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Published: June 18th 2006
Pizza dinner send off
Our true "last supper" with Pete Lucchetti, our Skagway host extrordinaire. Here, Pete is preparing to shove off with his friend Phil on an overnight paddle.Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for... a blog entry that actually includes paddling!
We finally finished up our business in Skagway on June 8, after a trip to the Yukon, the curing of the epoxy on Steph's boat, and the eagerly awaited arrival of our tent pole replacement. (YAY team Retlin!). Amidst lots of contradictory advice (opinions), we were faced with the decision of whether to shove off that night or to get a Voyageur start early the following morning. We opted for the early morning departure despite good conditions the night before. We saw Pete and Phil off on an overnight paddling trip of their own with a pizza from the Red Onion, and headed home for an early bedtime. Dawn (if there is such a thing here) found Lynn Canal mirror calm- perfect for our first day of paddling.
It only took an hour and a half to pack our boats for the first time... an activity that has come to be known as "boat tetris" and can be quite challenging and enjoyable (if you're in the right mood and not having to shuffle gear so the boat doesn't float away on the incoming tide).
Mickie and Hobie Cat
Pete's "partners in crime"- also excellent hosts. Thanks guys for the hospitality, great food, yard space and patience with our delayed departure! We paddled away from Skagway in utter disbelief at our luck with the weather: it is a rare day when Lynn Canal is so calm. As we took our first paddle strokes away from the landing, all the stress and frenetic energy that had plagued us for so long seemed to melt into the oilslick smooth water (to be replaced by simpler stresses of wind, tide, food, and bears.) We paddled south along the high rock cliffs on the west side of the canal, and were lucky to catch the remainder of the morning's ebb tide, which gave us a nice boost for a couple of hours. Even when the tide changed, the wind stayed down and we had smooth sailing all the way to Haines. As we approached Portage Cove, we had an escort of seven harbor seals that cheerfully saw us into town.
We had met Ned, the owner of Alaska Kayak Supply, the week before in Skagway, and he had invited us to camp on his beach, so as we approached the cove, we located the derelict boat, the "Good Partner" and a picnic pavillion that he had told us to look for, and pulled in.
Skagway Boat Ramp- launch site
3:30 am, and the sun's up. Looking at glassy water, preparing to launch! We proceeded to make ourselves at home- pitched our tent and unpacked the boats as we made friends with the kayak guides and thier bus driver. We took a trip into downtown Haines to check out the Sheldon Tlingit Museum and to have a root beer float, and then we headed back to our camp, where we met Ned, our host. We had only expected a place to camp, but Ned opened up his house, cooked us a fantastic dinner, and fired up his cedar hot tub for us to sit in. We hadn't expected to be living in such "high style" on our first night in "the backcountry"... but... one more night of good food and hot tubbing never killed anyone.
The following morning we shoved off for what was to be our first true backcountry day. We headed south from Haines, with the goal of camping at the sandspit at the end of the Chilkat Peninsula. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we found the sandspit to be occupied by a young grizzly bear, standing precisely where we wanted to pitch the tent. Needless to say, we didn't camp there. Night one in the backcountry and we had already
A journey of 1500 miles....
....begins with the first stroke(s). seen a bear. Just shy of wetting our pants, we crossed two miles over to Anyaka Island, where we found a gorgeous and mercifully bear-free campsite, filled with wildflowers and driftwood.
Day three, we left Anyaka Island, again graced with flat conditions and hot sunshine. In fact, it was so calm that we decided to paddle down the dead center of Lynn Canal. That is, until 3 hours later when we realized that the incoming tide was impeding any efficient forward progress. We lost a lot of time to the current that day, and only paddled nine miles, but we made it to the southern tip of Sullivan Island, and found a beautiful sandy beach to land and camp on- again bear free.
The next morning we awoke with horror to see that the long, shallow sloping beach we had chosen to camp on the night before was much longer than we had expected once the tide went out. We had to carry our 400 pounds of boats, food, water, and gear about 1/4 mile down the beach to meet the incoming tide. We were lucky, though, to at least time our boat placement perfectly so that we
Catching the ebbing current
Jeff approaching the cliffs on the west side of Lynn Canal to catch the ebb current. finished loading the boats just as the water rose to their hulls. On the road again, we crossed from Sullivan Island to the mainland, and continued to paddle through stiffer winds and some mild chop for another ten or so miles before we decided to call it quits at a steep, rocky pocket beach surrounded by some high cliffs. We liked the geography of the camp, until, again, the tide went out and we realized that it was not possible to launch anytime after two hours past high tide. This unfortunately necessitated a 2 am wake up call so we could catch a ride over the boulders and further down Lynn Canal.
Day 5, 2:00 am. We were getting tired from the early mornings, the hard paddling, and the strenuous work of living in the backcountry. Everything we take for granted at home is just so much more difficult when you have to haul heavy gear long distances and observe strict bear protocol. We committed to having a rest day the following day, no matter what the weather was doing. Somehow, this made things a little easier to handle psychologically. We had launched early on a strong ebb, so
Glassy water all the way to Haines
Yes, this picture was really taken in Lynn Canal. we burned through a decent chunk of miles even before 6 am. We stopped to pump some water at a stream we found, and continued on. We made it to the Peninsula of St. James Bay, and had planned to camp on the tip to set us up in a good position to make the crossing to Lincoln Island about an hour after the tide had turned against us and the winds had picked up to about 20 kt in our faces. Unfortunately, there was no good camping to be had on the tip of the peninsula, and we had no way to tell if pushing further on would serve us any better. We decided to take the safer route and turn back to a campsite we saw 3 miles back on the peninsula. We were tired from being on the water so long and the early morning, but we had a ride with the incoming tide and the following seas created by the strong tailwind.
