[Paddlewise] Trip Report - Berner's Bay, Alaska

Hello Paddlewisers!

  After a long hiatus (from Paddlewise, not paddling) I'm back on the
list and noting with interest that many familiar names are still posting
with regularity.

  After a week-long business trip to the Baltimore area I returned to
Juneau last Friday after a combined (car and plane) 17 hr trip.  The
plan was to spend the weekend with my SO in Berner's Bay, about 35-40
miles northwest of Juneau.  After a long day of travel the last thing
that I wanted to do was pack gear for a weekend of camping and paddling,
but that's what was on the agenda.  Stephanie (the aforementioned SO)
had secured the necessary foodstuffs, but a hectic week at grad school
had distracted her from the task of packing for the trip.  It was a late
night, but the marine forecast on the radio promised sunny skies and
gentle breezes as I finally drifted off to sleep.

  Saturday dawned bright and clear and we loaded her Seaward Navigator
and my VCP Skerray on the roof and piled what seemed to be mountains of
gear into the back of the truck.  It always seems odd to me that we need
SO MUCH stuff for a simple overnight trip, but having both lived in
Southeast Alaska for quite a while we know that it pays to be prepared
for the worst - because that's often exactly what Mother Nature
delivers.

  A quick drive up the coast to the END OF THE ROAD (yes, that's right -
the road just ends - and there isn't another road for more than 100
miles) and we reached our put-in at Echo Cove, a long narrow cove
opening to the northwest.  As fate would have it we almost lucked out,
but while the tide would be with us on our paddle out of the cove we
were facing a moderate headwind funneling right down the cove.  The
tides during this weekend were quite large, from a high of 19.8 ft to a
low of -4.8 ft, more than a 24 ft variation!

  The kayaks easily swallowed the mountain of gear, even though the
kayak packers' skills had gone rusty over the long dark Alaskan winter,
and we quickly set off for the first overnight trip of the year under
sunny skies.  Berner's Bay, our destination, is a pristine bay fed by
two rivers and often home at this time of the year to a large population
of Stellar's sea lions and the occasional humpback whale.

  The paddle out of the cove went smoothly although the writer of this
missive was chastised for having delayed the start of the trip by
sleeping in too late and thus causing us to have to paddle against the
tide near the mouth of the cove, but I found solace by playing (as much
as I could in a fully loaded kayak) in the eddies and tidal "boils".  As
we turned the corner at the mouth of the cove and began to paddle along
the magnificent coastline the wind died and the water turned to glass.
We could see the bottom 20 ft below us as we paddled along; to me it
felt as though I was flying over the top of an underwater kingdom.  Pure
magic.  The sight of snow-capped mountains just out of reach in the
preternaturally clear air lent a magnificence to the scene that is hard
to describe.  The thought went through my mind once again that I
actually LIVE here and that I don't have to go home at the end of the
vacation (I've been here for more than 5 years and I still feel this way
about living in Southeast Alaska!).

  A quick lunch of the standby PBJ's, Pringles chips and apples (yes, I
succumb to junk food when I paddle!) and we were back on the water and
making our way into the mouth of the three mile wide bay.  We began
seeing sea lions almost immediately, just as one of Steph's fellow
researchers (a sea lion biologist) had indicated after a census flight
over the bay, "the place is HAPPENING right now!"  These big sea lions
are inordinately curious and like to play games like "scare the kayaker"
by coming up silently behind the paddler and exhaling explosively.  Fun
- for the sea lions _and_ the paddlers.  The males can be huge, 10-11 ft
in length and over 2000 lbs, and can be a bit intimidating when they get
close, but for the most part they were all much more interested in
feeding on the plentiful eulachon, (or hooligan in local parlance) a
small "smelt".

  In the distance we spied the tail flukes of a very large humpback as
it made a deep dive.  More magic.  Humpbacks usually follow a pattern of
several shallow dives punctuated by a single deep dive during which
their entire tail comes out of the water as they turn head down and sink
into the dark and frigid depths to do whale stuff.

  We could see eagles along the shore and also as tiny specks
silhouetted against the high snowy peaks - a remarkable contrast between
the warm maritime ecosystem and the frigid high alpine only a mile or
two inland.

  As we paddled we tried to keep track of the feeding whale by watching
for "blows" and tell-tale tail flukes.  We could also hear in the
distance a multitude of roars, grunts, moans and growls from a large
group of sea lions, but couldn't tell where they were.  It almost
sounded like a rookery, but neither of us knew of a sea lion rookery in
the bay.

  We finally made camp in a protected sunny cove with a great (and very
rare) sloping sandy beach.  I've actually decided that the Southeast
Alaskan coastline is divided between "rocky shoreline" - rocks too big
to pick up, and "beaches" - anything with rocks that you can lift with
two hands.  A sand beach is a real treat!  A disaster with the MSR
Whisperlite (scary fire emanating from the valve) almost ruined dinner,
but a quick wood fire worked fine and we could actually hear the sea
lions in the distance without the roar of the stove masking the sounds.
It might be the right time to finally get a Trangia stove.  While eating
we located a huge pod of sea lions feeding, approximately 50-70 of them
just hanging out as a large group, periodically diving (feeding we
supposed), and then returning to the surface to continue their garrulous
ways.  The rookery question was answered.

  We hauled the kayaks far above the anticipated tide line and settled
in for a beautifully calm and cool night.  Around 10 pm we both awoke to
the treat of a nice display of the Northern Lights - a real treat at
this time of year.

  Sunday morning dawned crisp and clear again - we really got lucky with
the weather!  After a simple breakfast and a hike to a nearby stream for
water we packed up and headed out - planning this time to catch the
flood tide into Echo Cove.

  It was a good shakedown cruise and even though I thought I had
EVERYTHING, I did have two little omissions that are still brilliantly
apparent - sunscreen and a hat!  A spare pair of shorts can do an
admirable job as a substitute hat though.

Dave Seng (the guy with the sunburned pate)
Auke Bay, Alaska
  
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