Not far from Auke Bay, but seemingly a world apart, are the Mendenhall tide flats, left by the Mendenhall River's silty tidal estuary as it has emptied for centuries into the channel between the mainland and what is now Douglas Island. Locals now favor the flats for good walks, whether conversational, reflective, or vigorous. The flats offer only a slivered glimpse of Lynn Canal, but they often immerse an observer in moody atmosphere and sea-level foliage. The sky, constrained by cloud and mountains on both sides of the channel, is an active participant in a walk on the flats. The clouds are dramatic personalities.

EF4A8701

A wide-angle lens makes the mountains appear far less prominent than they seem to an observer on the ground.
EF4A8698
EF4A8706 131A1717
 

A longer lens better captures an observer's perspective. 
131A1697 131A9715 131A6281-Edit 131A1720

Notwithstanding the engineering needed to create an airport, the river continues to carve graceful arcs as it carries silt and deadfalls downstream, depositing them wherever it wishes. Sea grasses thrive. Fireweed, nature's calendar, provides ground cover and ground color and reminds us that summer is ending. A few hardy flowers pop up.  

131A1708 131A6306
131A6279 131A6374 131A6324 131A6311 131A9687 131A9754

Wet leaves reflect gray sky.

Mendenhall Glacier is just up the valley. 131A9851

Wind, the confluence of southeast winds that move north along Gastineau Channel and cold, dense breezes that drop off the face of the glacier, can gust with enthusiastic energy, animating the grasses and fireweed, already in seed.

131A1179 131A1186 131A1261 131A1269 131A1189-4 131A1241

Dogs race about, energized by the wind. 131A1210 131A1208

The flats are beneath and beside the airport approaches, so it is not surprising that a Coast Guard C-130 might, in scudding clouds, drop down suddenly from the north, landing lights bright in late daylight gloom above Engineer's Cutoff.   131A9621-Edit-Edit 131A9631-Edit

Gray skies backdrop planes above the flats. 131A9865 131A9781 131A9836-Edit

The tide flats aren't always moody, gloomy, and dark. North winds bring blue sky and fleecy clouds, and the mood turns happy, buoyant.  The skies seem to open up, expanding physically and psychologically.  

131A9806 131A9807 131A1684