Photo: Osprey anchored at Takatz Bay

We motored south in Chatham Strait over a glass sea. To starboard, steep majestic mountains with snowfields and blue glaciers rose above us.

But something seemed different. Puzzled, I looked through binoculars to see gray barren slopes surrounding the glaciers. What I was seeing were areas normally covered by snow, so newly bared that no plants had been able to establish a foothold. Alaska's record-breaking warm winter was plainly visible.


Photo: A mountain on Baranof Island. Notice the gray areas around the snow.

We turned into Takatz Bay, a place we'd never been before. Small cirques and U-shaped valleys towered above us, testament to long-ago glaciation. Lush forests occupied the lower elevations.

As we made our final turn into the anchoring basin, a large white powerboat came into view, anchored in our planned spot. I had forgotten how popular the east coast of Baranof is. We anchored near the shore, closer to a rock than we normally would, but still far enough off to be safe. Later, a second powerboat anchored farther out in deeper water.

The next morning while Steve worked on the engine, I inflated my kayak and went for a paddle, gliding by moss-covered boulders and gazing at a waterfall tumbling over a series of rock steps.

Here we were on our sixth trip to SE Alaska and still finding fantastic new anchorages.