The next
morning we were met by our intrepid
leader, Ronn Patterson who took us to
his
boat, Delphinus, which is a 50' motor
yacht that has room for 10 passengers
and 3 crew. Needless to say our cabin
was quite small (two people cannot stand
at the same time). We took off into
Frederick Sound and soon came upon a pod
of humpback whales that were bubble
netting and lunge feeding. Bubble
netting is when a group of whales swim
in a circle blowing a circle of bubbles
that encircle a school of herring. In
the center of this circle the whales
will burst out of the water with their
mouths open taking in huge amounts of
fish and water expelling the water
through their baleen and swallowing the
remaining fish. After spending quite a
while with the whales, we made our way
to a beautiful group of islands known as
the Brothers where we spent the
night. The next day was sunny and warm
and we traveled to Cascade Creek on
Admiralty Island. Here we saw some of
the many nesting Bald Eagles that
inhabit this island and the creek was
full of spawning salmon. We saw a lot
of partially eaten salmon on the path
which was a sign of bear (most trails we
took were actually bear paths). As we
walked we were surprised and excited to
see a bear in the distance and I
understand she had a cub with her which
I didn't see. Ronn made a comment about
the tide coming in which we noted with
interest (I even videotaped it). We
continued our walk, seeing bear poop and
tracks as well as some of Alaska's
magnificent scenery. After a brief rest
we turned back and were coming upon some
rather high water. Finally the water
was becoming as high as our boots and we
had to make a decision to wade through
water that might be to our thighs or
climb a ridge and try to find a bear
path. All but two decided to take
the high road and we were warned very
seriously to avoid, at all costs,
grabbing onto a plant called "Bear Club"
which has leaves and stems with
needle-like projections that, if
grabbed, will fester and probably cause
infection. The woods were full of this
plant and we weren't on a path. We may
have been the first people to walk
through this wilderness and we didn't
have any idea where we were going. We
had to climb over downed trees which had
branches sticking out all over the place
all the time being careful to not touch
the bear club. We clum and we clum,
we tripped and we fell and we slid on
our backsides . . we bled and we got
bruised and we finally heard Ronn
calling from below. He climbed up to
where we were and we wended our way down
to a place where the water wasn't too
high. Whew, we made it!!!! It took us
over two hours to get through
this. After all is said and done, I
have to say this experience was one of
the highlights of our trip. What a
feeling of satisfaction for someone
whose major activity is changing
channels!!! I'll never forget it and the
feeling of togetherness we had - a bunch
of strangers coming together in the
wilderness towards a common goal. We
were no longer strangers. The next day
we headed to Pack Creek Bear Preserve
where we hoped to see Grizzlies. Ronn
told us the chances weren't very good
because it was sunny and warm and the
bears usually don't come out unless it's
dreary and wet. We hiked on a path
to a low tower and, almost immediately
saw a bear fishing in the distance. Then
we saw another one quite close who posed
on a log for us. All of a sudden we saw
a third one right by the tower who must
have been in the brush that we had just
walked through!!!! Yikes!!!! These
guys entertained us for hours. They
fished, they picked berries, they
bathed, they frolicked, they played with
a fish, they rolled in the water they
were amazing. We laughed, we wept . . .
we took a kazillion photos and lots of
video. What an experience. After
lunch we came back to another area of
the park where we saw a mother with her
two yearling cubs. At one point another
bear came which the mother ran after and
chased away, leaving the cubs alone.
When she returned, they ran to her at a
breakneck speed and she brought them a
fish. We laughed, we wept . . . we took
a kazillion photos and lots of video.
Another great experience. Our next
destination was Kake where we hoped to
see Black Bears and we weren't
disappointed. Kake is an indian village
and they have a fish hatchery. The bears
congregate in the creek that feeds the
hatchery and, at one point, we had as
many as 10 bear in view. One bear
caught a fish and was chowing down when
another bear came to claim the fish. The
second must have been an alpha bear
because, without much of a struggle, the
first bear took off running into the
woods leaving his prize for the evil one
to eat. We laughed, we wept . . . we
took a kazillion photos and lots of
video. Another great experience. We
are now heading to Baranof Island where
there is a magnificent waterfall and a
warm spring. En route we came upon a
freight barge which had countless
containers that go on trucks, three
houses, many trucks, huge pieces of
equipment, probably two freight trains
full of stuff. It was amazing what it
carried and this is how most freight is
carried to Alaska. It's very efficient
as well as interesting. We arrived at
Baranof and hiked, picking blueberries
along the way for Megan (our chef) to
make into something delectable for
breakfast. I fought off spiders and
everything for those berries and I don't
even like blueberries . . . Oh the
sacrifices I make for my fellow
passengers. We climbed to the top of a
hill (where I proceded to drop my video
camera) and then went to see the 'hot
tub' where several people went in to
enjoy the warm water. The weather
continued to be very warm and we were
now wearing shorts!!! In Alaska!!!
