By Tracy and Janet Hays
Tracy and Janet are RMCC members, but this was not an RMCC trip. Photos are at the bottom of the report.
What a trip we had! It seems we keep testing the limits of our capabilities and endurance. With each new adventure, we experience new challenges and exciting landscapes. We packed all our food into our kayaks for the paddle, and filtered stream water. The entire Glacier Bay paddle was 21 days, no guides or support of any kind, just us two. And our overall Alaska/Canada trip was seventy days. I don’t know how we could top this one, but I’m sure we will try. Here’s the scoop.
On June 9, we headed west in our campervan to Bellingham, WA. We were on standby for the Alaska Marine Highway Ferry to Juneau and found out shortly before the 9th that we were confirmed. We enjoyed the four days it took to ferry up to Juneau, with brief stops in Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Sitka, and Hoonah. It was fun seeing all the sights of the Inside Passage and being out to sea on a small ship, as well as getting to know a few of the interesting characters aboard ship.
Once in Juneau, we looked up our pal Brian Bearden and spent some time with him birdwatching, picking berries, touring around Juneau, and watching him perform at the Red Dog Saloon. He’s a good friend, who we know via Arkansas and Florida (another story) – and quite the musician/entertainer. It was fun to spend a couple of days in Juneau. Then we took another ferry to Gustavus, where we would begin our Glacier Bay adventure.
June 19 — Day 1
Today we finally launched from Bartlett Cove in Glacier Bay. Things revolve around the tides here, which can range up to twenty-five feet from ebb to flood. Beardslee Cut, the narrow channel we chose to exit the cove into Glacier Bay, needs almost an 11-foot tide to navigate, so we had to wait, wait, wait. Our plan is to be out close to three weeks, and take it slow and absorb everything possible, no rush.
We paddled around the cove for a while, and then at 3:30pm we made it through the cut. We paddled up the Bartlett River until the current got too strong, and then we turned back. We made it to our camp about 6:30pm at the far north end of Young Island.
It was a beautiful, sunny day, the first one we’d seen in a while, as it had rained most of the time on the ferry ride. It rains here all the time. We saw tons of sea otters, seals, and a few sea lions today. Many of the sea otters float on their backs, carrying young otters on their stomach. There were ragged snow-capped mountains all around, with a chilly breeze starting around 6pm. We set up the tent at Camp 19.4 on rocky ground. This number refers to a specific camp site on the chart we used on this trip created by David Bahr, The Kayakers Companion to Glacier Bay Annotated Chart. You will see more camp numbers throughout this report. If you have this chart, you can see exactly where we camped. If not just use your imagination. It was just over 8 miles of paddling today.
Day 2
We were up at 6:00 AM, packed and gone by 9:00. It’s a calm and dewy morning. We saw several kayaks this morning and yesterday. The Beardslee Islands are the most popular area to paddle in Glacier Bay due to the calm protected waters, and proximity to Bartlet Cove. It’s the perfect area for day trips or a couple of nights out. After paddling for a few hours, we stopped to check out our intended camp at 19.17. It was low tide and a very long carry over slippery, seaweed-covered rocks to a marginal tent site. Disappointed, we will move on, but while we were here, we had front-row seats to a fantastic humpback whale show just 50 to 100 feet offshore. He messed around in front of us for 30 minutes, then took off. Wow!
We paddled all the way around the outside of Flapjack Island. The chart shows a cut in the center of the island, but I guess not at low tide. We could hear the ruckus of the sea lion colony on South Marble Island. We were tempted to paddle there, but it’s about 2 or 3 miles of open water in the wrong direction, (yep, you can hear them miles away) as we intended to paddle into Bear Track Cove—which we did. We’ll head to South Marble hopefully tomorrow. We set up camp at 20.3.
We saw so many otters today and a dozen or more seals hauled out at Flapjack Island. Quite a few otters were passing by our camp tonight. The day was perfectly calm and still, with 100% blue skies. The views are breathtaking.
We paddled 10.4 miles today. Arrived at camp around 3:30. The wind started around 5:00 PM and blew most of the night.
Day 3
It’s a cool, still morning. Several loons were calling. Total overcast with low clouds, maybe 300 feet ceiling. Not a mountaintop to be seen in any direction. We are so grateful for the past two sunny and clear days as we started this trip. The long-range forecast called for today to be nice, then eight days of rain. Hope that proves wrong.
We were up at 6:30. Lounged around for a while, then took off by 9:30. We crossed Bear Track Cove and stopped at York Creek, a beautiful whitewater stream. We followed the coast a little farther, then turned west and went by the south end of Leeland Island and on to South Marble Island.
