My friends Dan and Lyn are intrepid kayak campers and
travelers, and do a big trip each summer. This year they planned a 3 week trip
to Alaska,
and during a fundraising party at a local brewery they invited me along. I
thought it sounded like fun. We then all went through a little soul searching
to be sure it wasn’t just the liquor talking, and we could really be compatible
for such a long trip. In the end I thought 3 weeks would be too much, so we
agreed that I would meet them and do the last 2 weeks with them, which would still
be twice as long as any camping trip I had done before.
We were going to Prince William Sound.
This is a nice area because it gives you a lot of wilderness, but is somewhat
sheltered. It can become nasty but you can see from the map
that most of it is protected from the open ocean swell.
We rented our equipment from Tom Pogson at Alaska Kayak School in Homer. This
is a great operation, and Tom is a great resource. All the equipment was
top-notch, I was actually worried about ruining the almost brand new Explorer
he gave me. It had at least a few scratches on it when I picked it up, but it
was a whole lot nicer than any of my boats. I figured if I could keep from
dropping it off the car at high speeds, or doing excessive surf landings, as I
have done with my kayaks, I couldn’t
mess it up too much.
My original plan was just to get in the boat at Whittier where Dan and Lyn
were starting a week earlier, and catch-up by taking a shortcut. Tom gave me
the “not so fast city boy” talk, and assured me that was not actually “a plan”.
Later I realized he was right, and that
wasn’t such a good idea, in fact it was actually a pretty stupid idea. Although
I have a lot of paddling experience, I had never been to an area so remote.
Throughout my entire time in Alaska I came to
appreciate what their license plates say: “Alaska the last frontier”
You can’t actually read it on this picture because the wacko
who drives this truck covered it up with his frame, when he installed this hood
ornament, but trust me it says that on the license plates, and they mean it.
Tom would only agree to renting us the boats, and allowing
me to meet my friends if we presented a detailed itinerary, and structured the
meet-up such that it took place via a motor boat drop off, or a meeting in a
port. Many people do day trips in Alaska
where a motor boat ferries the kayaks out to a remote location for a day or
two, then picks them up, so in the end we were able to arrange this type of
service.
I would get the boat in Whittier,
take the ferry to Valdez,
then hitch a ride out to the Columbia Glacier with Pangea Adventures on their scheduled
trip out there. Not the cheapest way, but it would work.
Tom was a funny guy. When I spoke to him on the phone, and
via email I got the impression that was very uptight, asking lots of annoying
questions about all our experience, and critiquing our route, especially the
meet-up. I think he was just trying to
be sure we were capable and safe. Like most outfitters he is a lot more
comfortable if he has his own staff on the trip, and doesn’t want anyone to get
in trouble in this very remote area.
My mental image was of a trim clean-shaven ex-military guy.
When I met him he was almost the opposite, a very friendly and relaxed guy, who
spent quite a bit of time with us before and after the trip answering questions
and chatting with us. I don’t think he ever didn’t have a smile on his face. We
knew we had the right guy when all the 20 something employees from the 2 kayak
shops in Whittier
tripped over themselves talking to him, and wouldn’t let him go home. I think
he had trained most of them, and is clearly very respected and admired, even
among his business competitors.
I flew into Anchorage, spent
the night there, took the train to Whittier,
and then got on the ferry.
The scenery in this part of the trip was already really
great. Both the train and the ferry are part tourist attraction, and part
transportation. Tour guides were on the PA system on both, describing the
landscape, and wildlife we were seeing.
I was a tad annoyed when I arrived in Valdez to find that the good folks from
Pangea had forgotten to pick me up, but one of the crew from the ferry strapped
my boat onto his truck and gave me a lift into town. I quietly made camp behind
the Pangea office and set-off for the super market. When I had asked Kenny at
Pangea on the phone about where I could buy white gas and food, he told me they
carry it in the supermarket. This is a real switch from New York City where it is illegal to sell
stove fuel it in city limits for love or money. The market in Valdez is open from 4AM to 2AM the next
morning. In fact the whole town of Valdez, and
much of Alaska
seems to be on overdrive in the summer because they are so busy.
I bought the last of my provisions, some booze, and a
fishing license, and I was ready to go.
The ride out in the morning went smoothly. The shuttle boat
was full of boy scouts, and everyone looked at me funny because it was 75
degrees, sunny, and I was wearing a drysuit. It was a relief to find Dan and
Lyn happily waiting for me on Jade
Island right near the
Columbia Glacier. It seemed like a long time since I had landed in Anchorage, in which time
I had walked, ridden in cabs, trains, bummed rides, and taken two different
boats, but I was finally there.
Columbia Glacier is one of the largest glaciers in Alaska, and it was very
impressive. In recent years it has retreated a long way from the shoreline, but
it still deposits massive amounts of ice into the bay on a daily basis. We
played around the various icebergs. I wanted to hike on them, but that turned
out to be a bad idea.
