Misty Fjords National Monument, Alaska

Fly with me on an airplane over the largest, intact coastal rainforest in America

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This picture popped up as my computer background today: an aerial shot from Misty Fjords National Monument near Ketchikan, Alaska.

Despite an epic Alaskan vacation in July of 2022, I’m sad whenever I see a picture from this trip. I accidentally deleted ALL of my RAWs from the vacation, meaning I can never edit these originals ever again.

We were in Alaska because we were on a luxurious Alaskan cruise to celebrate Adam and our friend Andi’s 40th birthdays. Andi loves to celebrate each new decade in style, and we could afford the Alaskan cruise because both Adam and I had recently gotten our master’s degrees (a lovely teacher pay bump). When picking excursions for the cruise, we saw that there was an airplane flight that would take you above some Alaskan fjords. That immediately jumped out at us because we took a boat trip through Norway’s fjords on our honeymoon (the country, not my hometown). We pulled the trigger on the flight though it was pricey (and made up for it by picking a hike for our next excursion).

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We arrived at the dock in Ketchikan, ready to board a sea plane. We ended up on a smaller one, seated in the way way back.

I couldn’t complain about being in the back. No one could hear the many clicks from my camera.

It was a little weird to see the cruise ship from the air.

Misty Fjords became a national monument in 1978 under President Carter (RIP). The US Forest Service manages its 2.3 million acres, with the most popular way to see it by boat or air. The rainforest gets more than 150 inches of rain a year, so it wasn’t a surprise that the day was overcast with some drizzle.

It’s just so vast.

This plane followed the same flight pattern as us for a while.

Just happy to be here.

The view was epic and no picture will ever do it justice. In some parts of the park, the cliffs rise thousands of feet out of the water.

John Muir compared the area to Yosemite Valley as they both have a similar geology and glacial forms.

It’s truly an incredible place. Now that I know there are hiking trails, I want to go back and explore by foot.

“Do you want me to take your picture?” “Nah, we’re selfie experts.”

Want to hear a great story? I was going through these photos that I had saved on a drive. I realized the first picture, the one that popped up as my computer background, was actually located in my online storage. As I went through the photos, I found five originals that I hadn’t edited before. It’s up to you to figure out which five were edited today.

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I am not one who enjoys cruises, especially knowing the damage they spew on the environment. However, I’d love to go on an Alaskan cruise again. It’s super expensive, though, and it’s not in the works anytime soon. But… I have two other friend couples that have conversion vans. We are starting to have serious conversations about caravanning to Alaska in the summer of 2026. I’ll keep you posted on that possible adventure!

Cheers.