You can hear the sea lion colony two miles before we arrive. There is a group of small islands off the southern tip of South Marble Island. They were just loaded with sea lions. Each high point had its own huge bull, way bigger than the others. King of the hill! Such a noisy place!
It was fun watching them climb the steep rock island. Sometimes they made it up, and other times they’d fall back. One big bull had a huge gash wound on his side.
We also saw tufted puffins here. Such a neat experience seeing them for the first time. There is a 100-yard buffer zone around the island for wildlife’s privacy, which we respected. But one big bull came out and surfaced 10 feet behind us and let out a big snort. We paddled a little faster…
After a while, we stopped to watch the colony through binoculars, and the big bull soon surfaced again right behind us. He may have been there to greet us, but we both felt that he was passive – aggressively escorting us away from his islands. We got the hint and left the area.
We paddled a few more miles to North Marble Island to camp. As we were rounding the corner to the north side, a huge humpback whale came around the tip towards us, and surfaced within 30 feet of us. We were trapped between the whale and the sheer, jagged cliff wall of the island. Kind of a spooky situation we were in.
We ducked into a very tiny cove and waited it out for 20 minutes while the whale dove near us for a few minutes and then surfaced somewhere new, still staying uncomfortably close. Finally, he moved about 100 yards away, so we quickly continued to round the corner of the island until we found a place where we could land and get out (Camp21.3).
We set up camp right there. The whale went away but came back an hour later and put on another great show for us. This time, we enjoyed watching from the safety of the rocky island, 20 feet above him.
Many otters swam around this island, too, and noisy oystercatchers with chicks were in our neighborhood. Also, a pair of harlequin ducks shared our camp, and ravens and a bald eagle watched over all of us from the tall cliffs and trees above us.
What a wonderful day! It was 11½ miles paddled. What a noisy place with all the birds—and what a wonderful way to not get much sleep!
Day 4
We paddled a couple miles or so across open water to Sandy Cove. We were delayed crossing to North Sandy by a “pesky” whale that kept crossing back and forth right where we needed to go. Such an inconvenience, hah!
We finally got to cross when the whale moved on. Next, we circled Puffin Island and stopped to fill water from a beautiful stream tumbling down the mountain. We were a little disappointed we didn’t see any puffins.
A drizzle started, and we crossed back to Sturgis Island and set up camp (camp 21.15). It had a nice beach, a great view, and we saw a whole lot of harlequins, a whale, oystercatchers, pigeon guillemots, and others.
The wind really picked up, along with a light rain. We set up our rainfly and tent under it and slept well. The day started totally overcast, but a high ceiling well above the mountain peaks. There were also a few lower clouds that made stripes on the mountains.
9 miles today.
Day 5
We hung around camp until the drizzle nearly quit, and then we took off. We paddled back to the east side and headed north along the cliff face. Here, a whale surfaced about 30 feet in front of us. We hugged the cliff to see what would happen next. The whale slowly worked its way north, with us following about 100 yards behind, trying to stay behind cliffs and turns along the shoreline so the whale didn’t notice us. Once again, our progress is impeded by a whale. That’s the sort of problem we both enjoy. We saw lots of whales on our trip, all were humpbacks. Orcas are common here also, but we saw none.
As we passed by Garforth Island, we met a solo kayaker going south. He visited for a little while and then told us that the chart in my map case was his. Yep, we happened to meet David Bahr, the guy who wrote The Kayaker’s Guide to Glacier Bay and created the chart we brought with us for this trip.
He’s a real nice guy. He gave us some advice which would come into play later on, and we told him how important his chart and book were in helping us plan this trip. Then we went our separate ways.
This seemed like a pretty chance encounter, Glacier Bay is huge, but stuff like this happens to us fairly regularly.
We crossed Adams Inlet, and a couple of miles later saw three tandem kayaks on a beach with no one around. A little later, we saw six people hiking back toward the kayaks. Our intended camp was occupied but we found another in about a mile, 24-2.
This camp has more mosquitoes than I’ve ever seen.
13 miles today.
Day 6
Oh, what a nasty morning! Rain started at 4:00 AM—at least that’s when it woke me up. Next, the cold wind rattled and shook the tent. Thousands of mosquitoes were seeking refuge on the mesh top of the tent under the fly. At least they’re outside on the mesh.
We decided to stay put. At 10:00 AM, the wind died and there was just a slight drizzle, so we packed up and left our worst camp so far.
We paddled 5 miles to Seals Island to rest, then on to McBride Inlet to camp. The rain had intensified, and we were getting cold and damp. The best camp is on the north side, but it was occupied, so we scouted a couple of places on the south. Bear tracks everywhere, so we pushed on.
We saw our first icebergs coming out of McBride Inlet. Cool—literally!
We stopped at a nice-looking beach to camp a ways past McBride, unloaded half our stuff, then saw a giant pile of fresh bear dung. That’s enough to convince us to move on.
