Alaska - Day 14

We set out on our third day thinking we would go 8 miles and camp at Shoup Glacier, 12 miles and camp at Gold Creek, or go 16 miles and get all the way to Valdez.  We left our campsite in Sawmill Bay with some hope that it might clear up since we could see the mountains at the back of the bay.  Wishful thinking.  It was as rainy as ever but we were used to that by now.  As we paddled out of the bay into the Valdez arm the most striking thing was the armada of fishing boats for salmon season.  It was pretty cool watching how they use the nets and their boats.  

We were treated to many more waterfalls, more rain, and we loved it all.

Shoup Glacier was awesome.  It was a little difficult to get to.  The glacier and its bay is separated from the ocean by a bunch of land and there are two rivers that go in and out of the bay. If you get there at high tide you can just paddle in against a little bit of current.  We got there at anything but high tide so we had to line our kayak all the way up the river on slippery rocks and seaweed in our rubber boots. We managed though and were treated to a pretty great view of this tidewater glacier.

Our trip out out of the bay was quick and in a little bit of white water because the tide was just finishing going out. It was pretty fun and made up for the long journey in.  We kept paddling because we decided we were ready to get out of the rain for the night.  Along the way we saw Cliff Mine below.

After a late lunch break we finished up paddling to Valdez.  The tide was starting to go in and so we made incredible time for the last five miles or so.  It was still raining, but as we were finishing up we had mixed emotions because we were happy to get out of the rain but we wished we were still out kayaking.  After 55 miles or so in 3 days with constant rain we decided we were pretty tired and should just stay in a hotel for the night. Plus, we figured that since is was still raining the only way we would ever get our gear dry was to hang it all out in a hotel.
It was an epic trip and now we often talk about the next sea kayaking trip we are going to take and about how much easier it will be to plan now that we've done a pretty decent trip already.

Alaska - Day 13

I have an excuse for taking so long this time. Our computer died. Dead. Never coming back. We have a new one now though so no excuse.
I think the theme of this day would be a lot of paddling, a lot of rain, a lot waterfalls, and a lot of eagles.    We set out in the morning knowing we needed to paddle at least 9 miles to get to Waterfall Beach for a beach to camp on.  Like I said earlier, it had started raining the night before right as we finished dinner and was still raining when we set off.  The rain wasn't ideal, but the worst part was that along with the rain the cloud ceiling was really low and visibility to the ocean and along the coast was pretty terrible. That being said, it was incredible.  We didn't know too much different and we were on a new adventure anyway so there was nothing to be upset about. But yeah, it was pretty rainy. I was wearing 2 Gore Tex jackets just to be safe and and a poncho to really protect our shoulders.  Turns out our jackets are super waterproof and so we just went with one jacket the next day and no poncho. But we weren't going to let ourselves get wet and ruin our fun. I have to say that we didn't take too many pictures because of the rain and all the pictures were on my old camera so they are sub par. That being said, we have great memories in our head of the day and you should just go and see it yourself.
The start of our day was by far the most challenging paddling we did the whole trip.  One of the greatest things about Prince William Sound is that it is really protected and calm because of outlying islands and the geographic layout.  We did have to round a really rocky area called Point Freemantle though that morning and not only was it a rocky point, it is one of the few areas that has a straight fetch out to the Pacific Ocean. The waves rocked in a lot of different directions, the currents were weird, it was raining, there were rocks, and to add to the excitement, the icebergs were pretty thick for a bit too.  I  have to admit there were a few times when I was a little nervous that we weren't going to be able to paddle out of it. In spite of paddling really hard we barely moved.  It was really bad for about a mile and still hard for another 2 or 3 miles and then we got into the protected arm a little more and it got a lot easier and I relaxed a bit.

So rainy. Chew with your mouth closed Brent. So happy to be able to relax a bit and not have to constantly paddle hard. 

Once we got around the point, the rest of the shoreline was rocky with so many different kinds of green going up steep sloped mountains. Every little bit there would be some type of waterfall that would just terminate in the ocean.  There were a handful of places that still had snow all the way down to sea level.  