While were playing around paddling in between the icebergs, I suddenly found my boat pinned between two
large icebergs moving together. I was pinned lengthwise bow to stern. For a
moment it seemed the boat would be crushed as they moved together, but then the
stern began to lift up, scraping along the side of the iceberg. The stern was
about 3 ft out of the water, it felt like 10, before the boat twisted, and dropped
me back in the water. I quickly paddled
away. I was a little more careful after that.
One of the great things about paddling up here in the summer
is that there is so much light. In the beginning of the trip the sun didn’t set
until midnight, so we didn’t have to hurry in the morning to get on the water,
and if we were having trouble finding a campsite, we didn’t have to worry about running out of light.
The next day we paddled over to Glacier Island.
At one point we came upon a giant sea-lion colony. There were hundreds of them
basking in the sun, barking and growling. I took a couple of videos of them,
and put them on youtube:
We found such a nice spot for lunch we decided to just stop
there and stay the night. It was a beautiful rock beach, the sun was out, and hot,
so I went for a swim, a quick dunk really. The water was very cold, but it felt
good because it was such a warm day.
I then got bored. I still wasn’t quite in synch with my
paddling partners, who had been out in the cold and rain for a week, and just
wanted to dry out. I went on a hike up into the hills, while they enjoyed some
nice warm quiet time on the beach. I followed a stream bed up, it was more of a
bushwack climb, than a hike, but I got to see a great view when I was finally
up there. Eventually I could see between the trees, to see a humpback whale
spouting off in the distance in the Sound. It was thick brush, very steep, and
I started worrying about falling and being alone. It would have taken a long
time for my friends to find me, so I went back.
In the morning we crossed the sound to Storey Island.
During the crossing we were treated to great views of humpback whales.
The whales were spouting and slowly coming towards us. One
of them eventually swam right under our boats, and we could clearly see it
underwater, maybe 15 feet down. It was really impressive, but I wonder if it
even knew we were there.
On Storey
Island I insisted we
visit the old fox farm. There wasn’t much left of it, just some tools and metal
items in the woods. but I just love industrial ruins. We ended-up camping on
Naked island in a light rain. I went out fishing after we set-up the camp. I
caught and released 2 small rockfish, then promptly broke my fishing pole in
two places after getting hooked in the rocks. I fixed it the next morning with
some epoxy, and part of my socks as glass cloth.
I had packed very light, and only had two sets of clothes,
one for paddling, one for the land. It was nice to be able to easily fit
everything into my boat, but I could have used a few more changes of clothes. I
did bring a land anorack and rain pants and if it was raining I made sure to
wear them, or my drysuit. Whenever it rained I was very afraid of getting
clothes wet. It can rain for days and days, so I was careful and thought twice
before sacrificing 1 inch of stinky sock for the fishing pole.
The next day we went to Eleanor
Island
then Knight Island
stopping in Herring
Bay. For some reason this
was the first place we saw lots of other groups. In the end we stopped at a
beach with some other paddlers because we couldn’t find one of our own. The
other group turned out to be a young man who was a kayak forest ranger, and two
young women who were biologists. The man, David, turned out to be a great
resource. He spent time with us showing us edible plants and berries, and going
over our chart pointing out campsites for the rest of our trip. It seemed like
he had been absolutely everywhere. I had heard about these Kayak Rangers, and
it was cool to actually see them in action. They had been out paddling and
camping for almost a week, and motor launch was coming to pick them up the next
day. It was hard not to be jealous of his job. The biologists were cute too,
and he had a 30.06 for the bears.
As we got near our end destination every day we had to get a
new supply of fresh water. This was usually easy since it rains a lot, and
there is lots of snow melt. It was almost always possible to find a clear
running stream or trickle to fill the bottles. We always treated the water just
to be safe. Sometimes it wasn’t so easy to get it. On this day I had to climb
out of the boats and stand on a small rock ledge to catch it running off the
cliff.
The next day was warm and sunny, and the campsite was so nice,
we decided to take the day off from paddling. I immediately seized upon this as
an opportunity to go fishing. My friends weren’t into fishing, so I usually
waited until an off time to try it, so as not to slow them up while I played
around with the lines and equipment. Watching fishing is about the most boring
thing there is, especially when you don’t have any beer.
When I was in Anchorage
I went to some fishing stores and bought spoons that were recommended by the
locals for Salmon. Each day we saw salmon jumping out of the water from time to
time, and/or swimming under the boat. It was a mocking sort of a jump, and I
was anxious to have a go at them.
These lures proved to be very effective, and I caught a nice
sized Chinook salmon that we immediately had for lunch. We ate a lot of it as
Sushi, then grilled the filets over an open fire. I made sure to clean the fish
well below the high-tide line while standing in the water to reduce the chance
that it would draw a bear.
