Alaska, nature on a grand scale

Vancouver is a delicious juxtaposition of urban sophistication and on-your-doorstep wilderness adventure. The mountains and seascape make the city an outdoor playground for hiking, skiing, kayaking, cycling, and sailing—and so much more—while the cuisine and arts scenes are equally diverse, reflecting the makeup of Vancouver's ethnic (predominantly Asian) mosaic. Vancouver is consistently ranked as one of the world's most livable cities, and it's easy for visitors to see why. It's beautiful, it's outdoorsy, and there's a laidback West Coast vibe. On the one hand, there's easy access to a variety of outdoor activities, a fabulous variety of beaches, and amazing parks. At the same time, the city has a multicultural vitality and cosmopolitan flair. The attraction is as much in the range of food choices—the fresh seafood and local produce are some of North America's best—as it is in the museums, shopping, and nightlife.Vancouver's landscaping also adds to the city's walking appeal. In spring, flowerbeds spill over with tulips and daffodils while sea breezes scatter scented cherry blossoms throughout Downtown; in summer office workers take to the beaches, parks, and urban courtyards for picnic lunches and laptop meetings. More than 8 million visitors each year come to Vancouver, Canada's third-largest metropolitan area. Because of its peninsula location, traffic flow is a contentious issue. Thankfully, Vancouver is wonderfully walkable, especially in the downtown core. The North Shore is a scoot across the harbor, and the rapid-transit system to Richmond and the airport means that staying in the more affordable ’burbs doesn't have to be synonymous with sacrificing convenience. The mild climate, exquisite natural scenery, and relaxed outdoor lifestyle keep attracting residents, and the number of visitors is increasing for the same reasons. People often get their first glimpse of Vancouver when catching an Alaskan cruise, and many return at some point to spend more time here.

Rudyerd Bay is one of the highlights of the Misty Fiords, 40 miles east of Ketchikan, along the Inside Passage. This fjord cuts through steep-sided mountainous terrain and extends far into the mainland. The scenery is stunning, with dramatic thousand-foot waterfalls plunging down rainforest covered cliffs to the water below.

Kake is a beautiful beachfront village blessed with breath-taking scenery. It is in many ways a traditional Tlingit town, and while visiting it you can learn about the traditions of this community. One of the village’s most iconic traditions is to stand at the foot of its 132-foot totem pole (one of the world’s largest) to learn the history and heritage of the community. You can also embark on your own wildlife adventure or hike among this pristine mountain landscapes with dark reflective eaters that mirror the crystalline mountaintops.

Unlike most cities of Southeast Alaska, Haines can be reached by road. With a population of 2,200, Haines lies in the upper northern reaches of the Inside Passage and is an important access point to the Yukon Territory and Interior Alaska. While cruising into Haines, see the Lynn Canal, the longest and deepest fjord in North America. Once in town, mountains seem to surround you on all sides while the jagged cathedral peaks of the Chilkat Mountains loom over Fort Seward. Haines has two distinct personalities. On the north side of the Haines Highway is the section of Haines that developed around the Presbyterian mission. After its missionary beginnings, it served as the trailhead for the Jack Dalton Trail into the Yukon during the 1897 gold rush to the Klondike. South of the highway, the town resembles a military post, which is exactly what it was for nearly half a century. In 1903 the U.S. Army established Fort William Henry Seward at Portage Cove just south of town. The post (renamed Chilkoot Barracks in 1922) was the only military base in the territory until World War II. In 1939, the army built the Alaska Highway and the Haines Highway to connect Alaska with the other states. Today, the community of Haines is recognized for the Native American dance and culture center at Fort Seward as well as for its superb fishing, camping and outdoor recreation.

Endicott Arm is a long fjord branching off Stephen’s Passage, the major inner passage heading southeast from Juneau. The easternmost tip of Endicott Arm nearly reaches the Canadian border. Like all the fords in this region, it was carved by glaciers during the last Ice Age which ended about 11,000 years ago. One either side of the fjord the steep, nearly vertical walls, rise to a height of about 370 meters or 1,200 feet. Sitka spruce and western hemlock trees manage to cling onto the rock faces, adding to the breath-taking beauty of the landscape.

Petersburg lies on the northern end of Mitkof Island, in the Inside Passage, on the banks of Frederick Sound where it joins the Wrangell Narrows. It is halfway between Juneau, 120 mi to the north, and Ketchikan 110 mi to the south. Remnants of fish traps and ancient petroglyphs indicate that this area was used by the Tlingit people as a summer fish camp. For more than 1,000 years In 1897 Peter Buschmann, a Norwegian immigrant, settled here. The place was named Petersburg after him, and was incorporated as a town in 1910. It flourished as a fishing port, and even today, it remains an island community that makes its living from the sea. It is the largest home-based halibut fleet in Alaska, and is ranked the 15th-most lucrative fisheries port in the United States by volume.

