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Southeast Alaska
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Southeast Alaska

Introduction

Tongass National Forest & Smaller Wilderness Areas

Hyder, AK & Stewart, BC

Misty Fiords National Monument

Ketchikan

Prince of Wales Island

Wrangell

Petersburg

Stikine-Leconte Wilderness

Admiralty Island National Monument

Juneau

Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness

Sitka & Sitka National Historic Park

West Chichagof-Yakobi Wilderness & South Baranof Wilderness

Haines

Skagway, Klondike National Historic Park & White Pass and Yukon Route

Glacier Bay National Park & Gustavus

Yakutat & Russell Fiord Wilderness


Tracy Arm–Fords Terror Wilderness

Location/Size: Between the Canada border and Endicott Arm, south of Juneau, contiguous with Chuck River Wilderness. 653,179 acres.

Main Activities: Kayaking, canoeing, tour boats, wilderness exploration, mountaineering.

Gateway Towns/Getting There: Juneau/scheduled air service from Seattle and Anchorage, scheduled ferry service from Ketchikan, Sitka, Haines, Skagway; regular small-plane air service from several points. Wilderness access via tour boat from Juneau, extended kayaking, air or water drop-offs.

Facilities, Camping, Lodging: No facilities. Primitive camping only.

Headquarters and Information: Forest Service Information Center, 101 Egan Drive, Juneau, AK 99801, 586-8751.

This spectacular wilderness features numerous jagged peaks and glaciers, including three major tidewater glaciers, two meeting the waters of Tracy Arm and the third at the head of 30-mile-long Endicott Arm. Fords Terror is a narrow, sinuous, T-shaped channel reaching 7 miles into the high country from the northeast side of Endicott Arm. The Chuck River Wilderness is contiguous with Tracy Arm–Fords Terror on the west, completing protection of Endicott Arm from the divide down to the water.

Tracy Arm is well served by tour boats from Juneau. Sawyer Glacier and South Sawyer Glacier meet the water 3 miles apart on either side of a 6,000-foot spur of the Coast Range. Calving can be observed and bergs dot the waters. Endicott Arm has the advantage of being far from any town, offering relative solitude to long-distance kayakers with spectacular Coast Mountain scenery and the impressive Dawes Glacier. Access is almost exclusively by water, though air drop-offs and flightseeing are always possible.