Alaska - Day 6

On our sixth day in Prince William Sound, we awoke to a beautiful, sunny morning with breathtaking glacial views in every direction. Camped on the east side of the fjord, we could see up to Yale glacier, across to Harvard glacier, and along the row of colleges on the opposite side of the fjord. The mountains that had previously been shrouded in clouds were now in full view and it almost felt like we had stepped into a magnificent picture.

We packed up camp in the hot sunshine and prepared to explore the Harvard arm of College Fjord. As we prepared to set off, we listened to the rolling boom of thunder in the distance. It sounded like a thundercloud was looming around the bend, but this thunder had a different source. When pieces of ice crash off the surroundings glaciers and tumble down the icy slopes, the resulting noise echoes across the Fjord creating the sound of thunder. This phenomenon is sometimes referred to as “white thunder” and is often so loud that you look around in alarm expecting to see a massive chunk of glacier abruptly crumbling into the water. In fact, the opposite is usually true. With respect to the size of the glaciers, most (but not all) of the crumbling pieces of ice are quite small, and because sound travels more slowly than light, by the time you hear the thunderous boom, the event that caused it is over leaving you to wonder about the dramatic show you missed.

We set off on glassy water and slowly made our way into Harvard arm. After a thunderous crash off to the the left, we heard a distant voice shout "Wow!", and through binoculars we where then able to make out another group of kayakers. They were 2 miles away across the fjord and this was as close as they got. It was also the first time in almost a week that we'd seen another group of people. We stopped on a rocky, sun-warmed beach for lunch where we had a wide-open view of Harvard glacier and could watch (and listen) to the activity along the face. Harvard Glacier is massive. It stretches over 1.5 miles wide and towers hundreds of feet above the water. It is the second largest glacier in Prince William Sound and it is an awesome sight.

During lunch, we had decided to go to a point about 1 mile from the face of the glacier and then traverse across the fjord to the west side of the arm. As we drew closer to the glacier, the wind picked up dramatically and the waves swept out from the face of the glacier pushing back against our lightweight boats as the thunderous roar of ice falling into water continued. Despite the noise and drama, we actually saw very little ice calve off the glacier face, but it was an impressive site nonetheless.

After Harvard, we continued along past the other collegiate glaciers – Baltimore, Smith, Bryn Mawr, Vassar and Wellesley. On this side of the fjord, we noticed another line dividing the cloudy, cold glacial water from the (slightly) warmer, salty sound water. With the wind behind us we made good time. Late in the afternoon, we decided to head for a small bay in front of Wellesley where a long spit looked like a promising location for camp. However when we arrived at the foot of Wellesley glacier, the enclosed bay was no longer enclosed. Luckily, the camping prospects still looked good!

Once we had the boats unloaded, Dan and I set off to find water. We walked toward the glacier and found nothing but dry stream beds. We turned around and set off in the other direction, but still we found nothing but dry stream beds. On the way back to camp, we came across some grounded icebergs and Dan had the good idea of carrying a chunk of the ice back to use for water. This was a good solution, but it can take awhile for glacial ice to melt, so while Andy, Wendy, and I went about setting up camp and preparing dinner, Dad and Dan got in the double kayak and set off on a half mile paddle across the bay on an expedition for fresh water.

All seemed like it was going according to plan until we realized that almost an hour had passed and the water crew had not returned. With binoculars, we scoured the opposite shore looking for any sign of the two-man kayak, but could not find anything that resembled a boat or a person. We began to wonder where they had ended up in their quest for water and what trouble they could have encountered along the way…... Just when we were starting to get really worried, we spotted them paddling back across the bay. They arrived with plenty of water and luckily had experienced nothing more troublesome than some seriously vicious mosquitoes!

By the time the water crew returned, it was time for a late dinner (delicious Thai rice with vegetables and extra portions for everyone) and our usual assortment of quality biscuits with tea. It had been a long and very satisfying day but also a tiring one and it was starting to get dark, so we made our way to bed to rest up for another day on the water.