Baranof is very beautiful. On the road
again we came upon more bubble
netting/lunge feeding whales which were
more difficult to see because the
weather was turning cooler and wetter
and the water was no longer 'flat'.
Later we came upon a single whale that
was breaching and breaching and
breaching - got tired, stopped, rested
and started breaching again. Boy oh
boy, did I LOVE that whale!!! We
laughed, we wept . . . we took a
kazillion photos and lots of video. I
loved it. People ask why whales
breach and there are as many answers as
there are questions. 1. To rid
themselves of parasites that attach to
their sensitive skin. 2. As a warning.
3. Communicating to other whales. 4.
Most breachers are young so it might be
a way of strengthing their muscles and
for coordination. 5. Because it's fun.
6. Because they can. 7. All of the
above. We next went to Basket Cove for
a short skiff ride to a cave which was
quite beautiful. On the way to our next
destination we came upon another pod of
whales and saw some good breaching. In
subsequent days we went to S. Marble
Island where there is a large
concentration of birds including two
types of puffin. We went to Bartlett
Cove where Glacier Bay National Park is
and hiked around the park which was
quite beautiful. We then went to S.
Sandy Cove where we hiked and anchored
for the night. Little did we know but
disaster was looming over our lives and
we had a major engine problem. The oil
pump died and we had no way to fix it.
This is probably the worst thing that
can happen to an engine and it has to be
hoisted to get to the pump (the engine
is beneath the dining area and
everything had to be removed - tables,
benches, carpet, people, etc.). We were
dead in the water, three hours from
Bartlett Cove. Ronn got a friend to
come from the park and tow us back.
While they tried to fix the boat we
hiked and came upon a moose and her
mooselet (more photos and video). We
took a six seater plane and flew over
Glacier Bay which was awesome - photos
and video don't do it justice. These
glaciers are HUGE. From the water you
just see the face which dwarfs an ocean
liner, but most of the glacier is on
land and they are miles long. We flew
over about six different ones. So, we
took our flightseeing trip and were
walking on the pier to our boat and
looked up to see a familiar face looking
right at us. We just hugged each other.
It was a couple from Ireland and
Scotland that we met six months
earlierin Antarctica that were going to
take the highway that starts in Tierra
del Fuego and ends in Alaska. They took
trains, plains, hiked, went to Peru,
Bolivia, New York, you name it. We
joked that it would be funny if we met
in Alaska, knowing it could _never_
happen. We were stunned.
Just think of the odds of our doing this
and the things that had to happen to put
us on that dock at that instant . . . if
we hadn't had an engine failure we
wouldn't have even been there or seen a
particular whale or had their boat been
late - one minute one way or the other
and we would have missed them . . . I
still can't believe it!!! To keep
us out of his hair Ronn sent us on our
merry way on the Spirit of Adventure
which is a sightseeing boat that goes to
the glaciers. This was an all day trip
and one we enjoyed very much. Today is
the day the part is supposed to arrive
from Seattle that will fix our trusty
craft so we took another hike in the
morning and Megan brought us lunch which
we ate at the lodge. We were picked up
by a ranger who took us to a trail head
which would take us to Bartlett Lake.
She said it was about 3 miles to the
lake then two miles back to the
lodge. We gallantly set off, laughing
and singing along the way. We made up
new words to "There's a Hole in the
Bucket", we were having such a nice
hike. We came to the lake and it was
beautiful. Megan said it's her favorite
place in Alaska (she hadn't been here
before). We were expected back at 4:00
so we didn't stay very long and headed
back and headed back and headed back. We
walked and we walked - singing no more.
We'd see some sunlight and rejoice that
we were finally at the road just to find
it to be a muskeg. We're not only no
longer singing, the foul language
starts. We walk, we come upon light, we
celebrate, we find another muskeg.
Dejected we plod on and on seemingly
forever . . . step after step, log after
log, muskeg after muskeg . . . no end in
sight. Finally we came upon a signpost
which indicated that the lake wasn't two
miles but 4.3 miles and another .7 to
the road and another mile to the dock on
top of the 3.5 it took to get to the
lake!!! By now we are a frenzied mob
and tried to hail a bus - the @*#&$^#&$
didn't stop!!! We knew where the ranger
lived and, if it wasn't 5:45 we would
have stormed her house and made her
children orphans - there would have been
no stopping us. However, we were too
tired and hungry to act upon our primal
instincts and her life was spared. When
we got back aboard the boat I found one
of my toes was bleeding!!!! We didn't
laugh, we didn't weep . . .we didn't
take any photos or video. When we
could see the harbor we saw that the
boat was moved which meant the engine
had been fixed. Four days in Bartlett
Cove but it turned out to be a good
place to be stranded and Ronn did a
great job of keeping us entertained as
well as fixing the boat. So ends our
adventure in the wilds of Alaska. I
can't wait to go back.
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