West Chichigof-Yakobi Island Wilderness to Glacier Bay Trip Report By Rob Gibbert Part One: Dry Pass to Cross Sound It was 1030PM a couple of nights before my departure to Sitka and the phone rang. Bob was on the line, calling from Port Alexander at the south tip of Baranof Island. He was radiant with joy having made the passage from Craig, on the southwest coast of Prince of Wales Island, with our friend Scott. Their daunting 15 nautical mile crossing from Kuiu Island to Baranof was successful and I set aside my worries of connecting with them in Sitka, stumbled over the gear piled on my floor and went to bed. Bob has paddled the Inside Passage and paddled links along the entire outer coast of South East Alaska. His last link is the stretch of coastline from Dry Pass on the exposed shores of Chichigof Island, around Yakobi, up Cross Sound and into Glacier Bay. I was able to make the last link and would meet my wife in Glacier Bay for a weeklong paddle there. The DeHaviland Beaver steered a bumpy course along the coast and into a pass of the mountainous island. The NOAA weather forecasts of small craft advisories and gale warnings for the afternoon, through tomorrow were coming into play. Out of the clouds and along the peaks where the goats roam the plane rocked and tottered the course to the pass. The sea conditions looked fine, as we swung low, splashing down to a rough beach for kayak assembly and launch. A brown bear poked his head from the bush and fled as the DeHaviland's radial engine sends out a ferocious hum. We dressed for paddling, and then assembled the Feathercrafts as a light rain had begun to fall. The Khatsalano has only one place for a bear canister loaded with food: forward of the foot braces. As we launched I knew it would be a space eater and the feet would sleep through the trip, but I was back in Alaska and didn't care. The wind picked up to a steady 15 knots from the Southeast, blowing slightly offshore. We stayed in close and letting the islets and points take the wind. Outside of Little Bay, where the wind rakes down the mountain passes uninterrupted, I fought the Khatsalano's tendency to weathercock. With a 15 pound bear can forward of the feet, I knew it would weigh the bow down and exacerbate the weathercocking, as today's breeze would come from stern quarter. There is no rudder on my boat, only a small skeg I glued onto the hull. Paddle, edge, sweep, stern rudder. A whale's spout in the distance. I paddled a bit ahead of Bob and Scott and 2 more whales came in from the side. These were Gray Whales, dorsal-less and mottled the color of cliffs through the mists. The seas produced a bit of chop but the winds flattened the swells down to an easy size less than 6 feet. Around the corner at the edge of Bertha Bay a green forest service shelter stood over a smoking pool of sulphurous 104-degree water. A simple landing in a pocket beach north of the shelter and an hour later we were soaking in the pool. After only 4 miles I didn't feel worthy but it was delicious all the same. We delayed our morning departure for a few hours as NOAA predicted the winds would diminish from 25-30 knots to a steady 15 knots, again from the southeast, slightly offshore. The swells were bigger, cresting at 11 feet. The boomers were positively erupting and spray sent seaward. A turquoise coil around a black knot at the base, curling streams of milky sea foam sent to the heavens. We moved north, past the Porcupine islands and the tricky waters around Urey rocks. As the mouth of Lisianski Strait and a mile of densely packed reefs opened up to the Pacific we had a choice: run out to sea for a mile or so, or dodge more boomers and standing waves at the mouth of the strait. With the winds still unstable and blowing a bit offshore we opted for the boomers. Tucked inside a guardian reef I noticed a small current holding the incoming swells up. Bob came in from the sea holding diagonally on the wave face, his hair and beard the color of spray. Several feet of water stood over his head and several fe et waited below. I was too unstable to snap a photo, though I wanted to so badly. Scott came in on a similar giant, but I resumed my fight with the hiss and shove of clapotis until we were inside, heading north again and back out into the Pacific. Our strategy is simple, use the coastline for protection and do not risk a rising wind blowing partially offshore. Here it worked very well with only a couple of places with studied pathfinding. Cape Cross holds a small race between an offshore island and the cape. The swells were southerly and fired us through the pass, as a child would skim stones off a pond. I hide behind a rock and turn to shoot photos as my friends bore through. The swells and explosions off cliff and reef are dramatic, but then the cape holds them apart from us, as we turn northeasterly around the bend in the island. To lunch was a mile paddle inland to Deer Harbor and a mile back out. Coming out I nearly get hammered by a large breaking swell but escaped. At the edge of the cove, where it meets the sea, we sneak through a pass riding a swell from behind, prepared to meet the same refracted swell in front. Bob goes down and is pulled out by the wave. Scott and I haul him back in, and as I'm the only guy with his tow rig on I ask Scott to stabilize Bob while he pumps out. I clip on to both and tow them to calmer seas. After a few minutes we collect the yard sale from the water and find all but one of Bob's rubber boots. It's sneakers over Gore-Tex socks from here on out for poor ol' Bob. A *minor surgical procedure* completed the week before left me a bit out of shape for the paddle. After 15 miles I'm looking for exit signs and within another mile or two we agree to land on a beach laid cleanly with logs giving it the look of an amphitheater. Alas, there are three tent spots and a glorious view of the mountains of Yakobi. A short stroll to the point we see two brown bears feeding in the cove next to ours, literally 75 yards away. They catch our sounds and sight and bolt in the forest above. Yakobi Island offers us long inlets or coves to duck from weather or land without surf. One can look for drinking water without taking a beating. Yet the silvered trees speared into the rocks or sand high above the tidal marks tell a different story. We find water on an inlet with two fine crescent beaches set back to back. The inshore paddling became calmer due to southwesterly swell and the greater protection behind us from Cape Cross. The mists lifted and the Fairweather range painted bronze by morning light. In the far distance, we could see the mountains begin with the shore breaks and rise to 15,000 feet in the space of a few miles. Beyond the entrance to Cross Sound, high cliffed fjords jut out into the Pacific. Beyond Cross Sound we could see Glaciers dropping to beach level. Another trip, another time, this one is still before us. With the swells reduced to 4-5 feet and the winds to zero we play right along the coastline, in and out of the reefs. The occasional boomer and clapotis merge and grow terrifically in front of us. The swell collides with cliff or rock and bounces into the swell booming over submerged rocks, Kaboosh! For the first time in a couple days we see fishing boats along the edge of waves. We drop our pace seemingly in unison as Yakobi Rock slides into view. We know it is the landmark heralding Cape Bingham and the end of the west coast and the start of our cruise into Icy Strait. I don't believe we want it to go by so quickly. Yet, Cape Bingham was calm enough to eat a Snickers bar with my paddle on my lap, so perhaps it was time to move on. Icy Strait is wicked water when the wind blows. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
> West Chichigof-Yakobi Island Wilderness to Glacier Bay Trip Report > Thanks, this is bringing back good memories, especially of the big boomers! Bob *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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