Finally, we reached Riggs Glacier and found a perfect spot for the tent (camp 27.3). It was 8:00 or 9:00 PM when we arrived. The rain had stopped somewhere along the way. Riggs is spectacular, and the White Thunder Ridge across the bay is a beautiful sight. Perfect place to camp.
It’s been a long day. Started not so great but couldn’t have ended better.
We paddled almost 15 miles today.
Day 7
It rained overnight. Early this morning, Janet heard a concerning grunt. It may or may not have originated from within the tent. We looked around and saw no new bear tracks. There were a few when we arrived, so we kind of brushed it off.
We hiked toward Riggs Glacier in a light drizzle. It was tough going over loose, sharp, slippery rocks and steep ups and downs. There were also a few fast streams to ford.
Topping the ridge, we were sure it would reveal the glacier we had seen, but it was still half a mile or more away, with very rugged and steep ground to cross. There are waterfalls and fast streams everywhere. We decided to call it good. It still seemed like a victory getting such a marvelous view of the glacier.
The rain stopped before we got back to camp, and we had breakfast. The view from here was so beautiful, we decided to stay over another night and take a layover day. The plan was to do this every 5th day. We’re getting ahead of schedule.
Janet was reading and looking through binoculars at the mountains behind us while I was doing some rudder-cable repair. She noticed movement, perhaps a dall sheep. On further observation, we decided it was a damn big blonde grizzly bear.
He was way up there, maybe 1,000 feet above us, just a tiny spec, but I think he gave us one long, stern glare. We’ve seen animals scale such a distance in a matter of minutes, so we decided it was time to get the hell out of Dodge.
This might be a good time to mention that it usually takes around two hours for us to pack up our stuff, load the kayaks, and be on our way. Somehow, we did it in 35 minutes.
So, we got evicted from our perfect camp by a big grizz.
We entered the final stretch of Muir Inlet. We saw an unbelievable number of gorgeous waterfalls here. Then we saw a family of three mountain goats real close. They were down low and close to the water. Hmm… they are almost the same color as the grizz that we saw so far off earlier. Now we’re only about 80% sure we saw a grizz. It would sure be embarrassing to get evicted by a goat. (Note, later in our travels, we saw a mounted blonde grizzly bear – that was the same color. So, now we’re really not sure what we saw…)
Oh well—better safe than sorry.
We paddled another couple hours and checked out a campsite or two, and then we set up camp on a huge alluvial fan (near camp 28.5). We have 200 yards of open views in every direction. Nothing is going to sneak up on us here.
We only paddled about 5½ miles today.
Day 8
We left our camp set up, and after a leisurely morning paddled to the very end of Muir Inlet. Another awesome glacier! There is a huge outwash tidal flat a mile or more in front of the glacier.
We hiked within ¼ mile of the ice, but we weren’t willing to wade through waist-deep or deeper ice water streams to get there. We’re OK with that.
On the way, we stopped and set up our water-filter siphon and picked up two gallons of filtered water on the way back. We had our first campfire tonight. It was nice. Campfires are discouraged in Glacier Bay, because much of the wood has been encased in glaciers for centuries before becoming driftwood, and is important for research. We tried to pick “newer looking” non-glacial wood and kept our fire small.
We saw several porpoises today. It was a good day—sunny until about 2:00 PM, then cloudy with a little drizzle.
We paddled 5 miles and hiked 3 or 4 today.
Day 9
It rained all day with no breaks. We stayed put and laid around resting and reading all day. Thanks to Louis L’Amour, we kept entertained.
No wind. Heavy fog. Visibility about a mile. Hope it clears up.
We did need the rest. We are a little worn out. Contrary to popular belief, we do enjoy sleeping in a bed and a house once in a while, but today a tent was perfect, and we had a welcome break.
Day 10
We had a crazy loon interacting with me for quite a while this morning. I would call to it, and it would answer each time. Not saying I can do a loon call, but I can get a turkey’s attention. Perhaps they are bilingual.
It stopped raining about 11:00 PM last night. We both heard unusual sounds early this morning. Looks like a bear might have come very near our camp. There are scraped-out footprints all around—but wait, I was doing yoga poses in the gravel near there last night. Anyway, it’s time to move on.
Very cloudy. Visibility about a mile. We stopped across the inlet from Riggs at a waterfall to filter more water, then crossed over to McBride Inlet.
We got a good long look at two grizzlies walking the beach, 100% sure this time. They were headed to the exact place we intended to camp. We decided to take a pass on camping there (on the north side of McBride inlet).
