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Old 03-02-2025, 22:31   #1
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Join Date: Jul 2022
Boat: MAINE CAT 41
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TRACEY ARM / FORD'S TERROR AK

Any hearty souls ever dropped anchor in Tracey Arm / Ford's Terror area, specifically early to mid-May timeframe? We're planning to take our Maine Cat 41 there. We're well equipped with diesel heat (Walas x 2), generator, watermaker, solar, etc. Carbon fiber dink with 15HP motor. I'm wondering if there are any viable places to drop the hook in Tracey Arm itself (further north and east of Tracey Cove.) Any insight on Ford's Terror East / West also appreciated although there seems to be plenty of comments in Navionics and online. We have 250' of chain on a good Rocna (primary, on windlass.) Have additional Rocna on same amount of rode line. Anyone been ashore and, if so, any notes on bears? Also wondering about ice and how hazardous this might truly be. Seems easy enough to avoid. Wind and tide experiences anyone? Thanks!
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Old 03-02-2025, 23:28   #2
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Re: TRACEY ARM / FORD'S TERROR AK

One of our absolute most favorite places on Earth. We have looked at, but never anchored further up Tracy Arm, just make a day trip of it with the tides, even at 5-6 knots you can spend some good time up at the glaciers. There are a couple of shelves we passed over, but none that looked appealing enough (to us) to spend the night. Navigation up Tracy Arm is pretty straightforward, although you would be about a month earlier than we have ever been there.

Heading south down Endicott Arm is a lot more challenging, that is usually pretty ice strewn all the way out to the entrance. You have to follow what you see, but generally we find more open water running down the east shore.

The tides tables are a bit hard to judge for Ford's Terror, hang out in the pool at the entrance until you see the flow slow to a reasonable level. We enter on the end of the flood, watch out for the shallow in the middle of the entrance, we tend to come around from the west hugging the north shore and leaving it to starboard, but the other way round is fine too. If you don't mind some shore ties you can go the furthest east side of the entrance pool and there is a little "cove" that you can tie across and watch the Terror for a day. It is quite amazing at full ebb, and you'll be a in little backwater.

Inside, the standard anchorage is at the far end of the north arm, but it is deep (100'). We generally see bears here in the meadow. Usually one family to the east of the stream, and a different one to the west. If you kayak the shores you will see the males further south, prowling the shoreline for tasty treats and berries, especially if (as it will be in May) it is before fish come in.

If you come in at high water and it is slack when you get to the "T" you can go to starboard and go down the other arm. There is a ton of shallow water, but it dries at low tide except at neaps, when you might be able to get a cat up on it (have not tried it ourselves, but dinghy down there). The entrance is almost closed by a peninsula, and behind that is a small island, you can anchor between the peninsula and the island, there is room for one boat, bow and stern (at least for us, the swinging room is very limited). You will be trapped here, you cannot get out except at high water slack, but that is true for the Terror itself, and this anchorage makes for a nice change.

Once inside, especially if you have kayaks or some other quiet form of transportation, we could easily spend a week here, waking up every morning to bears on the shore, and then patrolling quietly along the shores and watching the wildlife.

This is the entrance the last time we went in, would not recommend entry first time under these conditions, but we had several tracks to follow and have been in several times. The trip back up Endicott is a long way once you get this far, although as noted you can do the shore tie here:

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And this was from a kayak at about 20', we spent an hour or so watching as he munched barnacles:
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If you take the dinghy all the way down the east end, probably an hour to an hour and a half before high tide you can just get up into the river, and then there is some nice walking. Probably want to get back out no more than an hour after high tide, you can judge by the depth of the shallows as you go in.

One more note, Ford's Terror itself is ice free, so once inside it is generally clear, but ice does enter on the flood from time to time, so keep an eye out, especially when making the turn to starboard at the entrance. This is a blind corner. Also courteous to announce yourself on the radio with a Securite, anyone inside will be coming and out invisible at the same time you want to head in.
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Old 04-02-2025, 07:55   #3
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Boat: Sabre 402
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Re: TRACEY ARM / FORD'S TERROR AK

My brother heads up to Tracey Arm just about every summer from Juneau, though I'm not sure exactly where he goes to anchor or tie up. He does mention growlers being a concern for his J/30.
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