Near the port town of Haines, on the Lynn Canal, Indian warriors warned the 18th-century party of Russian fur hunters not to come ashore. They did, and they were slain. Today's visitors get a better reception. Long ago, ice ages shaped this rugged and beautiful slice of Alaska. Where the glaciers plowed great trenches, now there are fjords 1,000 feet deep, and hundreds of islands.
Steep slopes rise from the water's edge to the tips of cloud-scraping mountains.
Scattered communities cling like wilderness outposts to skinny stretches of coastline. Creeks and rivers churn with runs of silvery salmon. Indian totems decorate the forest fringes like masterpieces in a dynamite gallery. Passage - Add Four Nature, to be sure, has crafted wondrous treasures in Southeast Alaska. But, for those who live and travel here, the grandeur comes mostly without highways.