Before we began this trip, we had no intention of paddling up the McBride Inlet, because of the stern warnings of danger in the Kayakers Companion to Glacier Bay book. The entrance to the inlet is called the “Vortex of Death”. This is because there is a huge swirling whirlpool with logs and icebergs that can suck in a kayak and crush it or capsize it. But during our chance encounter with David Bahr (the author of the book), he sortof evaluated our skillset by asking a few questions – and told us the conditions were not as severe now as when he wrote the book several years ago. He recommended that if we stay on the North side of the inlet, and enter just before high tide, we should be fine. Hmmm….
So, that’s what we did, but the Vortex looked kindof wimpy today. We arrived about half an hour before high tide, and we paddled in and skirted the Vortex of Death. Pretty calm day. Lots of icebergs to dodge all the way to McBride Glacier. They form many bizarre shapes as they melt and tumble in the current. Many seals and some seal pups were hauled out on small icebergs, as well as otters.
We went by a huge rookery of nesting seagulls. When we reached the glacier, it was awesome. While we were there, it snapped, crackled, and popped, and groaned loudly three times, but no ice calved off. It’s the only glacier in the east arm that’s still calving into the water. All the other glaciers have retreated inland away from the water and continue to melt and retreat.
We could have paddled close enough to touch it, but you never know when a huge chunk of ice will break off and crush you or flip your boat in its wake. We stayed far enough away to feel just a little intimidated. We got out of our kayaks along the shoreline and walked among and climbed on icebergs that had been beached by the low tide.
Really neat experience.
We paddled back out and crossed the main channel of the east arm, and camped at Wolf Point, (camp 29.1).
Paddled 18 miles today.
Day 11
It rained overnight. We sat around this morning waiting for the dense fog to lift. No point in paddling if we can’t see the scenery.
Finally, it cleared some, so we were off about 11:30 AM. We saw a grizz walking along the beach a few miles before we reached Wachusett Inlet. We went to site 30.14 and set up camp on what appeared to be the high point of the beach, in the salt-intolerant rye grass.
Mostly cloudy today, but the fog cleared out nicely. Beautiful mountain views to the east from a very nice, smooth rock camp.
11 miles paddled today.
Just before we went to bed, Janet found bear scat, bear hole tracks, and a sleeping hole nearby. Bears mark their territory by “scooping out their footprints” so they look like round posthole tracks on the beach. They also scoop out shallow sleeping holes to lie in. The plan was to leave camp setup tomorrow, and paddle to the end of Wachusett Inlet and back and stay here again for a layover day. Because of the bear sign, we’re reconsidering this decision.
Day 12
Our day started earlier than usual—at 1:00 AM in the middle of the night. I woke up because I thought my ThermaRest pad was separating from the inside. It’s happened to me before. When separation happens, the pad turns into a balloon—not flat. It was bulging up when I would move my feet off of it. Janet also asked me if I heard a weird “blup blup” sound. Then I realized there was water under the tent.
Did it rain?
I looked out the tent door, and we are in about four or five inches of water. Oh SH**##T. It looks like we’re camped in the middle of the ocean – there’s water in every direction and our tent seems to be floating. The tent bathtub floor was keeping the water out, but the tide had risen right up to the bottom of the door zipper. In trying to step out of the tent, water gushed in, and we both grabbed our sleeping bags and ran to higher ground just yards away. Then we went back to retrieve all the rest of our stuff: clothes that were in the tent and sleeping pads. Then we saw all the stuff we had left outside the tent floating around—shoes, boots, fuel cans, water bottles, etc.
We grabbed everything we could see. It was 1:00 AM but somewhat light out. Where the hell are the kayaks? Our kayaks were floating nearby but staying put, because I had tied them to a rock as I always do. We removed the tent and dumped the water out, hoping nothing was lost.
By now, the water is rising fast and is over a foot deep where the tent had been. We left the rain fly we were camped under set up, as it wasn’t going anywhere.
Now for the kayaks. We can’t risk leave them floating, even though they are tied, so I waded out to retrieve them. The water was more than knee-deep, my nice, dry neoprene boots got filled up. Janet’s boots were floating and also got soaked.
By 2:30 AM, the tide is receding. The sleeping bags got wet but not soaked. We set the tent up on dry ground, but everything was wet.
I had brought along a couple of emergency bivvy bags , but I never expected to use them. We stuffed the sleeping bags inside them so they wouldn’t get wetter, put on our rain gear so the wet bags wouldn’t get us wet, crawled in, and tried to go back to sleep. Adrenaline assured minimal sleep tonight. In all the excitement, it didn’t occur to us to be looking around for a bear. Probably a good thing – we didn’t need more to worry about.
We got up around 6:00 AM to take inventory. Amazingly, nothing is missing – maybe a tent stake or two.