Alaska - Day 5

On the morning of the fifth day something unusual happened: Erin and I were the first out of our tents. We'd woken to the sound of rain outside, and inside, our tent. The rain had started early in the morning and by about 8am it was dripping through the tent onto my sleeping bag and sleeping pad. Apparently this had been observed by Erin for some time before it came to my attention. Anyway, I hastily got my sleeping bag and sleeping pad out of the way before they got any wetter.

After we put on our rain gear and exited the tent I began working to start a fire, which was especially challenging this morning with the additional humidity and extra wet wood. After seeing how slowly the wood was catching, I decided a fire-starter was in order to speed things up. With a somewhat smoky fire started, we spent most of the morning at camp sitting out the rain. We also decided not to move camp on this day, and instead planed on spending another night in the same spot. This was in part due to the rain and in part because it would also give us an opportunity to explore Yale glacier, before heading over to Harvard glacier on the following day.

By the afternoon the rain had cleared and it seemed like some blue sky might even make an appearance. After lunch we left camp and set-off in the direction of Yale. We noticed a lot of seagull activity a short way into the paddle, we couldn’t work out what all the fuss was about, but it could have been due to some dolphins that we saw in the distance.

As we paddled towards Yale glacier, we approached a long skinny island which could have been a medial moraine (rock formed in the middle of two glacier flows). The island is now home to many seagulls and there was a lot of squawking as we approached the rookery. At about this point, we also noticed a strange line in the water. The line went from the end of the island to the shore. It appeared to be a division between the cold water flowing slowly around one side of the island and colder water running around the other, anyway it was strange.

It’s also worth noting that at this point we were entering uncharted territory. The maps we had with us (and also Google Maps) shows the right-hand side of the glacier face extending out just past the end of the long skinny island. In actual fact, the glacier face has receded several miles since the USGS survey from which most of the maps are based. You can see the difference by comparing the “Map” view with the more recent “Satellite” view in Google Maps. It was quite incredible to be in a location that had changed so much from (relatively) recent maps we had in hand. You would be forgiven for thinking the map and location where not the same. Add to that the fact that my GPS also thought we where padding on land, and it was all a bit confusing.

Another geographical aspect that we found interesting in this area was how the flow rate of the water was different between the right-hand of the island (that we were on) and the left-hand side of the island. I can only speculate that the glacier had formed deeper channel on the other side, and the change in features would somewhat support that.

We paddled the length of the long skinny island and found ourselves in a field of ice chunks. It became more difficult to maneuver our boats without hitting them, even though we’d slowed down to an idle float. This was the most ice we’d seen so far on the trip. The sound you hear when the hollow fiberglass boat you’re sitting in collides with one of these big, heavy and sharp frozen lumps is not very peasant. The sound varies depending on how you hit them – sometimes it’s a thud, bump, or crack, and other times they make an unpleasant gouging sound. I was starting to have titanic thoughts and after a few bumps. I had to make sure my feet weren’t starting to feel wet from the icy cold water. I was also convincing myself that since my boat was made up of three separate compartments, I’d probably be able to make it to shore – fortunately it didn’t come to that, and my feet stayed dry.

We stopped paddling towards the face of Yale glacier at a point where we were still about 2 miles away. It was close enough for us as you really don’t want to get too close to glaciers in tippy little boats. After admiring the view for sometime (I could have stayed there for hours), we turned around and headed towards short for a break by a river. We turned around instead of circumnavigating the long skinny island because the faster flowing water on the other side made it too dangerous with all the chunks of ice.

The paddle from Yale glacier back to camp was amazing. It was one of the best parts of the trip for me and is certainly an experience that I hope I’ll never forget. It started off as a relaxed paddle into the middle of the bay, and then over to get a closer look at some otters resting on the icebergs. Then the sun came out and I had blue sky above, with mountains all around. I was just slowly floating along in my boat, soaking it all in. As if by magic, the ice was soon all around me. As the tide turned I became surrounded by it. The only sound I could hear was that cracking, popping, and occasional ripples made by the ice. It was unbelievable. And wow, it was perfect.

Strangely it was about 7pm at this point although it felt like 2pm as the sun was still high in the middle of the sky. We regrouped near and iceberg that had several otters laying on it. They were too busy snoozing in the sun to notice our approach. We got pretty close before all of a sudden, all at once, they slid off the ice and disappeared into the water below. It was quite a show.