 So blurry because I'm zoomed a little too far on my little camera but this eagle was great.  We saw so many eagles this day.  I was lucky to have Brent because he has an incredible eye for wildlife from his guide days.  At one point I said, "We haven't seen an eagle in a while", to which he responded, "There is one right there." Sure enough, there was one in the trees just on shore that I hadn't spotted. A lot of the eagles this day looked really cool because they were perched in the trees with their wings spread. We guessed they were maybe trying to dry their feathers which kind of seemed like a lost cause.

 Our lunch stop on waterfall beach.  We did have to make one stop a little before this so Brent could go pee.  I know no one really cares about that, but imagine what it would be like to be stuck in a kayak in the ocean with a rocky shore with nowhere to stop and you have to go really bad.  Pretty uncomfortable.  We finally found a somewhat beachable shore. Brent got the relief he needed, but we did almost capsize a few times and we had to pump out our kayak.  So Waterfall Beach was a nice stop.  You can't imagine how good it felt to get up out of the kayak.  Our original plan was to camp on this beach, but it was still early and we felt okay so we decided to push on to Sawmill Bay. Probably the biggest reason we decided to go though was because it was cold and wet just sitting on the beach with low visibility but paddling in the kayak kept us warm.

These picture were taken about 15 miles into our 20 mile day. We were pretty tired and sore and ready to be done but we were having a great time.  The thing about being on a kayak in the middle of nowhere is that you can say whatever you want, do whatever you want, be as loud as you want, and be as ridiculous as you want. Besides we are big dorks when we are together.  We had a great time talking about life and I can't leave out the part when I taught Brent a little chant my family does when hiking and stuff. We spent at least a half a hour repeating it over and over in every different tone and style we could possibly think of. I would like to show off the many faces of Brent below.

 Such relief when we saw the entrance to Sawmill Bay after a long, wet, and awesome day.  If you look closely there is an eagle. Actually there have been a bunch of pictures with eagles hiding in them.

 This was our view all night from our campsite in the bay.  In our life together some of most prized and lifesaving possessions have been our tent and our tarps.  As long as you have a good cover to keep you dry the party goes on. We spent about 3.5 hours perched under our tarp before heading to our tent.  It was awesome.  Clearly the visibility was terrible.  A lot of the time we couldn't even see the entrance to the bay that is visible in this picture.  However, we were visited by some wildlife. A handful of sea lions and otters came close to shore to check us out.  I think the most fascinating wildlife we saw were a bunch of gulls that were dive bombing the water to catch fish and then fighting over them in the air.  It was incredible and so different than the scavenger gulls around here that just wait for even the little crumb from your picnic.  We also saw a number of fishing boats come into the bay to take advantage of the salmon that were congregating at the mouth of the river down from our site. They were all smaller boats that didn't' make a sound and it just looked kind of cool. There were a few when we went to bed and so many more when we woke up that slipped in during the night.

 We went to bed once we were just too cold and had overloaded on cider and hot chocolate.  Here is our lifesaving tent.  Not a drop of water got on us even with all the rain. You just have to get it pulled so tight that you think you're going to rip the fly.  You would actually be surprised by how incredible quick we got at putting up and taking down our tent so it wouldn't get wet on the inside.  We had cribbage along so we spent some time playing that before going to sleep while still light outside. It felt really good to be warm and resting.  Good gear is the key to success on any trip. Especially a trip like ours to Alaska.

Alaska - Day 12

My goal for this day was to not post too many pictures, but I failed completely.  But as you scroll down you'll see why I just could resist.

