Pacific NW

Expeditions

I breathed a sigh of relief as we left Whittier, its tower fading into the distance. We soon encountered a thick wall of fog. For the next 45 miles there was nothing but white all around. The top of the mast became obscured in the haze, and all sense of direction was lost. The compass seemed to have a few tricks of its own that day too. There must have been a local magnetic disturbance. When the fog finally cleared, we were surrounded by dozens of glaciers and towering mountains. College Fjord has many tidewater glaciers. The upper end of it marks Silent Partner’s northernmost point of the voyage. We ground to a halt in a thick ice pack at Latitude 61 degrees 13.000′ North! It was a very proud moment for all. The ice from the glaciers was too thick to approach any of the faces, so we ran back to Coghill Point Anchorage for the evening. I went for a 6 mile hike to a cabin on a lake. It felt good to work up a sweat and do some hiking again. On the way I saw many bear tracks, huge swans, and several of the largest beaver houses I’ve ever seen! They were huge, probably 15 feet tall and 30 feet long. It was dusk when I set out on the hike. But because the days are so long, dusk lasts a really long time too. My instincts kept telling me to return to the boat ASAP before it got too dark, and I had to keep referring to a wristwatch to believe what time it was.