What You'll See in Misty Fjords National Monument

Misty Fjords National Monument packs an extraordinary amount of scenery into one flight. From the moment your floatplane climbs east out of Ketchikan, the landscape shifts from working waterfront to a wall-to-wall wilderness of granite, water, and forest. This guide walks through the landmarks you’re most likely to see so you know what you’re looking at — and can point your camera in the right direction. Ready to go? The featured floatplane flightseeing tour is the top-rated way to see all of it.

The Big Picture: A Glacier-Carved Wilderness

Misty Fjords protects roughly 2.3 million acres inside the Tongass National Forest, the largest national forest in the country. The terrain is the work of ice: glaciers gouged out deep fjords, leaving behind sheer valley walls of granite that rise as much as 3,000 feet straight from the water. Because there are no roads and almost no development, what you see from the plane is essentially what Captain Vancouver’s crew saw in 1793 — untouched.

New Eddystone Rock

The monument’s single most famous landmark is New Eddystone Rock, a lone 237-foot pillar of basalt standing in the middle of the Behm Canal. It’s the eroded neck of an ancient volcanic vent, and Captain George Vancouver named it in 1793 because it reminded him of the Eddystone Lighthouse off the English coast. From a floatplane you often see it from directly above — a perspective no boat can match — with the forested shorelines and channel spreading out around it.

Rudyerd Bay and Punchbowl Cove

Deeper into the monument, Rudyerd Bay is the classic Misty Fjords postcard: a narrow inlet of glass-flat water hemmed by vertical rock. Within it, Punchbowl Cove is the showpiece — a natural amphitheater of granite where cliffs plunge straight into the sea and a lake sits perched in a hanging valley above. It’s the kind of place that explains why the monument is protected in the first place.

Waterfalls Everywhere

Misty Fjords is waterfall country. Snowmelt and near-constant rain feed cascades that spill from hanging valleys down the cliff faces — including a roughly 1,800-foot waterfall fed by Big Goat Lake. In late spring and early summer, after the snow melts, dozens can run at once. The mist thrown up by the falls, mixing with low cloud, is exactly what gives the “Misty” Fjords their name.

Wildlife From the Air

You’re flying over genuinely wild country, and wildlife sightings are part of the appeal — though never guaranteed. Watch for:

The pilot narrates over the headset and will point out anything that appears. Marine mammals like whales and orcas are more reliably seen on a boat tour, so if wildlife is your main goal, weigh the floatplane vs. boat comparison.

The Tongass Rainforest

The whole monument sits inside the Tongass — a 17-million-acre temperate rainforest, the largest intact one on Earth. From the air you’ll see the dense carpet of old-growth spruce, hemlock, and cedar covering the lower slopes, threaded with salmon streams and muskeg bogs. It’s a reminder that Misty Fjords isn’t just rock and water; it’s one of the richest coastal ecosystems in North America.

Making the Most of the Views

A few practical tips to see more:

1. Take the window seat — guaranteed on the featured tour — and sit on whichever side the pilot suggests for the outbound leg.
2. Shoot through the window, not the vent — a lens close to the glass cuts reflections.
3. Listen to the commentary — pilots know exactly where the goats, falls, and landmarks are.
4. Look down as well as out — some of the best sights (New Eddystone Rock, lakes in hanging valleys) are directly below.

Ready to Book?

The featured Misty Fjords floatplane tour is the top-rated way to see New Eddystone Rock, Punchbowl Cove, the waterfalls, and the granite walls in a single one-hour flight — with a guaranteed window seat, live pilot commentary, and free cancellation. Check availability and pricing on the homepage.