Misty Fjords National Monument

Misty Fjords National Monument earns its name with absolute honesty. This 930,000-hectare wilderness in southeastern Alaska's Tongass National Forest is draped in a perpetual cloak of mist, rain, and low-hanging cloud that gives the landscape an almost supernatural quality — granite cliffs vanishing into vapor, waterfalls materializing from invisible heights, and forests of Sitka spruce emerging from fog banks like apparitions. When the clouds part — as they occasionally do with dramatic suddenness — the revealed landscape is one of the most stunning in North America: sheer-walled fjords, mirror-still lakes, and volcanic intrusions of granite rising 900 meters directly from the sea.

The monument's geological story is written in its cliffs. The Behm Canal, a natural channel that nearly severs Revillagigedo Island from the mainland, cuts through layers of metamorphic and igneous rock that span hundreds of millions of years. New Eddystone Rock, a volcanic plug rising seventy meters from the canal's waters, is the monument's most distinctive landmark — a dark, columnar pillar that Captain George Vancouver named in 1793 for its resemblance to the Eddystone Lighthouse off the coast of Devon. The fjords themselves — Rudyerd Bay, Punchbowl Cove, Walker Cove — were carved by glaciers that have since retreated, leaving behind U-shaped valleys filled with water so clear and dark it appears bottomless.

Wildlife in Misty Fjords benefits from the monument's protected status and vast extent. Black bears and brown bears forage along the streams and shorelines, particularly during the salmon runs of late summer. Mountain goats pick their way along the precipitous cliff faces that would give most humans vertigo. Bald eagles nest in the old-growth spruce trees that line the fjords, their white heads visible from considerable distances against the dark green canopy. In the water, harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and orcas patrol the channels, while all five species of Pacific salmon return to the monument's rivers and streams each year in runs that sustain the entire ecosystem.

Exploring Misty Fjords is an exercise in immersion — literally and figuratively. Kayaking through the fjords offers the most intimate experience: the silence is profound, broken only by the drip of water from your paddle, the distant roar of a waterfall, and the occasional exhalation of a surfacing seal. Floatplane tours provide a bird's-eye perspective, landing on alpine lakes surrounded by sheer granite walls that create natural amphitheaters of extraordinary acoustic resonance. Zodiac excursions from expedition ships navigate the narrow arms of the fjords, approaching waterfalls and cliff faces close enough to feel the spray and appreciate the scale of a landscape that photographs can only approximate.

HX Expeditions and Windstar Cruises include Misty Fjords National Monument on their Alaska itineraries, with ships typically cruising through the Behm Canal and offering zodiac or kayak excursions into the side fjords. The monument's proximity to Ketchikan — Alaska's southernmost major port — makes it one of the most accessible wilderness experiences in the Inside Passage. The visiting season runs from May through September, with June and July offering the longest days. Rain is virtually guaranteed — Misty Fjords receives over 350 centimeters of precipitation annually — but it is the rain, the mist, and the atmospheric light that give this landscape its haunting, unforgettable character.