The sky is overcast, but no rain. Now and then, the sun peeks out for a few seconds. We set up a clothesline to hang the bags, pads, and wet clothes on and had a nice breakfast.
Did we mention the tide can fluctuate up to 25 feet here? This was a good reminder for us. Yes, we have a tide chart and know how to read it – we just blew it with tent placement. Pretty embarrassing rookie mistake we made, but even after being flooded out, the site we originally chose still looked safe today. We will certainly be more careful now. We’ll probably start setting alarms on questionable camps and high tide days.
Pretty exciting way to start the day! We waited until it looked as though we would have no more chance of sunshine to dry anything, so we packed up and left at noon.
We paddled as far as we could into Wachusett Inlet, into the mudflats where the water gets too shallow to paddle. We don’t want to get stuck in this “suckmuck” here at low tide, so we turned around. We were able to see the glacier but couldn’t get as close as we wanted due to the suckmuck. A little disappointing because of the heavy fog—we couldn’t see as much as we wanted, but the view was still impressive.
On the way out, where we intended to camp, we saw two grizzlies walking the beach (yes again). We stayed plenty far offshore to keep distance between us and the grizzlies and then saw a whale right between us and the beach. An uncomfortable place for us – what’s our greatest danger? We don’t want to meet a whale in deep water, and don’t want to get too close to the grizzlies either, they are great swimmers.
We didn’t find a campsite until we were out of Wachusett Inlet and back into the main east arm channel. We found a great site on top of a rock cliff overlooking the east arm below (camp 31.1).
We watched two whales interact here. While breaching, they made a very loud rumbling, vibrating sound that felt like it went right through you. It sounded almost like a horn on a semitruck going off.
This is a wonderful camp site – one of our favorites so far. We feel safe here perched up on the rock and cliff.
18 miles paddled today.
Day 13
We’re up at midnight, 2:00 AM, and 4:00 AM to reposition the kayaks that are tied to a rock and floating up with the tide. We chose to do this rather than the long carry, which seemed like more work.
We decided to take a layover day here. It’s such a beautiful view. A little sun today—just enough to recharge our gps and phone batteries. Whale sounds early this morning waking us up, and more sun this afternoon. Lots of nap time. We’re exhausted. Talked for a while to four kayakers headed south who were envious of our campspot.
At 5:30 The first bear arrived. Janet was near the water brushing her teeth, maybe 30 feet from the grizz. She scaled back up the rock to our camp, looking at me with wide eyes and uttering “bear”. We watched it and talked calmly to it (“nice bear, you don’t want to eat us-do you, bear? we’re old and tough, bear”, etc). We have no place to retreat to, behind us is a cliff with a thirty-foot drop to jagged rocks in the water, before us the bear. Meanwhile Janet was preparing to defend us with every potential weapon available, taking the trigger guard off the bear spray, grabbing the hatchet and other possible contraband we may have at our disposal – and I was busy taking bear pictures.
The bear was totally aware of us, and it stopped and looked directly at us several times. The bear did not act aggressively. It moved slowly, eating grass and alder leaves, and even laying down. But it was very vocal, making grunts, moans, and coughs – strange “unbearlike” sounds. It sounded upset.
Then the second bear emerged from the thick, brushy shoreline. This one was much larger than the first and a lighter color. We only saw the second bear for a few seconds, and it looked healthy and plump. When it saw us, it moved back into the brush.
The smaller bear continued to moan, groan, grunt, and cough as it moved around foraging. We noticed it looked quite skinny and its ribs were showing. It layed down and stared at us a while. At one point, it came within a few feet of our kayaks and perhaps 30-40 feet from us.
After the longest half an hour ever, both bears were gone.
Wow! That was cool, exciting, and scary. A couple things to consider– Was this trip really a good idea?? Are we going to run out of luck?? Naw, we’re good!
We’d calmed down after digesting what we had just witnessed and were about to retire to the tent an hour after they had gone. But then they returned. We didn’t see them, but the same cough, groan, and moan was coming from the brush nearby.
I feel you only get so many warnings, and I was thinking of the woman bikepacker in Montana a few years ago. A grizzly had entered her camp. She chased it off and went to town but decided to return to her camp. She was killed by the grizz that night.
It’s now 7:30 PM, and we decided to pack up and move on. We knew we wouldn’t be sleeping anyway if we stayed. Once again, we set a speed record for breaking camp and packing up.
We paddled south, checking out several potential camps. Each had bear scat and tracks or 6-inch rocks to camp on. The weather conditions were the worst of our trip so far: cold, steady rain with headwinds, and rough, bouncy sea.
After several miles, we finally found a large beach with smooth, rounded, 2-inch rocks to set up our tent on at the very top of the beach. Not sure if it would be above the 3:00 AM high tide or not.
