RE: [Paddlewise] Southeast Alaska paddling

  OK, now that you let the secret out Southeast is going to be inundated
with people seeking kayaking nirvana.<g>  Very glad to hear that you had
good weather and great paddling.  
  May and June are typically the two driest months up here, although this
year we did set a new precipitation record in May (including a couple of
snow squalls to add insult to injury).
  I recently returned from a week long trip down Seymour Canal on the
eastern side of Admiralty Island and into Gambier Bay.  Humpback whales, sea
lions, harbour seals and porpoise, brown bear, otter, mink, Sitka black
tailed deer, eagles, marbled murrelets, pigeon guillemots, pacific loons,
black oyster catchers, rufous throated hummingbirds, etc provided the daily
entertainment.  The weather was generally pretty outstanding, even a day
that the temperature hit a steaming 70F.  Too much heat!  Two years of
living here and I'm already spoiled! :-) The food on this solo trip was
nothing to write home about - instant oatmeal, power bars, and pre-packaged
pasta dishes were the typical fare, although a little work with a spinning
rod did manage to put a couple of nice Dolly Varden in the frying pan on two
occasions.  Dolly Varden typically winter over in fresh water lakes and
return to the salt in the spring.  At this time of year they're usually in
the shallows attempting to feed on the salmon fry that are making their
initial salt water foray.
  Bears didn't prove to be much of a problem although one night I ended up
paddling an extra hour looking for a good campsite because my first pick had
fresh bear scat all around it.  Don't know if it was just a busy crossroad,
a bear bathroom, or the kitchen; but I didn't feel like spending a sleepless
night there.
  The best bear viewing seemed to be around dusk in the back ends of bays
and bights where the bears were feeding on fresh young sedges.  Spent an
interesting 45 minutes one afternoon watching a nearly oblivious 2-3 yr old
cinnamon coloured brown bear play in a mud hole (maybe it was cinnamon
coloured mud).
  The tides were pretty enormous during the early part of the trip (a 24.8
foot flux on what seemed to be the biggest tidal variation of the year)
Yes, the tide book makes interesting reading when you forget to pack other
reading material :-)
  The most interesting eagle activity was watching a mature bald eagle
_swimming_ with a salmon(I think) in its talons.  I first viewed a strange
spot seemingly "humping" across the water and as I paddled nearer could
finally see that it was an eagle swimming with its wings.  Almost like an
eagle version of the butterfly stroke.  It actually stopped to rest one time
by stretching its wings out flat and just floating in the water.  The entire
activity seemed a bit precarious to me - I wondered as I watched how many
eagles end up as a snack for a passing sea lion or orca.  The eagle finally
reached shore (when I first spotted the bird it was probably 500-600 yards
from shore) it dragged a large fish up.  Don't know how the energy
expended/earned ratio worked out on that particular catch.  I've since been
told (by a Fish & Game biologist) that this is not an unusual behavior.   
 After 6 days of paddling (and bathing in _cold_ saltwater) I was very happy
to reach Gambier Bay and rendezvous with friends on their 42' trawler for a
hot shower and a trip up Stephens Passage back to Juneau.  As we say in
Alaska - A Skookum Trip!

Dave Seng
Juneau, Alaska

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Authorized User [mailto:polymedia_at_csi.com]
> 
> We've just returned today from a week of kayaking along the 
> coast of the
> Chichagof wilderness in Southeast Alaska, and Dave, for all his local
> knowledge, certainly didn't forecast it right for this week.
> 
> Four of us chartered the Home Shore, a 60 foot purse seiner 
> fishing boat, to
> use as a mother ship (www.homeshore.com) for a week of 
> kayaking and hiking,
> and we had perfect weather and a perfect time.  Every day but two was
> sun-block bright, warm and sunny, with gentle winds.  The one 
> windy day had
> winds from the SE, so the waves stayed down outside. Inside,  
> behind the
> islands and on the bights and bays, the water was still 
> mirror glass still.
> The one rainy day we had, we chose not to kayak, and instead 
> motored up an
> inlet to watch two adult, one juvenile, and two cub brown 
> bears hanging out
> on the beach.
> 
> (It was great being able to sleep on the Home Shore instead 
> of camping on
> that beach! The mothership approach kept us warm, dry, well 
> fed with gourmet
> meals, and educated with tons of local knowledge by Jim and 
> Ben Kyle and
> Erin Dollar. We could paddle, or not, and pick our spots to boot.)
> 
> Between the Home Shore and their kayaks, we saw not only 
> bears but whales
> and porpoises and seals and puffins and otter and sea lion, all in
> mountainscape and seascape setting of astounding beauty.
> 
> Yes the water was a cold 50 degrees,  and perhaps we hit a lucky week.
> Having the Home Shore as a base camp instead of a soggy beach 
> certainly made
> a difference.
> But the Southeast Alaska the we saw was a paddling heaven.
> 
> Lewis
> Lincroft, NJ, which today is rainy, cloudy, dreary, depressing..:)
> 
> > Date: Fri, 28 May 1999 10:50:14 -0800
> > From: David Seng <David_at_wainet.com>
> > Subject: RE: [Paddlewise] Alaska slide show
> >  ... Southeast Alaska is a rainy, cloudy, rainy, dreary, 
> rainy, depressing
> area with constant cold winds, seas that never get  warm, and 
> marauding
> bears that make camping a veritable nightmare.  ;-)
> >   Enjoy the slide show - Southeast really is an incredibly beautiful
> place.
> > Dave Seng
> > Juneau, Alaska
> 
> 
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