On arriving back at camp, Erin and I walked to the near-by river to collect and filter water. We then enjoyed the sunset from our campsite on the beach where we had the view of the mountains and glaciers across the fjord. We noticed the clouds turning pink above Yale glacier as we enjoyed the most delicious pea soup I’ve ever tasted. As it got dark we sat be the fire and drank hot-chocolate supplemented with quality biscuits. Sometime shortly after midnight we turned in for the night and I promptly fell asleep. It had been a fantastic day.

At this point we were more than half way though our trip. I took a lot of photos on this day. You can see a selection of some of my favorite photos from Day 5, on Flickr..

Here's a map showing our location and paddling track for Day 5. It's best viewed in Google Earth or directly in Google Maps (link opens in a new window).

Alaska - Day 4

We woke up on Day 4 to view the mountains around us:

After breakfast we began the process of preparing to leave Coghill Point and head further north up College Fjord towards Harvard and Yale glaciers. Out of the dozen or so glaciers we saw on the trip, these two are easily the biggest in the area. We packed up our gear, filtered some water into our water bottles, loaded our boats and waited for the tide to reach them. Unfortunately Andy’s WAG based technique for predicting where the tide will be when we were ready to go had let us down:

Boat Placement Formula: can be calculated by the rule of 12ths (or was it 14ths?) and by considering the following factors: low tide time, low tide level, prior high tide line, predicted high tide level, high tide time, offset from tide chart origin, current time, amount of supplies eaten, amount of gear to load, rate of gear loading, beach terrain and the prevailing weather conditions.

In any case, we had about an hour to wait before the water reached our boats. After casting off, we briefly entered Coghill Bay before making our way around Coghill Point. We encountered some head-wind, and after a couple of hours it was time for some lunch. At this point we'd paddled about 2.5 miles and ended up 0.5 miles away from the campsite we'd left - needless to say we hadn't been paddling in a straight line (see the GPS track).

After lunch we continued paddling up the east side of the fjord. The fjord itself is over 2 miles wide and is popular with cruise ships, which is why we stayed on one side of it. We saw lots of sea otters during this part of the trip, many with their young. Every now and then one close by would pop it's head out of the water and swim on it's back while gazing at you with slight puzzlement, as if they were wondering what the heck you're doing paddling past in that fiberglass boat. It didn't usually last for long though, before they lost interest or you would get too close and they would plop back under, sometimes with a splash, not usually to be seen again.

It was on this day that we also started to see our first Icebergs floating along in the water beside our boats. Their frequency increased gradually, and as we paddled further, we began to see more of them. They came in all shapes and sizes and it has since occurred to me how remarkable each of these chunks of ice is. Ignoring the several thousand years that the ice was in the glacier before a large chunk calves (falls) off and crashes into the ocean, it then picks up the pace and embarks on a continually melting, splitting, rotating journey as each unique piece changes shape until it is eventually absorbed by the ocean. Each berg appears to have a life of its own, moving at its own speed and floating its own course - probably due to the differing shapes and wind resistance of each. Not only that, but different pieces make different sounds too - cracking and popping as you get close. But you have to be careful not to get too close (especially to the big ones), as it is an fact that due to the differing density of salt-water and pure ice, that only 10% of the volume of an iceberg is above the water – remember the titanic. This also means that if you're near a one that only stands several feet out of the water, and a small piece happens to break off, causing the balance of the resulting mass to adjust, there can be quite sudden movement in the water beneath. There's also black ones, and spotty ones... and I'm sure I could go on to write much more about how fascinating I found icebergs to be up close, but for now, let's move on.

It was getting late when from about a mile away we spotted our general destination. As we got closer we selected a location that looked like it would make the best camping spot. Out campsite requirements were something like: a suitable beach for kayak entry and exit, near fresh (non-salt) water source (but not too close due to bears), with level ground for tents above the tide line. We also completed our now-regular routine of unloading, setting-up camp, locating water, firewood, preparing and eating some dinner (a tasty pesto pasta with fresh zucchini imported from Connecticut) before cleaning up and having hot drinks and quality biscuits around the fire. As it happened, the campsite we'd selected for this night was in an especially scenic location with amazing views all around, however I think we were all too tired that night to really appreciate it.

