Alaska South East | Alaska Inside Passage

Known alternatively as the Alaskan Panhandle or the Inside Passage, Southeast Alaska stretches 500 miles from the base of Mt.

Fairweather to Misty Fjords National Monument.

To the northeast is Canada, to the southwest only ocean.

It is a strikingly beautiful region, with forests of Sitka spruce and cedar, emerald mountains, sheer fjords, and tidewater glaciers connected by intensely blue water.More than 75 percent of the Southeast is covered by the Tongass National Forest.

It's a temperate rainforest, the largest in the world, and the misty, mossy, lushly green woodlands contribute greatly to the region's magical feel.

Also within the Southeast border lines are Glacier Bay National Park, Misty Fjords National Monument, the farthest tip of Wrangell-St.

Elias National Park.Small port towns like Ketchikan, Wrangell, Angoon, Sitka, and Gustavus dot rocky coastlines throughout the Inside Passage.

Many were originally sites of Native Alaskan villages or seasonal fish camps, while others were settled by Russian fur traders in the 1800s.

The area is also home to gold rush boom towns like Skagway and Juneau, Alaska's state capital.