Thursday, July 24


We had an appointment with Jane and Gina, archaeologists with the Forest Service, to see the ancient fish trap and petroglyph on Sandy Beach in Petersburg . The time -- 11:30 AM -- was set by the tide; it had to be low in order to see the fish trap. Jane outlined the shape of it in the sand and explained how at high tide the fish would swim into the broad part, and then as the tide went out they would be caught in the heart-shaped trap at the end, and the Indians could then easily gather their harvest. We could see the remains of several stone traps, one of which is pictured here, and bits of cedar stakes sticking up from the sand that remained from a wooden trap. Carbon dating of the wood indicates that they are about 2000 years old. The petroglyph, which cannot be dated, depicts three face-like figures, but they do not show up well on my pictures.



By the end of the day the weather had turned really beautiful and Dick had a sudden inspiration: how about a seaplane flight? So we drove over to the seaplane dock and made inquiries . Butch, of Kupreanof Flying Service, would have loved to take us out, but he had already ended his working day and drunk a beer, so he couldn't do it. What a nice guy! He called up his friend Doug, who runs Nordic Air, arranged for him to take us out, guided us to his place at the airport, and offered us a place to park our van for the night. So Doug flew us out over the LeComte Glacier, which was awe-inspiring. This is the southernmost marine glacier in Alaska, meaning that it ends right at salt water, rather than feeding into a river or lake. As we flew over it, we were amazed at the roughness of its texture, and we admired all the icebergs that had broken off it into the deep blue water. (When our
ferry came into Petersburg harbor two nights ago, they were searching with a big spotlight for those icebergs!) We also flew over the Shakes Glacier, much smoother than LeComte, which ends in a lake. And for an added thrill, we landed in that lake and took off again. With two cameras going constantly it was really difficult to pick out just two pictures to show from this exhilirating experience, one of the definite high points of our trip thus far.