Here's a map showing our location and paddling track for Day 4. It's best viewed in Google Earth or directly in Google Maps (link opens in a new window).

Alaska - Day 3

We survived our first night in the wild without any visits from the local bears, and after a needed lie-in, began making preparations for the day. Breakfast was a relaxed affair with cereal for the vegetarians and a gourmet, fresh salmon omelet for everyone else. After cleaning up, we packed everything and prepared for our first challenge – loading the boats….

We hoped that all the gear would fit in the boats, but we hadn’t done a dry run. So we moved the boats down to the “where we thought the tide would be in two hours” line (superbly identified by Andy) and began distributing gear. After some careful stuffing, rearranging, and gear swapping, everything was loaded and ready to go – and just in time too as the water was beginning to lap at the boats!

We set off on the rising tide heading north into College Fjord. Because we had a late morning and it took a couple of hours to load the boats, we only paddled for an hour or so before stopping on a small island for lunch. The morning had been misty, so it was exciting to see a patch of blue sky off at the far end of the Fjord where we were headed. Just as we were cleaning up lunch, Wendy appeared with a bundle of store-bought firewood. She had found it tucked away under a fallen tree. Either forgotten or stashed, we decided to wrap it up in a tarp and load it on a kayak because even with blue skies in the distance, you never know when it might start to pour in Prince William Sound.

As we continued north after lunch, we kept a sharp eye out for bears and eagles. We didn’t see any bears, but we did see at least half dozen eagles. Eagles like to perch on dead tree limbs and there happen to be quite a lot of those lining this section of the Sound. In 1964, the Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful recorded earthquake in the U.S., reverberated throughout southern Alaska and caused sections of the shore in part of Prince William Sound to drop 8-10 feet. This dramatic change meant that many trees were now in tidal zones. While this killed the trees, hundreds of them still stand along the shore.

Mid-afternoon we heard roaring water off to our right and decided to investigate. Behind a spit of land, we discovered the source – a massive waterfall tumbling into the Sound! After we had enjoyed the waterfall for a bit, we found a side creek where we were able to load up on fresh water. We were almost out of the original water that we had brought with us from Whittier and knew we would need water for cooking and hot drinks later that day.

After the waterfall detour we continued paddling through rain showers and fog well into the evening. We were aiming to camp near Coghill Point. After hours of paddling and having traveled 13.4 miles, we finally approached the potential camping spot, we noticed a disturbance on the beach. A dozen seagulls were making a tremendous racket but it wasn’t until we landed that we saw what all the fuss was about. Someone had killed a seal and very recently by the looks of things. The head and guts were left on the beach and we later found a pair of abandoned gloves. Beyond the beach, we also discovered fresh bear poop and plenty of bear trails. Despite all this, it was quite a nice campsite with plenty of space for three tents and a kitchen area plus fresh water nearby so we decided to stay.

We went about the process of setting up camp. First, we had to decide where to put the tents. We were on a flat grassy area criss-crossed with bear trails, so we ended up flattening some grass and setting the tents up around (but not on) the bear trails in the hope that the bears would just walk on by.

We (or at least I) were starving, so we hustled to make a late diner. After a tasty dinner (veggies burgers) and biscuits (McVite’s HobNobs), Dan and I made our way to bed. Not long after going to bed, one of the fishing vessels we had paddled past during the day also decided to set up camp in near Coghill Point – in the bay! The noisy boat ran its generator all night and had a massive spotlight perched atop the cockpit which they kept on all night. And as you may know, sound and light carry well across wide open spaces...

Here's a map showing our paddling track for Day 3. It's best viewed in Google Earth or directly in Google Maps (link opens in a new window).

Alaska - Day 2

After eating cereal for breakfast in the warehouse, some last minute gear re-arranging, and one last trip to the bathroom, we loaded our gear onto the trailer and headed to the boat dock to meet Captain Mike. We had chartered Captain Mike's boat to take us to our drop off point in Prince William Sound.

