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).