Glacier Bay - East Arm

Day 49 – June 28 Glacier Bay

Morning in Reid bay. This bay is listed as a good anchorage in calm winds. It was calm when we anchored. Not so in the morning. One could say there was a slight breeze when we got up. But then we’d be lying. At 7:00 am when I (Liz) got up the other boats were gone and our wind gauge was showing readings from 26 – 34 knots, and there were not just white caps but full waves coming across the bay. Thankfully Magic’s anchor had held. I went below to tell Glen and he said that it had ‘calmed down’. He had been up earlier and said that it was blowing 36+ then. Yikes.

Maryann had moved from the front stateroom to the salon there was too much noise for her to sleep. Our captain failed to do his job. He managed to flip the kayaks so they wouldn’t fill with rain, and snubbed the anchor chain to lessen the noise, but he neglected to secure the burgee. Also there was quite a bit of water slapping our bow. She said that the other boats all left between 5:00 and 5:30am. Even Shawn got up early this morning, probably due to the noise and motion. He did not stay up for long.

The wind was coming directly off the glacier, which made it very cold. It was a beautiful sight with the sun shining on the glacier and gray clouds hovering above. Very pretty, as long as you weren’t outside in the cold.

We pulled anchor and started out headed for the east arm of Glacier Bay.

Today we explored Wachusett Inlet, Muir, Riggs, McBride Glaciers and Adams Inlet then back to Bartlett Bay to overnight.

Muir Glacier is a protected area so we weren’t able to get close to the glacier and Riggs was just another dirty pile o’ ice. At McBride we anchored, dropped kayaks and dinghy and went exploring. Liz and Maryann went zipping off in the dinghy while Glen, Shawn and Nicole paddled away. We encountered the largest icebergs we’ve seen in Glacier Bay and the bluest as well. Sophie navigated for Liz and Maryann. There were fun icebergs; we saw dinosaurs, bunnies, the Black Pearl pirate ship …. Where the heck was Johnny Depp??? There were gulls of some sort nesting on a shear wall and more mama and baby seals along the ice flow. We weren’t able to get close to the face of the glacier as there was a fairly solid collection of “bergettes” for quite a distance. It didn’t seem to slow down Glen in the ice breaker kayak.

On the ride out of the bay, we discovered that our path had quickly been revised … boy the ice does move quickly!!! Zig now where we had zagged on the way in.

GOOD NEWS!!!! There has been a BEAR SIGHTING from the Magic Moment!!!! Ahhh, thank goodness they haven’t been lying to us, there is A bear in Alaska. When we do bear, we do it right, it was a Grizzly WHHOOOO HOOOO!!! Now we’re in search of a moose for Glen.

Fresh French Bread (made right, thanks Maryann) for dinner and sweet dreams of cuddly teddy grizzlies for us tonight …

Glacier Bay - West Arm

Day 48 - June 27 Glacier Bay-West Arm

We got up early and at 6:00 am Glen called Glacier Bay reservations, in an attempt to get an extra day or two in the Bay. No luck, their last minute openings had already been taken by others who got their calls in faster. They start answering the phone at 6:00 am. We were told to call back at 10 am to see if there were any cancelations.

We were tied to the Bartlett Cove Dock at 8:05am and headed up to check into Glacier Bay with the Rangers and get our GB Orientation. We had just missed the 8:00am orientation, and it looked like we would have to wait until 11 am. But I guess we looked like an eager group or a frightening mob, because the nice ranger decided she would give us the orientation right then. It is a video presentation on where you can and can’t go in the Park; by motorized boat, on foot, and human powered boat (aka kayak). After the video she answered questions and gave us some tips on where to go for animal, and glacier viewing. Turned out she was also the woman that Glen had been talking to on the phone regarding the request to extend our reservations. Still no cancellations. We walked up to the Lodge to check it out and looked at their displays.

In the lodge gift shop we saw the man we had met on the bus in Juneau and said hello. He and his wife are working in the lodge here this summer and will be working in a lodge in Jackson Hole, WY this winter. They are from Maine and have been enjoying their retirement doing this kind of seasonal work for the last couple years.

At 10am Glen called his new friend the ranger. No extra days openings known of yet, but she will keep watching and let us know.