We found a safe camp free of bear sign that was relatively protected. We landed, hauled the boats and gear above the reach of the water, and promptly slept for an hour before
establishing camp. We felt safe at this camp because it had a high, overhanging cliff encircling the cobble beach for clost to 180 degrees. We built a solid camp and hunkered down for the next two days.
Our first evening, as we were relaxing by our driftwood fire, I looked up to see a lone orca cruising by in the channel. Soon thereafter, a sea lion poked his head above the water nearby, and the chase was on. We watched with fascination as the orca chased down the sea lion, attacked, and ate him. We truly felt as if we were in a national geographic film. The beautiful weather held all night and into the next day- giving us a gorgeous sunny morning to sit in the sun, read our books, write in our journals, and cook up some chocolate chip pancakes for a leisurely breakfast. Our rest days are all about eating, sleeping, and letting our brains shut off the worries about the wind, waves and tides. We did all of the above. As the day wore on, clouds rolled in from the south, and the wind kicked up to a gusty 20-30 kt. It didn't take long
Day #1 complete- we've arrived in Haines
Steph doing "Vanna" to demonstrate the day's route at the Haines, AK visitor center to build seas as high as 6 feet outside our camp. Although the water was calm in the morning, we felt good about our decision to stay in camp.
We spent an uneasy night in the tent- we had an 18 foot tide and steep wind waves sloshing onto the beach near our tent door for a few hours, making us worried that the water would not calm down for our crossing in the morning. Thankfully, at 4:00 am, when the alarm went off, the breaking wind waves had subsided to a gentle two foot swell, and the wind had died completely. We hurried out of camp, launched, and paddled a few miles before we stopped to sip our hot cherry jello and eat granola afloat.
After an easy 7 mile crossing to Lincoln Island, we crossed over to Shelter Island, still riding the ebb tide. We stopped for lunch and a stretch break in Halibut Cove, where we had originally planned to camp, but decided we had a few more hours of work in our bodies. We shoved off again, and were delighted to find that the tide floods from north to south through Favorite Channel. We
Visiting Alaska Kayak Supply in Haines
Posing with Ned and his gear outside the shop rode the tide and played in the upwelling of standing waves that were steepened by a southerly. We got bounced around a bit, got wet, and Jeff had the pleasure of taking an overhead wave. Overall, we had a blast, until we were about three miles from Auke Bay, when the wind and the waves took a turn for the worse. We weren't having fun anymore, and we were cold, tired, wet, and ready to land.
Land we did. We found a safe landing at Auke Recreation Area, and beached our boats. We got ahold of our friends Mike and Kristen, and half an hour later, we were loaded up in Mike's truck, headed back to their house for a taco dinner and a warm bed. We settled in for two more rest days.
Despite the hard work, we've had an amazing time, and gotten to see a lot of wonderful wildlife including sea lions, one bear, harbor seals, humpback whales, orcas, hundreds of bald and golden eagles, porpoises, oyster catchers, kingfishers, otters, and hummingbirds.
The past two days we have been enjoying some downtime, some time to sleep in, and just some time away from the
Hanging out in Ned's cedar hot tub on the beach
Not exactly backcountry, but... a hot tub was awfully nice after a long day of paddling! boats. We've gotten to run our errands, get some local knowledge from Brock at Alaska Boat and Kayak, and of course, eat our fill of ice cream and homecooked meals. Tonight we're busy putting our gear back in order, and tomorrow we plan on a 9 am launch from Point Lena. The plan is to round the south tip of Shelter Island and to camp on the Mansfield Peninsula. We anticipate some challenging waters ahead, as we venture out into the confluence of Lynn Canal, Icy Strait, and Chatham Strait, so are naturally having the pre-launch nerves. We will be 4-5 days until we reach Gustavus, AK, so sit tight everyone, and wait for the next blog entry!
As we sign off for the next few days, we want to send out our thoughts, positive energies, and best wishes to Jeff's best friend Jay Miller and his wife Emily, who were married today, to my best friend Molly Barnaby and her husband to be, Andrew French, who will be married a week from today. Also, to Steve Webber and Ron Frigon, our respective dads... happy fathers' day to you both- our hearts are with you!
Many thanks also
Day #2, leaving Haines
Clouds rolled in to disrupt our sunny bliss.... for about an hour. to our sponsors: Kokatat, Icebreaker, Midnight Sun Outfitters, Kittery Trading Post, Portsmouth Rent and Ride, Brunton, Annie's Homegrown, St. Peter Food CoOp, Echo Food Shelf, Red Fish Blue Fish Dye Works, Portsmouth Flatbread Company, Gunstock Ski Resort, Nature's Wonders, and New England Small Craft.... if you are interested in becoming a corporate or private donor to the expedition or to Exeter Alternative, please feel free to contact us or the school directly!
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Mom Webber
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WOW
Great pictures. Hope the weather stays in your favor. It seems like just yesterday you were off in the early morning with gramps in his ship "the row boat". Remember to REST