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Hiking in the Olympics
Taking a break from expedition prep to enjoy some time with friends: Steph, Jeff, Erica, Frankie (dog), Cary. So here we are in Skagway, AK- finally at the end of our motor-powered journey, and on the cusp of beginning a longer, human-powered journey: the culmination of two years of planning and preparation.
A brief recap of the past two weeks..... we left off with our arrival in Olympia, I believe.
We spent six wonderful days in Olympia, WA, and in the course of that time, managed to completely overtake Meg and Cary's house and garage with expedition gear and food. Without their help and hospitality, we probably wouldn't have pulled it all together! We took some time to spend catching up with friends- dinners together, and a day of hiking, birding, and photography in the Olympic National Forest. As the week wore on, we increasingly put our noses to the grindstone, so to speak, to finish preparing for the trip. This included re-stringing bungee and deck lines on my boat, adding more outfitting foam, last-minute gear shopping, and the familiar task of weighing, measuring, and repackaging food. We also began to divide this food up into caches- resupply packages containing food, spare long underwear, books, and other items that we might want that we mailed to Glacier
Keel Strip 101
Learning to work with fiberglass is so much more fun when you get to where the monkey-suit! Bay National Park, and Kake, AK, for us to pick up upon arrival. All the rest of the food and supplies we packaged up and left by the door to be picked up and transported to Ketchikan, AK- the midpoint resupply and reassessment stop of our trip. Many thanks to Captain John for loading all 300 lbs. of it into his brand new car and making this possible. Again- without good friends, what would we do?
Midweek, we drove up to visit Nigel Foster in Seattle to spend a day putting fiberglass keel strips on the boats. I had never worked with fiberglass before, so it was a really great hands-on learning experience. We spent the entire day putting them on, and for a first-timer, I'd have to say they didn't turn out bad at all. Again- thanks to good friends like Nigel and Kristen for being there to help, support, teach, and feed us dinner us along the way.
The day before departure, we had one more preparation to make. We had to deal with the overabundance of hair on our heads. We headed down to Bryce's barber shop downtown and got in line. Jeff stepped up
Nigel Foster, the master at work.
Nigel trying to coax the stubborn cloth around the curve of the bow. first and asked for the #2. When he was finished and I hopped in the chair and asked for the same, everyone thought I was joking and had a good laugh. Until they realized that I wasn't. It all caused quite an uproar, but we had a good time. I guess its not too often a barber gets to shave a girl. And... my hair doesn't look so bad shaved after all.
We had our "last supper" of Thai food at the Lemongrass restaurant with Meg and Cary, and the next morning we were up early to prepare the boats and gear for transport. The four of us loaded the sentra (just when she thought she could settle in for a 5 month rest), and drove north to the Bellingham, WA ferry terminal. Upon arrival, we were greeted as "Captain Robichaud's V.I.P.s" and promptly boarded first, allowing us to get the boats safely stashed on the car deck and to get our tent and gear all settled. Jeff stayed down on the car deck to handle the boats and flares, and I headed up topsides to find a spot to pitch the tent. Murphy's law struck again, and just
Kicking back while the resin hardens
Relaxing in the after-dinner sunshine on the patio with Nigel and Kristen Foster as I was stretching two of the poles into their grommets to give the tent its shape, the third pole rocketed out of its hole and did a 50 foot dive into Bellingham Harbor. It was rather graceful, I might add. Not a splash, not a trace. We hadn't even pulled away from the harbor yet! We immediately got on the phone with Meg, Cary, and John, and again, called in the troops. Meg and Cary were able to find a Marmot shop in Bellvue, WA, and a great employee named Ben who was able to fabricate a new pole for our tent right then and there, ready to mail to Skagway to meet us.
Other than this little glitch, our ferry ride went rather smoothly. The boats transported well, we managed to pitch our tent with the two remaining poles, and we met some new friends along the way. Halfway up, we made an early-morning port call in Ketchikan, where Ivy was waiting for us at the dock. She drove us up to her and John's house and made us an awesome breakfast before driving us back to the dock an hour later carrying packages of homemade cookies
and fruits. Even though we hadn't really even been in the wilderness yet, it was still a wonderful thing to see a good friend in the midst of our journey. Ivy, you're the best!
4 days, 3 games of scrabble, 8 noodle bowls, over 100 eagles, and two whales later, our ferry, the M.V. Columbia pulled into Skagway. We wheeled our boats from the ferry dock into the center of town- not an easy feat with the streets filled with tourists that had just disembarked the four cruise ships in port. Interestingly enough, not a single one offered to move out of the way or assist, but many did stop to gawk or ask the usual barrage of questions. We finally made it into the town center, and parked our boats on their wheels in a grassy strip near the national park headquarters, secured our gear, and went for a brief wander around the town. A few hours later, our friend Pete met us and helped us to load the boats and gear onto his truck. We settled into our tent in the backyard and enjoyed a dinner with Pete, Mickie, and their nephew Andy.
Yesterday we spent
making some last-last-last minute preparations for the trip, as well as wandering around Skagway, visiting historical sites and learning more about the history of the gold rush that took place here, picking up a few more drybags, and having our last ice-cream fix. After dinner, we decided that old Mr. Murphy and his law were becoming quite familiar. We were working on the boats and found a serious structural issue with the dayhatch of my boat. The fiberglass had completely delaminated due to a factory-defect, poor bond with the resin used to glue it all together. Fortunately, Pete's neighbor Steven's hobby is boat building. We had by chance met his wife in town the day before, so we headed over to beg for help. Excited to have a project, even at 9:30 at night, Steve opened up his workshop and set us up to do the epoxy and fiberglass repairs. We sanded the area down and shot some epoxy into the empty space, and clamped it down for the night. This morning, it seems to have bonded, so we removed the clamps and made a fiberglass paste to fill the rest of the gap and create a smooth surface. It
Meg and Cary "kicking the tires"
This is the trial run of Zach and John's homemade kayak wheels- they proved to be wildly successful! is curing as we speak- we're keeping our fingers crossed for a successful repair.
If all goes well with the repair and the tent pole, our plans are to shove off early tomorrow morning, June 8th. The weather looks to be promising for our first day paddle- a 15 mile run down Lynn Canal toward Haines, AK. We are both dealing with the expected pre-trip jitters, but are both chomping at the bit to load the boats and put them in the water. The feeling is similar to what one might expect a rodeo bull would feel as it waits to be released from its pen into the ring. The "hurry up and wait" approach is getting old, and it is increasingly difficult to remember that even if the "journey" includes lost tent poles, waiting for weather, and broken boats, it truly is the journey that matters. Less than 24 hours from now, the real journey will have begun!
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Sammy Steiger
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Just cause I always wanted to say it...
Godspeed guys, Godspeed. (Wow, it did feel as triumphant to say that as I imagined...now just imagine that I had said it as the sun rose and you pushed off the shore for the first morning...maybe a little theme music in the background.) Be well, Be safe, and soak it all in...