After loading all our gear onto the boat, Captain Mike of Lazy Otter Charters filled up his tanks with fuel and we set-out for Granite Bay. The boat ride out took about an hour to travel the 25 miles to a stone beach just north of Granite Bay. We unloaded our gear and the boat left with Mike's parting phase of something like "see you next week", it began to sink in that we'd just been left on our own - in the wild.

First off Andy and Wendy gave us a gun and bear-spray lesson. These were to be our protection against a bears - which roam freely in these parts. We were each allocated our own personal bear spray to carry with us and were shown how to use the shotgun if it should come to that. Yikes!

After setting up camp in the thick, damp, moss-covered (rain-forest like) woods at the top of the beach, we had some lunch and then set-out in our kayaks to explore the surrounding coast and get the feel of our boats. With bears still on our minds we kept a close eye out as we inspected the foot of streams where they where likely to be hunting for fish. Several hours later and by the time we'd made it into Granite Bay, I'd just about forgotten about the bears, and it was at this point that we had the first bear sighting! It was seen by all except Erin and I as by the time we'd caught up, it had left the waters edge for the woods. Brad described the sighting something like this: "I looked over to the shore and saw a shadow that shouldn't have been there, then the shadow moved!" Exciting stuff.

But this paddle wasn't over yet. On the way back to camp, we saw yet another bear! This one was spotted by Brad and was seen by Erin and I. It was a safe distance off, in a meadow on a hill (see photos below and click on it for larger version). Erin said "You see that black spot on that hill, that's a bear." Never-the-less, we kept a good distance from shore until he (or she) disappeared over a crest. Meanwhile Andy had caught a fish and was heading back to camp with it stuffed somewhere in his kayak. I had an opportunity to photograph some jelly fish, before we all returned to camp to cook some dinner on the camping stove.

I must have been tired that evening, because I don't remember much else, apart from trying not worry about the bears that where roaming around in the thick dark woodland close by...

You can see more photos from Day 2 on Flickr. And here's a map showing our location and paddling track for this day. It's best viewed in Google Earth or full screen in Google Maps (link opens in a new window).

Alaska - Day 1

We started planning our Alaska trip at the start of 2008. The trip itself started on August 1st at 2:30am on Friday morning when we left for the airport. After spending most of the day in airports or on planes, we eventually arrived in Anchorage on Friday afternoon where we met the rest of our party: Erin's Dad (Brad), his sister (Wendy), and her husband (Andy). Wendy and Andy live in Alaska and are well experienced in trip such as ours so we knew we would be in good hands.

After leaving the airport, we started out with some last minute food shopping before heading towards Whitter, a small town an hour or so away from Anchorage. The drive was along a scenic 2 lane highway that had been constructed on a thin strip where the mountains meet the ocean. On one side of the road there was a steep rock face and on the other large tidal flats for most of the drive. We stopped to watch a passing pod of Beluga before nearing the tunnel to Whitter.

Whitter has a population of around 200 and is located on the other side of some tall mountains and is only accessed by sea or through a rather long rail tunnel (that's now also used by motor vehicles). The tunnel is the second longest in the USA at almost 2.5 miles. It's tall enough for a fright train, but is only wide enough for a single train track, which makes the entrance look a bit skinny. The drive though this skinny, long, dark, rail tunnel was rather exciting. The same tunnel is used by cars and trains in both directions, so careful co-ordination is required to ensure you don't find your-self in the middle of a dark tunnel, driving head-on into a fright train!

We left sunshine on one side of the tunnel and found rain on the other. The kayak rental center was located in a large old warehouse, now used to store fishing boats in the winter. We backed up the truck and began sorting out the gear for our trip. Everything we were going to need for the next 10 days had to be water-tight and needed to fit into our boats, so we wanted to get this in order before being left in the wilderness. After Andy cooked us some vegi-burgers on the camping stove, we put up our tents and spent a night sleeping in a warehouse.

Out of the Wild

After 9 days and nights living in the Alaska wilderness, we've rejoined civilization and are officially back on the grid. There will be more detailed posts to come, but in short it was an excellent trip that exceeded expectations and resulted in over 100 miles of paddling and more than 1000 photos being taken.