Tongass National Forest

Tongass Home » About the Tongass » Wilderness

Admiralty-Juneau Wilderness Areas

Chuck River | Endicott River | Kootznoowoo | Tracy Arm - Fords Terror

Chuck River Wilderness

Location: The Chuck River Wilderness is located on the southwest boundary of the Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness from the Chuck River drainage and upper Windham Bay north to Point Astley on Holkam Bay (also known as Sumdum Bay) and includes the south side of Endicott Arm. The area is about 10 miles northeast of the community of Hobart Bay and about 70 miles south of Juneau.

Access: The most common access is by boat from Stephens Passage. Float planes from Juneau and Petersburg also provide access.

Area Description: The Chuck River wilderness may offer a sense of solitude and remoteness once away from the shorelines of Windham Bay.

Chuck River Wilderness page

Endicott River Wilderness

Location: The Endicott River Wilderness is situated on the Chilkat Peninsula, on the west side of Lynn Canal, approximately 45 miles northwest of Juneau and 30 miles south of Haines, Alaska. The western alpine portion of the area bounds Glacier Bay National Park for approximately 40 miles.

Access: Presently the most common access is by boat to the confluence of Endicott River and Lynn Canal, then by foot to the area. Boat access is often limited to the spring and summer months because of the dangers of winter storms in Lynn Canal.

Area Description: This area is typical of the rugged, glacially influenced Chilkat Peninsula where it is located. The Endicott River intersects this mountain range as it extends southward as a portion of the Alsek Range. The Endicott River drainage is a large, glacially carved river canyon, and much of the upper drainage is dominated by small trees and brush. Elevations range from near sea level up to 5280 feet near Mount Young, located in the northwest portion of the area. The upper reaches are above timberline and glaciers spread over the common boundary with Glacier Bay National Park.

Annual precipitation is about 92 inches, with highest precipitation in the fall months (September-November) and lowest through the early spring months (April-June).

The spruce-hemlock rainforest of the valley floor, interspersed with muskegs, is typical of southeast Alaska. Much of the upper drainage is dominated by small trees and brush and alpine vegetation.

The Endicott River supports black and brown bear, mountain goat, and a limited number of moose. The presence of moose and mountain goats makes the area somewhat unique in southeast Alaska. Bald eagles use the area along the river during various times of the year and eagle nesting density is high. Deer are present, and the population fluctuates due to deep snow on their winter range. The Endicott River also supports chum, coho, and pink salmon. For further information please contact the Juneau Ranger District.

Endicott River Wilderness Page

Kootznoowoo Wilderness

Location: Admiralty Island National Monument, which encompasses the Kootznoowoo Wilderness, is located in Southeast Alaska approximately 15 miles southeast of Juneau and lies entirely within the Tongass National Forest. Major marine transportation routes and boating waterways surround the island, including Stephens Passage to the east, Chatham Strait to the west and Frederick Sound to the south. Size: The National Monument encompasses approximately 955,747 acres, of which 937,396 are designated as Wilderness.

Access: Private boats and chartered or private float planes are the primary modes of access, with most originating from Juneau. Canoes and kayaks are also used, beginning usually in Juneau or the small community of Angoon. Angoon is serviced by ferry and float planes year round. Juneau has a major airport, ferry and marine docking facilities.

Area Description: The majority of Admiralty is spruce-hemlock rainforest interspersed with small areas of muskeg. The timberline is typically 2000 to 2,500 feet. Above the timberline the forest gradually changes to alpine-tundra with rock outcrops and permanent to semi-permanent ice fields.

Much of the use of Admiralty Island takes place in the several major bays and inlets which penetrate deeply inland. They offer safe places to anchor and hike the adjacent beaches or estuaries while hunting, beach combing or photographing wildlife. Sitka black-tailed deer are numerous, especially during winter and spring along these beach fringes. The largest inlet, Seymour Canal, contains some of the highest densities of nesting bald eagles anywhere in the world.