There are humpback whales along the shoreline doing their thing, nothing special but we can see quite a few in the group.

11:00 am - I (Liz) was sitting in the Salon looking backwards and all of a sudden I saw a head in the water immediately to the side and behind our boat. I called out for Glen to cut the engine. By the time the boat was stopped and Nicole got the camera to the back door we almost missed the photo. It was a deer swimming across the channel. When it was first noticed it looked to be treading water waiting for us to pass so that it could cross behind us.

This place is amazing. It’s hard to believe that only 250 years ago this entire place was covered with ice.

Today we explored the west side glaciers including: The Rendu, Grand Pacific, Margerie, Johns Hopkins (from a distance as it’s bay was closed), Lamplugh, and Reid glaciers. There were quite a few more glaciers , ice fields, and avalanche prone slopes in the mountains around us. Very beautiful.

The Grand Pacific is the largest but is covered with rock and dirt so much of it really only looks like a big dirt road. Margerie which is just to the left of Grand, is white and blue. It looks like it wasn’t too long ago that these two glaciers touched at the bottom as they were not too far apart, about 300 feet now.

In front of Margarie, we put the dinghy and kayaks into the water; leaving Magic to drift. Maryann, Shawn, Nicole, and Sophie were in the kayaks and Glen and Liz in the Dinghy. The glacier was making all kinds of cracking noises and calving car sized chunks. We haven’t looked yet but we believe we have some good photos, and if we are lucky maybe even a video clip or two. The surge waves and swells caused by the ice entering the water were large.

The Johns Hopkins inlet is closed to boat traffic so that the seals and their new pups have a protected and quiet place. You can go into the inlet to a designated point at which you can see the glacier and the seals resting on the sea of ice. This glacier and inlet area is amazingly beautiful with 6,000 – 12,000 foot mountain peaks all around it and coming clear down to the water in this narrow inlet.

While we were viewing Lamplugh glacier, another boat (Cowboy) called us on the radio. They wanted to know how we had gotten the glacier to calve a huge chuck right in front of us. Glen just replied laughing … ‘How big is your horn?’ They had seen us up close to the glacier and the ice fall right in front of us. Too bad we didn’t get that photo.

One of the things that we noticed is the seemingly lack of large icebergs in the waters around these glaciers. What does get to the water seems to be broken up into much smaller pieces than those we saw in either Tracy Arm or Endicott Inlet.

We anchored in the bay at the base of the Reid glacier for the night. There were a total of four boats anchored there.

CRAB and BEER, but NO BEAR!

Day 47 – June 26 CRAB and Beer, but no Bear!!!

We moored in the Haines Harbor last night; side tided to a large blue fishing boat. The owner was a friend of Bill’s and they both teased us, asking us to be careful not to leave any white paint on the side of this blue boat. We told him we’d be careful.

The people we met in Haines were all very nice. It seemed like everyone in the harbor stopped what they were doing to watch us come in and tie up. It appears that they don’t get many large white pleasure boats in there. The harbormaster came down to the boat to greet us.

The fishing was great; we have crab! 12 large Dungeness! Maryann and I cracked crab for what seemed like hours; over 2 hours for sure. With only two people on board who eat crab (Maryann and Liz) means …. OD …. Oh Darn! Oh I should add that Glen was not the masterful fisherman; Bill was. It takes a local to really know how to catch crab. Bill and Rocki had gotten up early and gone out to check their crab pot in front of their house. They brought over their catch and gave it to us. Rocki headed off to her women’s group meeting in town, while Bill cleaned all the crab and then proceeded to teach Glen to cook crab on the dock.

Phil, the harbormaster came down to see our boat and chat with us about our cruise and to get our thoughts on harbors/marinas within Alaska, what they offer, what problems we found, what pleasure boaters would like to see offered, etc… Currently they have a harbor for about 160 boats (almost all slips are rented by locals). They are in the process of planning to rebuild this harbor and also have longer range plans to add another harbor right next to the current one.

We said our goodbyes and headed out. We’re headed toward our Glacier Bay adventure.