We set up the tent in the rain and went to bed at 11:30 PM, with an alarm every hour to check the tide and pull the kayaks up. We had left them near the water with a long line tied to them. So, every hour, one of us would get up, pull the kayaks and slack rope, and move the kayaks up the beach.
High tide came, and we were about 18 inches above it at 3:30 AM.
Finally, some sleep.
We camped in the area of 31.6. Paddled 5 miles tonight.
Day 14
The rain had stopped, and we got up to watch a huge raft of scoters move back and forth in mass. Thousands of them – truly a sight! Then a whale cruised by, and we got a good look at its head. Usually, you just see the top of the head, its back, and sometimes the tail.
We crossed the main Muir Channel heading east to paddle up Adams Inlet. This inlet is perhaps the least visited area of the East Arm due to its less dramatic scenery and reputation for suckmuck. The name should indicate why you don’t want to step in it. But we have the time and want the full experience. The chart shows dangerous currents, rips, and whirlpools. It sounds pretty intimidating. We did encounter these conditions, but nothing we considered dangerous. We were able to skirt the questionable stuff. The chart also warns to enter just before high tide, which we did, and had an easy 10-mile paddle into the far east lobe, at the very end of Adams Inlet.
The day was cloudy, misty, foggy, but cleared some by evening.
We saw a cow moose 200 yards down the shore from our camp. We noted the high tide and set up camp a few feet above it. We will set a 3:00 AM alarm to make sure we are high enough, being extra careful.
12 miles paddled today. Camp 23.6.
Day 15
Layover day.
We napped and filtered water and paddled/explored around the east lobe of the lake where we are camped. Nice weather today.
Those nasty tiny flies, gnats, no-see-ums, or whatever they are—their sole purpose is to bathe and die in a pool of warm eyeball nectar, many succeed.
Day 16
Today we walked the beach for a couple of hours, then we broke camp and paddled across the lake to a waterfall to filter more drinking water. We always find a clear freshwater stream as you cannot filter saltwater.
We waited for high tide and started back toward the main channel. We have been heading south for several days, exploring new inlets along the way.
We paddled about ¼ mile up a narrow channel to a good campsite and set up. Hours later we watched the channel dry up as the tide went out. Crap. This means we need to be up at 5:00 AM and on our way shortly after, riding the high tide out to avoid being stranded here by the next low tide.
9 miles paddled today. Camped in area of 23.1 near entrance to Adams Inlet. We truly enjoyed our three days in Adams Inlet. We didn’t see another person and spent the Fourth of July holiday here alone and didn’t get swallowed up by suckmuck.
Day 17
Up early as planned and off just after 5:00 AM. Paddled by a swampy area, and two cow moose strolled along the shore near us. Then we saw a mountain goat expertly scaling the sheer cliff face of Mount Wright as we paddled by.
We set up camp at Sturgis Island, same spot as on our way in. We watched several whales and saw lots of seals and otters. The oystercatchers were putting on a fun show – settling on a nest of a couple eggs and trading duties. Watching oystercatchers has become one of our favorite pastimes, with their comical/cartoonish look and actions.
9 miles paddled today.
We were kind of moving slow and napped most of the afternoon. Exhaustion from lack of sleep due to our crazy schedule.
We had previously scheduled our ferry back to Juneau for July 13th, eight days from now. So, we don’t want to get back to Park headquarters too soon, we will take five or six more days to get there. We could easily make it in two days from here, but why, there is still much to explore.
Day 18
It rained all night and until 10:00 AM. Very gray, breezy, cold day. We decided to lay over here, and it was a good call. It rained all day, and the sea was choppy with many whitecaps. The worst conditions of our trip so far, and we were wise enough to sit it out.
Happy to be warm and dry in the tent.
We saw a fantastic whale show this afternoon. It breached at least partially four times. It was a mile from our island, but the view through binoculars was good.
The oystercatchers hanging around close to us continue to keep us entertained, sitting on their eggs. We wish them luck.
Lots of otters, seals, and harlequin ducks today. It was a good, restful day for us.
Got a weather report on the VHF. It said a low-pressure front moved through last night and today. Three-foot seas in Glacier Bay, high winds, and a small craft advisory. Later the report said the front had weakened and conditions should be good tomorrow, although rain is likely.
We’re getting weary of all the rain. We crave sunshine.
Day 19
Rained all night until 10:00 AM, and then things improved quickly, so we packed up and were off at noon.
We went south, staying close to the shore because of ominous-looking clouds that could change conditions rapidly.
We unintentionally got between a whale and the shore at Bear Track Cove. Close call—we were within 40 feet of the whale. Usually, we see the whale spouts in the distance and avoid them, but sometimes they seem to surface out of nowhere. We think they’re curious about us and come close to check us out.