Admiralty has high densities of Alaskan brown bear which travel throughout the different drainages, and visitors would be wise to take proper precautions. Seymour Canal and other bays such as Mitchell, Hood, Chaik, Whitewater, Pybus and Gambier contain marine mammals such as harbor seals and porpoises, sea lions and occasionally humpback whales. Waterfowl and seabirds overwinter in these bays in abundance and many of the tributary streams have strong runs of salmon in the late summer and fall.

A unique feature of Admiralty is the Cross Island Canoe Route which connects Mole Harbor in Seymour Canal to Angoon. The route passes through as many as eight lakes connected by maintained portage trails dating back to the l930's. Some of the lakes have Forest Service public recreation cabins available for rental from the Forest Service. Others have rustic three-sided shelters and others have only primitive campsites. Ducks and loons nest on the lakes, and most have good populations of cutthroat trout and Dolly Varden char.

Photos

• Central lake region (24 KB file)
• Seymour Canal (26 KB file)

Map/Brochure: A folded map/brochure of the entire island is available for sale from the Forest Service Information Center.

Other Features: The Greens Creek drainage in Hawk Inlet is the site of the Greens Creek silver mine.

The Alaska Division of Parks operates the Oliver Inlet tramway and Seymour Canal Cabin as a marine park.

The Village of Angoon is a traditional Tlingít Village at the mouth of Mitchell Bay.

Other bays show evidence of past logging activity or have remnants of canneries, fox farms, and saltery sites from the fishery boom era.

For more information contact the Admiralty Island National Monument.

Kootznoowoo Wilderness page

Tracy Arm - Fords Terror Wilderness

Location: Tracy Arm-Fords Terror Wilderness is located about 50 miles southeast of Juneau, and 70 miles north of Petersburg, Alaska, off of Holkham Bay and adjacent to Stephen's Passage within the Tongass National Forest.

Access: The most common access is by boat using Stephen's Passage and entering Holkham Bay and Tracy and Endicott Arms. Float planes from Juneau and Petersburg are also used as a means of access. Large tour vessels and smaller commercial cruise boats frequently use Tracy Arm as a tour destination or as a stop along their normal tour routes.

Area Description: Tracy Arm is one of the most scenic places on earth. Naked cliffs twist a serpentine path of granite through coastal mountains toward the twin Sawyer glaciers at the terminus of this fiord. The sky is a mere slice of gray at times, with only a narrow kaleidoscope of clouds. Hundreds of thousands of tourists trek back in time along the 28-mile path each summer, to an age when rock and ice ruled the world. They come to see the vanishing glaciers.

Tracy and Endicott Arms are the major features of the area. Both are long, narrow, and deep fiords that penetrate more than 30 miles into the heavily glaciated Coast Range of mountains. At the head of each of these fiords are active tidewater glaciers, which calve icebergs frequently. During the summer, both fiords have considerable floating ice ranging from the size of a three-story building to hand-size pieces. During the most recent glaciated period, these two fiords filled with active glaciers.

Fords Terror is an area of sheer rock walls towering above the narrow waterway which connects with Endicott Arm. It was named for a crew member of a naval vessel who rowed into the narrow fiord at slack tide in 1899 and was caught in surging tidal currents for six terrifying hours when the tide changed.

The majority of the area is rugged snow and glacier-covered mountains with steep walls, but a spruce-hemlock rainforest grows on the lower slopes. Timberline is typically about 1500 feet in elevation and there are a few muskeg bog areas which are dominated by sedges, grass, and sphagnum moss. About 75 percent of the area is considered alpine in character, which includes 20 percent glaciers and snow fields.

Mountain goats, wolverines, brown and black bear, numerous furbearers, and a few Sitka black-tailed deer inhabit the upland areas. Bald eagles and shorebirds use the coastal areas. Harbor seals, sea lions, and whales frequent the waterways and harbor seals use floating ice at the head of the fiords for rearing of young and protection from predators.

Photos

• Glacier (34 KB file)
• Sight-seeing boat in fiord (42 KB file)

Special Features: Tlingít Indian villages once existed in the area near the terminus of Sumdum Glacier in Holkham Bay. For further information please contact the Juneau Ranger District.

More information

USDA Forest Service - Tongass National Forest
Last Modified: January 12, 2007