Elfin Cove sits snugly on the southern shore of Cross Sound, which leads in eastwards to the Inside Passage. Northwards and across the Sound from the small community lies Glacier Bay National Park and the Fairweather Mountain range. Elfin Cove is a quaint little harbor clustered with attractive timber houses built into the wooded hillsides on stilts. The population swells to about 200 during the summer months, from a rather meager 6 or so during the snowy and isolated winters. Its commercial hub consists of a Post Office, mini-Museum, a General Store, the Coho Bar and numerous sports fishing businesses. In the summer months Rufous-backed Hummingbirds visit feeders scattered around the community.

During the evening Silver Explorer will be near Point Adolphus, a well-known area for whale watching. Enjoy an aperitif while you are on the outer decks, looking for humpback whales as well as orcas, or simply enjoying the landscape.

It's hard not to like Sitka, with its eclectic blend of Alaska Native, Russian, and American history and its dramatic and beautiful open-ocean setting. This is one of the best Inside Passage towns to explore on foot, with St. Michael's Cathedral, Sheldon Jackson Museum, Castle Hill, Sitka National Historical Park, and the Alaska Raptor Center topping the must-see list.Sitka was home to the Kiksádi clan of the Tlingit people for centuries prior to the 18th-century arrival of the Russians under the direction of territorial governor Alexander Baranof, who believed the region was ideal for the fur trade. The governor also coveted the Sitka site for its beauty, mild climate, and economic potential; in the island's massive timber forests he saw raw materials for shipbuilding. Its location offered trading routes as far west as Asia and as far south as California and Hawaii. In 1799 Baranof built St. Michael Archangel—a wooden fort and trading post 6 miles north of the present town.Strong disagreements arose shortly after the settlement. The Tlingits attacked the settlers and burned their buildings in 1802. Baranof, however, was away in Kodiak at the time. He returned in 1804 with a formidable force—including shipboard cannons—and attacked the Tlingits at their fort near Indian River, site of the present-day 105-acre Sitka National Historical Park, forcing many of them north to Chichagof Island.By 1821 the Tlingits had reached an accord with the Russians, who were happy to benefit from the tribe's hunting skills. Under Baranof and succeeding managers, the Russian-American Company and the town prospered, becoming known as the Paris of the Pacific. The community built a major shipbuilding and repair facility, sawmills, and forges, and even initiated an ice industry, shipping blocks of ice from nearby Swan Lake to the booming San Francisco market. The settlement that was the site of the 1802 conflict is now called Old Sitka. It is a state park and listed as a National Historic Landmark.The town declined after its 1867 transfer from Russia to the United States, but it became prosperous again during World War II, when it served as a base for the U.S. effort to drive the Japanese from the Aleutian Islands. Today its most important industries are fishing, government, and tourism.

Part of the Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park, Icy Bay is a body of water in south-east Alaska that was formed in the past 100 years due to the retreat of the Guyot, Yahtse and Tyndall glaciers. Icy Bay lives up to its name with an active tidewater glacier often clogging the fjord with icebergs. Here you can witness fantastic representations of geologic action over thousands of years whilst soaking in the magnificent views and exploring the landscape up-close.

College Fjord in the northern sector of Prince William Sound, is considered one of the most scenic fjords in the world with spectacular glacier viewing. . There are over a dozen major glaciers in the fjord, all surrounded by rugged snow-capped mountains. It is possible from one point to see eight glaciers at once. College Fjord was discovered in 1899 during the Harriman Expedition. Edward Henry Herriman, a millionaire railroad tycoon, set sail with 125 other passengers and crew, including 23 of esteemed scientists from several Ivy League schools, to explore the fjords of Alaskan. The scientists named the glaciers in this fjord after their Ivy League alma maters and their sister schools. Those names include Amherst, Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Harvard, Smith, Vassar, and Yale. The glaciers of the northwest side feature names of women's colleges and those of the southeast side are names of men's colleges.

It is hard to believe that a place as beautiful as Seward exists. Surrounded on all sides by Kenai Fjords National Park, Chugach National Forest, and Resurrection Bay, Seward offers all the quaint realities of a small railroad town with the bonus of jaw-dropping scenery. This little town of about 2,750 citizens was founded in 1903, when survey crews arrived at the ice-free port and began planning a railroad to the Interior. Since its inception, Seward has relied heavily on tourism and commercial fishing. It is also the launching point for excursions into Kenai Fjords National Park, where it is quite common to see marine life and calving glaciers.