We set up camp on North Fox Farm Island, Camp 19.17, with a fantastic view of the bay to the west.
While having dinner, we spotted a grizz on the island just north of us, a half mile away. Glad he’s upwind. We watched as he strolled the beach, then disappeared into the forest.
Hope he doesn’t decide to swim over here tonight.
The day turned beautiful. Many otters out tonight.
11½ miles paddled.
Day 20
Yay, we woke up alive today. No unwelcome visitors last night.
Of course, it was raining, but soon it quit, and we made our way to White Crow Island for a break.
Had to dodge the whales again and check their location and direction before we made the big crossing to Strawberry Island. We have a great view to the south from camp here. We’re also at the entrance to the West Arm of Glacier Bay. This is where all the commercial tours and cruise ships go, which is why we chose to paddle the East Arm of Glacier Bay rather than the West Arm.
Two huge cruise ships went by this afternoon about a mile from us, plus a “mega-yacht”. And two big ships headed west through Icy Strait. One of them had a huge black “X” on it – maybe Elon’s?
After three weeks of solitude, viewing wildlife and magnificent scenery, today we’re watching boats. It was kind of interesting, though. We did notice small tracks on the beach, and areas where wildlife had obviously been sleeping in the flattened-down grass. We decided these were from deer, to ease any of our worries.
7½ miles. Camp at 16.7.
Day 21
There is a long-standing odd tradition among select members of the Colorado paddling community, and that is to moon the Amtrak train as it rumbles by the river camps. Could it be this tradition has migrated to Glacier Bay and morphed into mooning mega cruise ships?
Can’t say – that’s between us and the 5,000 people aboard Princess Discovery. We know how proud Jeff Oxenford would be.
We decided this would be the last day of our adventure.
We packed up on a beautiful Sunday morning and were off at 9:30, right at high tide, to avoid the strong rips we saw yesterday from shore. Our map also warned us of strong rips and currents.
It was a bouncy, open-water crossing with tailwinds from Strawberry Island to Young Island. After paddling along shore a bit, we stop for a snack and watch a whale one more time. Then around Lester Point, and the homestretch across Bartlett Cove involved 2 tough miles of headwinds, paddling against the current.
We’re at the boat ramp and all loaded up by 2:30 PM.
What a great trip! We are exhausted after paddling nearly 200 miles in 21 days. I believe we experienced Glacier Bay more than most. We saw an unbelievable number of breathtaking waterfalls, and scenery much to spectacular to describe. And the wildlife we saw was truly incredible. For the most part Glacier Bay was very calm during our adventure, like paddling on a huge glassy lake. But we know things can change quick, big waves can and do occur here and we were prepared for those conditions.
We filled our solar shower with hot water from the lodge restroom and had our first shower in 21 days. Boy, did we need it!
Then we had a great meal at the lodge—steak, halibut, potatoes, and veggies. Wonderful after what we had been consuming for the past three weeks.
If you ever consider doing a trip in Glacier Bay, 2 things we found essential is the book “Kayakers Companion to Glacier Bay” and chart by David Bahr. With a little luck, you might also run into him as we did. He seems to spend a lot of time here.
Well, that concluded our paddle, but certainly not our trip. The following is a description of the 39 days it took us to get home. So, if you’re interested, read on.
We had a couple days to spend around Glacier Lodge and Gustavus. So, we hiked a lot. On one of our hikes, we went to a National Guard plane crash site from 1957. 4 people died in the crash, and the wreckage was mostly undisturbed after all these years – very sad to see.
We also took the Glacier Bay “Day Boat” tour, so we could take a look at Glacier Bay’s West Arm, which we had not paddled. The highlight was getting up close to Margerie Glacier, where we witnessed the glacier calving. But somehow, it doesn’t compare to being down on the water, in a kayak, quietly and totally immersed in your environment.
From here, we caught the ferry back from Gustavus to Juneau and spent a little more time with Brian and his wife Muddy. We went to a fish ladder and saw many thousands of salmon boiling in the river and traveling up the ladder. Then we caught another ferry to Haines, AK, to begin exploring Alaska with our van.
From Haines, we went to Valdez, with spectacular emerald-green mountains and waterfalls along the way. Then on to Palmer, Wasilla, Eagle River, Anchorage, and Whittier. Whittier has a miles-long narrow one-way tunnel that alternates car and train traffic. Then we went to Stewart – which has a great Sea Life exhibit, including live Sea Lions, Puffins, Eiders, and Seals. We also hiked Exit Glacier. In town that night, we watched a great Gringo-Latin band from Montana, playing Salsa, in Stewart Alaska (makes perfect sense). Then next stop was Homer – a beautiful fun town with a long “spit” out into the ocean, jumping with action and lots of tourist shops, restaurants, and little bars including The Salty Dog. Not quite what we expected in remote Alaska, but we enjoyed it.
