Artist: Bill Eichenlaub

Lituya Bay is mythical in reputation and deservedly so. The name comes from the Tlingit Ltu.aa, or “lake inside the point”. In the foreground is Cenotaph Island. In 1796 LaPerouse and his men stayed in Lituya Bay for three weeks and called it Port des Francois. In the background on the left is the slope where an earthquake caused a massive landslide in 1958. When the landslide hit the water it generated a giant wave (~1,720 ft high) that washed over the ridge, scoured the vegetation above the shore, washed over parts of Cenotaph Island and swept two boats out to sea.