We also cooked the fish well below the high-tide line. This
proved to be a slight problem since the tide was rising. When the water put out
the fire, it was done. You can see the flames lapping at it in this picture:
After eating way too much lunch, I hiked up into the hills.
It was rough going for a while, but eventually it opened up onto a huge grassy
plain far up above the beach. I took a few pictures, but it doesn’t do it
justice. I just wanted to sit up there all day and take in the view.
After the sweaty hike, it was time for my 2nd, ,
and as it turned out my last, saltwater bath of the trip, and to wash some
clothes.
The next day we actually got a work out, paddling into to
some fairly stiff current down to the bottom of Knight Island.
The day after that we crossed over to Whale Bay.
This turned out to be another really beautiful spot. There were great
waterfalls everywhere. I also came across a huge school of tiny herring, and
spent about 20 minutes watching them through the still clear water.
At the head of Whale
Bay, there was a stream
with breeding salmon. Some fishermen in a motorboat told us we had just missed
a black bear going after the salmon. It was really cool, the fish were basking
in the shallow water, some of them were all beat-up, and tired after breeding.
I was able to grab one, just like a bear with my hands, but since it was so
damaged, and half dead, I didn’t eat it.
The next day we paddled over to the Chenega glacier. It was
very cold because the sun wasn’t out, but it was a great view. The glacier came
right down to the water, and we could see bits of ice dropping off of it, right
into the bay. This looked a little dangerous, so we didn’t get real close. I
took some videos of it. In the videos you can actually see the meltwater
pouring out of it in a torrent. The glacier goes on for miles and miles behind
the part that meets the sea.
We were then treated to what the forecast said would be
several days of steady rain. We sat around until 3:00PM the next day, then
decided to check-out a cabin we saw marked on the chart. Amazingly it turned
out to be the same cabin visited by Peter Dew on this same website, I guess
just last year!
It turned out to be open, and had a welcoming note, so we
stayed for a few days to wait out the bad weather. One afternoon three men
walked up who were camping nearby. We talked to them for a little while, and it
turned out they were NASA astronauts out on a training/team building mission.
The entire crew, and some of the ground controllers for ShuttleFlight 124 to the international space station were on the trip. After talking to these guys, and giving them
some olive oil we went over later to meet the rest of them, and sample some
fresh salmon tacos they were cooking for their dinner.
We were happy to get back to paddling the next day and get
on our way. The cabin was nice to dry out in, but eventually we got “cabin
fever” and were all very anxious to be moving again.
At this point we started working our way back toward Whittier where we were to
return the boats. It was just more and more great scenery. We had a few bright
days, and a bit more rain, but apparently it was really good weather, sometimes
it rains for 2 weeks day after day.
We explored an abandoned salmon cannery, and checked out
Port Nellie Juan.
At one campsite I finally found some fresh blueberries. I
had been seeing them every once in a while, but they were not ready in most
spots. I found a dense concentration, and was able to get enough for our
breakfast the next day.
We saw one last glacier on our second to last day, and tried
to hike to it via land, but the dry streambed turned into a creek after a mile,
so we had to abandon that plan. The brush was too think to bushwack through.
One of the things I love about paddling is to go to places that you can’t get
to any other way, and explore them. After being in the boat for a few days, I’m
always itching to go for a hike, or explore something different. After less
than ½ mile this dry streambed turned into a raging creek that was too cold,
wet, and fast moving to walk through.
The last day was another bright sunny day, and made me wish
I had some other clothes other than my drysuit, like my friends. Fortunately
the water is so cold that I didn’t get overheated, as long as I didn’t paddle
too fast.
I had a pretty impressive beard by the end of the trip, but
it was a lot grayer than I remember it.
We all uploaded a lot of pictures to show our friends what
they missed.
After the paddling trip, I spent almost another week driving
around, car camping, seeing mountains etc etc. I think that I just scratched
the surface of the state. I saw more
incredible sights, so I will have to go back someday.
Actual Bottle Release Post Below...
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
I released this message between Glacier Island and Storey Island. We had spent the night at a nice beach on Glacier Island, then had a beautiful paddle across in the morning.
The day before we saw Columbia Glacier, and I climbed on some ice bergs.
It was so warm on Glacier Island that I went swimming. The water was in the low forties, so I didn't stay in very long!
The scenery here has just been amazingly beautiful. All kinds of wildlife, great coastline, glaciers, etc etc....
There was very little trash on these beaches. I found the bottle for this message on Glacier Island, it smelled like it had held camping fuel before.
Soon after I let the bottle go a huge humpback whale passed right under our boats. He just got closer and closer, then went right underneath. We had been watching the whales all day the day before feeding, and we were hoping they would still be there when we left.
When we were paddling around Glacier Island we saw a huge colony of Sea Lions.
Truth:
I released this message in the Buttermilk channel off of Red Hook Brooklyn.
