Aerial view (from a floatplane) of forests, lakes, and mist in the Tongass temperate rainforest, Misty Fjords National Monument Wilderness, Alaska. Misty Fjords is part of a vast coastal rain forest and the cloud-shrouded wilderness that can receive 160 inches of rain annually. While the more notable areas, visited most by tourists, are marked by deep valleys with steep slopes rising above the saltwater fjords, the interior of this region is covered with many freshwater lakes and an unbroken carpet of cedar, spruce, and hemlock. Occasionally, the forest floor stands open at numerous muskegs dominated by sphagnum moss. Click on image to view LARGER and on black. See the Misty Fjord series in the Comments below. Exclusive with Getty Images
