Captain Scott's Log ~ Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

Subject: Best Day Ever

From the size of the icebergs, many larger than the boat, we should have
guessed what the Sawyyer would be like 25 miles up the fjord. We had
clearing weather from last night’s rain and could see new snow on the
surrounding mountains. A few miles into the fjord the side walls rose
vertically 2000 feet. The mountain peaks just beyond were 5000feet. Water
runoff from the mountains spewed over the fjord rim creating hundreds of
2000 ft waterfalls. Each little side canyon was the remains of the old
glacier with its U shaped valley and polished rock walls. For 25 miles we
marveled at the scenery and dodged icebergs. One small sightseeing boat
passed us and went to the face of the So Sawyer Glacier. 1 1/2 mile from
there was as far as we could go as the ice was so thick. The sightseeing
boat was a dot against the 400 ft high ice edge. As Pipe Dream could go no
further, the dingy was put in and a party of 5 tried to push through. The
fjord is 1200 ft deep but the dingy would beach it self on ice flows and made
little progress. An inflatable in a frozen ice field with the glacier calving
monster bergs was pretty stupid--a fact which finally dawned on us and we
gave up. So we tried the North Sawyer and made it through to the face of the
glacier. Its 400 ft face was leaning out in several places and there were
frequent loud cracks. Seals swam nearby and the boat was photographed from the
dingy. Stand by for part 2