When Brent and I first decided that we were going to Central Alaska we also decided that we would do a big sea kayaking trip in Prince William Sound.  This was bold of us. We had never been sea kayaking. We had never been to Prince William Sound.  The water in Prince William Sound is ice cold as it is pretty much all glacier melt off. We had no idea how to pack a sea kayak and how to choose good beaches to sleep on that we wouldn't find ourselves drowning in freezing cold water in the middle of the night.  We were clueless.  That being said, we are also pretty solid when it comes to the outdoors. We are both very confident in water, but at the same time respect its power.  I am a crazy good trip planner.  And besides, we love a good adventure.  After a lot of pre-planning and angst over if we should do a trip by ourselves with basically no experience or a guided trip, and if we should get solo kayaks or a double kayak, we finally decided on our own trip in a double kayak.  I don't say that lightly.  It made us nervous that we were going out to literally the middle of nowhere not entirely sure what we were doing.  The closer it got the more nervous we got. However, what we lacked in experience, we certainly made up for in preparation by talking to guides, studying maps, buying books on Prince William Sound and reading them multiple times over, and even taking kayaks up to Smith-Moorehouse Reservoir for some practice kayaking and practice self rescues.  

Our itinerary was set as follows. Have a water taxi take us out about 55 miles and paddle back. A more detailed description is below.

Day 1- Water taxi out to Columbia Glacier and paddle around and camp somewhere around there.

Day 2- Paddle to Waterfall Beach and camp 

Day 3- Paddle to Sawmill Bay and camp

Day 4- Paddle to Shoup Glacier and camp

Day 5- Paddle to Valdez

So that's that.  We were prepared. We were excited. We were hoping for decent weather. And so we were off. 

We were really wondering how we were going to get all this stuff in our kayak but we did it! 

 The captain of the Mayflower Star was really helpful in pointing out landmarks as we rode out to the glacier.  We first helped him unload his boat for a day tour that was going out and then he took us to a totally different area to unload. They do a lot of guided day tours, but they barely rent to people going out on their own so we knew it would be pretty solitary out there.  Throughout our whole trip we never saw another kayaker.  It was awesome.  

Ready to go for the very first time. At least we looked like we knew what we were doing.

Our first view of the wildlife from our kayaks as we paddled a couple miles up to the glacier.  The wildlife was really curious and otters and sea lions would just swim around our boats and get closer and closer (until we took out a camera of course!)

Our first iceberg. Not the last.

When I say we went to Columbia Glacier you will wonder why you never really see pictures of a glacier.  Columbia is Alaska's largest tidewater glacier.  For years though, it has been steadily retreating.  Now there is a huge moraine settled miles in front of the glacier in Heather Bay. As the tide goes down, all the icebergs that calved off the glacier get stuck behind the moraine. As the tide comes in and the moraine is covered with water, the bergs float out in the open ocean. Building size ice bergs will be floating out in ocean for days.  We got to the moraine as the tide was coming in and ate lunch and waited for a nice passage to open up.  

Paddling through icebergs is amazing! It is also kind of scary when you are first starting. Remember Titanic? Because the tide comes in and the icebergs flow out, there is actually a lot of movement among the icebergs.  We could see them roll side to side a bit and areas that were at one point totally open would become clogged with ice rather quickly.  What I'm saying is that initially we really kept our distance.  As we got further away from the opening the current wasn't as fast so the ice didn't move as much and we got braver.  The constant cracking of these huge chunks of ice is a bit unnerving too.  Once we got settled into it though, this became one of the most epic days of my life. 

 You can see that some of the icebergs were really small and some where huge.  

Columbia Glacier is actually miles up the ice. Please note the sea lions just relaxing on the ice.

This iceberg is clearly trying to be a sperm whale. There were so many different types of formations

I like how in this photo the white ice chunk is balancing on the dirty black one. You can actually see space between the two in the middle.

 I don't think there is too much more to say about the icebergs because the pictures show it all.  It was such an incredible day.  We made it back to our campsite for the night at Emerald Cove.  It was in fact an emerald cove.  Lots of bald eagles were flying around. We definitely didn't have the greatest time trying to eat dinner.  You can see that the bugs were somewhat unmanageable.  The view was pretty spectacular though to match the whole day we had experienced.  Just as we were finishing dinner, the rain started....and then never stopped.