July 20 -- Ketchikan and Misty Fjords

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I was very surprised, on July 20, to look out our window and discover that we had apparently parked right in the middle of Ketchikan.






There is some interesting public art in Ketchikan. These are on pilings visible as you walk to your catamaran for a trip to Misty Fjords.








The barnacles are my favorite. What an excellent use of the different colors and shininess/mattness of the tile!!!






Ok. Let's head out for Misty Fjords.






Exposure was a constant problem for your intrepid photographer. If the sky was properly exposed, the land tended to be underexposed, and if the land was properly exposed, the sky was blown out altogether. The human image-reception/-processing system allows us to focus on the sky one second and the land the next, and we are not aware of all the shifts in our equipment that let us see whatever we are looking at as clearly as possible.

A photograph, being static, can't allow our pupils to readjust to different light levels, and so one part or another may not be properly exposed.

Sigh.

I can do some post-processing, and lighten up the darkest areas, but the color has not been recorded properly, and never looks quite right.......

Sigh.

I've left this one alone, exposed for the sky, to show the silhouettes.






A constant theme, in Misty Fjords, is nature's tenacity. Give a tree a sliver of rock to grow on, and grow it will...........










Another constant theme is tiny little waterfalls. There is still snow, up above on the mountain, and the snowmelt results in these little falls. We were told that the snow will melt entirely, at some point over the summer, and the water will stop until next year.....






The day, while cloudy, was still. Lots of excellent reflections.......










I have forgotten what sort of birds these little guys are.... It seems to me their name ends in -let or -lot?






Of course we know what sort of bird this is.






And this.






The stillness of the day, and the height of the tide allowed us to get quite close to this pictograph.

It is old enough that no one knows when it was painted. Or why........








Harbor seals. I can see three little faces.






More reflections.






Time to head back to Ketchikan.






This was our last day on land in Alaska.

One last eagle, as we leave Misty Fjords......





In order to facilitate chronological traverse of these posts, a link to the next one is here.

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