Next stop was Kenai, where we met up with Tracy’s cousin Jalanda, and her husband Kenny. They’ve lived in Fairbanks for many years. Also, there was Tracy’s cousin Julie and his Aunt Marcella from Oklahoma. We all spent an incredible day watching Kenny “dip net” for salmon, among hundreds of other dip-netters at the beach. Only Alaskan residents are allowed to do this. It’s like a huge tail-gating party when the salmon run – again – not what we expected in remote Alaska. They use a 5-foot hoop with a net in it, attached to a 20-foot pole, while standing in waist-deep waves and surf. When they feel a salmon swim into the net, they haul it ashore, club it in the head, and go get another. Kennys quota was thirty-five salmon, and he nearly filled it with fish that averaged 10-15 pounds each.
We tried our luck with hook and pole – legal for licensed non-Alaskans. Janet got one nice salmon, and I allowed three to get away. Damn the luck, it was fun anyway and nice to visit with family, and we felt lucky to get to be part of this true Alaskan experience.
After this, we drove to Cooper Landing on the Kenai Peninsula and camped at Gwin’s Lodge in our van. Here we just happened to see a great band in a small outdoor patio area with a crowd of maybe 20 people. The band was called “Honky-Tonk Rebel” featuring Mario Carboni and Ernie Lewis. Then, Norm Hamlet made a guest appearance! Norm is in his 90’s and is the last living member of Merle Haggards’ band “The Strangers”. He performed with Merle Haggard for 5 decades as the steel guitar player/dobro player. What a strange set of circumstances, where we would get lucky enough to see such a legend!
We also took a commercial raft trip down the Kenai River Canyon. We considered kayaking this section of river, but mixed descriptions of the tough rapids helped us decide that it might not be in our best interest. It was a fun and beautiful raft trip, and after going through the rapids, I believe we chose wisely not to kayak it.
Next stop was the tiny, charming village of Hope, on the Turnagain Arm. This little town seems to be clinging to what I envisioned as a small, non-touristy, remote Alaska town. Here we saw a mother moose and her 2 calves, eagles, sandhill cranes with a baby, and what we think were dall sheep – high up on a cliff.
Next stop was Denali National Park, where we spent a couple awesome days hiking. We were among the lucky 30% that get to see a clear view of the peak, which is shrouded in clouds 70% of the time. We saw the biggest moose we’ve ever seen, a huge caribou, and tons of ptarmigan.
Then we took the seldom used old Denali Highway, 135 miles of mostly gravel road from Cantwell Junction to Paxon, beautiful scenery with our final views of Denali, and we also saw 2 swans with 3 cygnets in a pond right next to the road. Next on to Tuk Alaska. And, if you’re ever in Tuk, you must eat at Fast Eddy’s – trust me!!
From here we drove to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. It’s a busy fun town to spend the day, and we seem to have ended up here at one point or another the last 4 summers. Then on to Liard Hot Springs for a nice hot soak. Along the way, we saw a huge herd of Wood Bison. Then we continued to Dawson Creek, where some friendly people told us about Tumbler Ridge.
So, we took a long dirt-road diversion to Tumbler Ridge, which is a nice area with many dramatic waterfalls, good hiking, and dinosaur tracks. We may want to spend more time there on future trips. Then we spent the next day in Jasper National Park and Banff, then on to Calgary for a fun evening of dancing at Ranchman’s Cookhouse and Dance Hall.
We continued to Waterton National Park, where we wandered into the Prince of Wales Lodge, and did a small hike by a waterfall. We can’t even guess how many eagles and swans we saw in Alaska and Canada.
Then on to Glacier National Park in Montana, where we spent a couple of days. Here we did a very memorable hike on the Highline Trail, which was worthy of a separate “grizzly bear encounter” post. Watch for it. Definitely our summer for bears….
Then it was on to Great Falls, with another great lunch at non-other than “Tracy’s Diner” … another great old-timey diner with HUGE servings. Then decision time: go home or go paddle the Missouri Breaks?
A two headed coin toss and of course, we are headed to paddle the Missouri Breaks from Fort Benton to James Kipp, which was a mere 150 miles and took seven days. Watch for a separate trip report of this also.
Afterwards, we drove to Red Lodge Montana and over Bear Tooth Pass. A couple days later August 18, we were home, but not before making one last stop in Saratoga, Wyoming, to soak in the Hobo Pool and hot springs in the river.
Hell of a trip. 70 days total. We paddled 350 miles, hiked at least 150 miles and drove nearly 8000 miles.
I think I hear Mexico calling…
Click on a thumbnail for a larger picture.
