Kayaker Glacial Ice, Alaska Panhandle

A paddle in the panhandle

On a map, the Alaska Panhandle appears as a tangled maze of straits, inlets, and fjords such as Tracy Arm—peeped here through a rift in the ice as a kayaker plies the cold water. Tracy Arm, like other fjords around the capital city of Juneau, is part of a vast network of navigable waterways that extend a thousand miles: the legendary Inside Passage. Sheltered from the open Pacific, cruise ships, ferries, shipping and fishing vessels, and even recreational craft can sail the passage all the way from Olympia, Washington, to Skagway, Alaska—and everywhere in between.