The town of Wrangell is relatively small in size but grand in charm. National Geographic Sea Lion pulled into port in this quaint town to explore the mix of history, nature, and modern-day culture it has to offer. A day of sunny blue skies and tall, voluminous clouds began with a hike up to the Dewey Mountain Lookout. The town of Wrangell is also home to the largest collection of petroglyphs in Alaska. These 8,000-year-old etchings in rock tell the stories of the area’s Tlingit population. Just across the Zimovia Strait, the Stikine River provided an ideal location to start a jet boat tour up the river. Unlike typical propeller boats, this boat has a draft of about six inches. The jet boat uses jet propulsion of the water beneath to move its way upriver towards Shakes Glacier and Shakes Lake.
- Daily Expedition Reports
- 26 May 2022
Wrangell, 5/26/2022, National Geographic Sea Lion
- Aboard the National Geographic Sea Lion
- Alaska
Kelly Morgan, Undersea Specialist
Kelly spent her childhood and adolescence in Maryland, exploring the wonders of the natural world wherever she could. This innate curiosity about the environment around her led Kelly to question why people and animals were driven to live their lives ...
Read MoreShare Report
Alaska Escape: LeConte Bay, Wrangell and Misty Fjords
VIEW ITINERARYRelated Reports
5/29/2025
Read
National Geographic Sea Bird
Endicott Arm
Dawes Glacier, located at the head of Endicott Arm in Southeast Alaska, is an active tidewater glacier in the remote Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness Area. Reaching the glacier requires a 30-mile journey through a narrow fjord lined with sheer rock walls rising over 3,000 feet. These cliffs are veined with waterfalls and often blanketed in mist. Throughout the fjord, remnants of the glacier float in the form of icebergs. The glacier feeds cold, silty meltwater into the fjord, giving the water a distinctive milky-green hue and supporting a rich marine food web. Harbor seals were hauled out on ice floes near the glacier. Gulls and Arctic terns were actively feeding, likely drawn by the small fish and plankton concentrated by the glacial outflow. The glacier calved several times, hurling large chunks of ice across the water’s surface, sending the birds fleeing. The sound of the ice hitting the water echoed off the steep rock walls that rise thousands of feet on either side.
5/27/2025
Read
National Geographic Sea Bird
Dawes Glacier in Endicott Arm
We could not have asked for a better way to end the expedition. Our last day was amazing! Visiting Dawes Glacier in Endicott Arm was a highlight with its crystal-blue ice and resting harbor seals floating by on the ice. In the evening, we even got to see a couple of humpback whales off the bow of the ship. We ended the day by watching images of the beautiful moments created on our expedition during the famed guest photo slideshow.