Reachable only by boat or floatplane, Misty Fjords National Monument covers about 3,500 square miles of Tongass National Forrest on the southern end of the Alaskan panhandle. While President Carter proclaimed the national monument in 1978, Congress formally designated Misty Fjords National Monument in 1980 as part of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA). Congress also set aside all but about 150,000 of its over 2 million acres as a Wilderness area. Today the national monument is managed by the National Forest Service. Steep granite walls rise 3,000 feet out of the water in places, and forests of Sitka spruce and western hemlock hug the shore. In about 10 percent of the monument, the forest opens to muskegs, boggy areas dominated by sphagnum mosses.

Wildlife is abundant throughout Misty Fjords, from bald eagles and various seabirds to coastal brown bears, mountain goats, and moose. Behm Canal, the longest waterway through the monument takes voyagers past glaciers and old lava flows, uncovering the transformative beauty of nature and making Misty Fjords one of the most breathtaking places to see on an Alaskan cruise.