During the short stay in Ketchikan, five of us - Alan, Cindy, Ellen, Sue, and I - went on a tour by floatplane over the Misty Fjords National Monument. They graciously left me the best seat on the plane for taking photos - through a dome shaped pertruding plastic window under the left wing.

The one hour flight took us to the wilderness called "the Yosemite of the North", part of the Tongass National Forest. The glaciers, waterfalls, canals and granite cliffs that rise a few thousand feet above sea level were formed during the ice ages centuries ago. The monument of 2 million acres in size, was created in late 1978, manged by the US Forest Service agency, is only accessible by cruise ship or floatplane.