts or course over great rounded granite shoulders, fed by lakes, streams, and more than 150 inches of annual rainfall.
For even more of an adventure, kayaking the protected coves and inlets is a popular way to experience the fjords. It's a long paddle to Misty Fjords from Ketchikan so many visitors arrange to be dropped off and picked up by water taxi, thus opening up the monument to even beginner kayakers. Guided single-day and multi-day kayaking trips are available through tour operators in Ketchikan.
Discover the beauty of the Tongass National Forest.
The Tongass National Forest in Southeast Alaska is the largest U.S. National Forest at 16.7 million acres (26,100 sq mi; 68,000 km2). Most of its area is temperate rain forest and is remote enough to be home to many species of endangered and rare flora and fauna. The Tongass, which is managed by the United States Forest Service, encompasses islands of the Alexander Archipelago, fjords and glaciers, and peaks of the Coast Mountains.
In this flight, we travel from Annette Island to Stewart. 2 different flightplans are included in this download
Fjords are found mainly in Norway, Chile, New Zealand, Canada, Greenland, and the U.S. state of Alaska. Sognefjorden, a fjord in Norway, is more than 160 kilometers (nearly 100 miles) long.
Fjords were created by glaciers. In the Earth's last ice age, glaciers covered just about everything. Glaciers move very slowly over time, and can greatly alter the landscape once they have moved through an area. This process is called glaciation.
Glaciation carves deep valleys. This is why fjords can be thousands of meters deep. Fjords are usually deepest farther inland, where the glacial force was strongest.
Some features of fjords include coral reefs and rocky islands called skerries.
Some of the largest coral reefs are found at the bottom of fjords in Norway. They are home to several types of fish, plankton and sea anemones. Some coral reefs are also found in New Zealand. Scientists know much less about these deep, cold-water reefs than they do about tropical coral reefs. But they have learned that the living things in cold-water reefs prefer total darkness. Organisms in cold-water reefs have also adapted to life under high pressure. At the bottom of a fjord, the water pressure can be hundreds or even thousands of kilograms per square meter. Few organisms can survive in this cold, dark habitat.
Skerries are also found around fjords. A skerry is a small, rocky island created through glaciation. Most of the Scandinavian coastline is cut into thousands of little blocks of land. These jagged bits of coastline are skerries. The U.S. states of Washington and Alaska also have skerries.
Even though skerries can be hard to get around in a boat, fjords are generally calm and protected. This makes them popular harbors for ships.
From the pine-covered taiga forests to the long, narrow fjords that run through massive glaciers, when you vacation to Alaska National Parks, you witness the pristine landscape of Denali National Park, or watch for breaching whales in the waters of Misty Fjords National Monument. For more adventure, zip-line through the treetops of Gulf Islands National Park, or kayak down the ice-covered waters of Glacier Bay National Park. However, you decide to explore, you're sure to find a thrill in an untouched landscape and different kinds of terrain and ecosystems.
Watch for wildlife as you cruise through enchanting fjords, narrow inlets surrounded by massive glacial walls. At places like Misty Fjords or Kenai Fjords, you'll sail across the edge of where mountains, volcanic formations and turquoise waters converge. Be sure to snap a photo while you're there.
What can we say about Misty Fjords? Between 2.3 Million Acres... it's never the same. It's beautiful in full bright sunlight when it is really misty, and at all the stages in between. Waterfalls, shear granite cliffs, trees growing everywhere, even out of shear rock. A true wonderland formed through the millennium out of fire (volcanoes) and ice (glaciers), where you will see wondrous scenery and have a chance to see nature at its finest. Keep your eyes peeled for eagles, bears, deer, mountain goats, seals, or maybe even whales.
Your flight starts in Ketchikan and flies through the Tongass National Forest to The Misty Fjords National Monument. This tour lasts for 1.5 hours and includes flightseeing through the Monument and a stop for 20 minutes on a wilderness Fjord. Enjoy a personal pilot narration with individual headsets on this once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Massive glacier action created this ice-rimmed wilderness. See majestic fjords, cascading waterfalls, jewel-like lakes, and abundant wildlife during your flightseeing exploration. Marvel at sheer walls of granite plunging over 3,000 feet into the fjords, lush forests of spruce, hemlock, and cedar clinging to snowcapped peaks, in this land of incredible natural beauty and rugged grandeur.
The dramatic Misty Fjords terrain is home to a multitude of wildlife. The astute observer may be rewarded with sightings of brown and black bears, Sitka black-tailed deer, wolves, moose, and bald eagles, as your expert bush pilot flies over this paradise. Visible only from the air, see the splendid 1,000-foot waterfall flowing from Big Goat Lake, which was named for the region's concentration of mountain goats. Colonies of these marvelous high mountain creatures can be spotted and photographed from the air.
Adam Weiland was my pilot on this fantastic scenic tour of the fjords....He is a skilled pilot and very informative, friendly and knowledgeable. It was a pleasure...be sure to ask for Adam...and tell him Victoria sent you... : )
We did a sea plane tour of the misty fjords during our Disney cruise recently, culminating in a crab feast at the George Inlet lodge. The float plane part of the experience with Taquan air was amazing, and felt completely one of a kind.
We flew over and around fjords, occasionally dotted with light clouds. Down below, I could see beautiful, pristine lakes nestled on the mountain tops. We even breezed by some mountain goats ambling on the rocks.
The largest national forest, Tongass covers nearly 17 million acres across southeast Alaska surrounding the famous Inside Passage. The landscape, stretching 500 miles from north to south, encompasses thousands of islands, fjords and glaciers and lush valleys that back into the Coast Mountains, as well as an old-growth forest full of cedar, spruce, and hemlock trees. The landscape was first protected as the Alexander Archipelago Forest Reserve by President Theodore Roosevelt in a 1902 presidential proclamation. Three additional proclamations from Roosevelt and one from President Calvin Coolidge outlined the forest as we know it today.
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