This protected inland waterway, the result of past glaciation, cuts between the wildly indented northwest coast and the myriad islands that stretch from Puget Sound in Washington state to Skagway, Alaska-a total distance of 1,696km/1,060 statute mi. The portion of the route served by Canadian ferries extends from Port Hardy on the northern tip of Vancouver Island to Prince Rupert (507km/314mi) on the northwest coast of British Columbia.