Nicole checked her email and found out that we would not be able to do the ‘Zip Line’ in Hoonah because they are only open on Wednesday and Saturday. For those that don’t know, they just installed a Zip Line in Hoonah that goes 5,330 feet (1.2 miles), with an elevation drop of 1,330 feet, and at speeds up to 60 mph. The whole thing lasts 90 seconds. Everyone was disappointed except Liz (aka Chicken Liz according to Maryann and Nicole) who wasn’t going to do it anyway … NO WAY!!! Can you imagine getting Sea sick on a zip-line (well she got sea sick on the train so why not. She claims she didn’t get sick, but she did have to wear her special bracelet.)

We have reservations for Friday and Saturday in Glacier Bay. The reservations are midnight to midnight.

We anchored off Icy Point on Pleasant Island for the night. Glen and Nicole went out fishing for a bit (no luck), and Shawn went kayaking. Oh and yes Maryann and Liz had Crab for dinner. Yummy. Thanks again Bill and Rocki.

Oh and for those of you who know Bill and Rocki, they wanted me to be sure to tell everyone that their home/cabin is very rustic and that they hope to be getting floors next year.

(In case you haven’t figured out, Nicole and Maryann have been adding editorial content)

Where's the Bear?

Day 46 – June 25 Skagway/Haines

Glen woke up early this morning and took Sophie for a walk into town to make reservations for the train ride up White Pass and the Yukon Route. It’s all set for 12:45pm, so no reason to wake everyone else up yet.

We spent the morning exploring Skagway, including a couple museums. We learned that Donald Trump’s grandfather, Fred Trump, built, ran and owned a hotel (even moved the whole hotel when a better spot was available) in Dyeas. It did so well that he built another and another. This was the beginning of the Trump Empire. We then traveled down the block for lunch at the Skagway Brewing Co. Mmmm…good beer and massive filets of Cod!

Glen and Shawn returned the leftovers to the boat, and met the girls at the train station for our ride up the mountain. Oops! Glen left the tickets on the boat! Good thing he’s a good talker. He got himself out of buying again and got us on the train. However, we wondered if we really got to ride on the train, since we started the trip by walking the tracks.

Finally on our way, we saw beautiful mountain and river views and a few mountain goats far off in the distance. The tour guide also pointed out parts of the trail that the Klondike Stampeders hauled their year’s supply of staples (a thousand pounds) from sea level over the 3000 ft pass to find their fortune. It seems to us that the best way to make that fortune was to be a packer, who made the long trek multiple times hauling others supplies for money.

Back to the boat, we pushed off and headed for Haines, where Bill and Rocki Rostad (ski patrollers from Summit East, who live up here when not skiing in Washington) picked us up and took us home for dinner. After a lovely dinner they took us on a hunt, searching for the elusive Alaskan bear. We’ve determined it’s all a hoax; there are no bears in Alaska. We did find a beautiful lake with perfect reflections of the surrounding mountains. We also saw an abundance of the state bird…stupid mosquitoes! Very large and hungry mosquitoes!

Emptied Sophie then went home to Magic.

The Windy City

Day 45 June 24 Skagway

The morning started out clear. Sophie had a good night sleep in her own bed and was chipper this morning. She obviously knows something is different, and was looking out the windows a lot this morning.

Nicole took Sophie for a walk up to the local Espresso Stand. She came back with drip coffee for her Aunt Maryann and a grande non-fat vanilla latte for herself (wanted to start the day off on the right foot, Hee-hee). She reported that when she asked for her drink the barista apologized, saying that she was new and her help didn’t show up for work. She also said she didn’t know how to make the drinks, but she did know how to make a plain latte. So, Nicole proceeded to tell her that it’s a latte with vanilla syrup and non-fat milk, instead of regular. The barista then asked, to confirm, if a grande was two shots, or one. When told two, she began making the drink and Nicole watched her put eight shots of espresso in the cup, topped off with a little non-fat and vanilla. This is why Nicole decided to only get her aunt a drip coffee.

Nicole will be a bit speedy today while doing her deck crew chores. Hum, maybe all the stainless will get polished today. She says ‘Maybe not’.

We began our trip towards Skagway. Coming up on Haines, we called Bill Rostad (ski patrol buddy), and he waved at us from his porch with a large Norwegian flag. We hope to stop by and see him tomorrow, up close instead of through binoculars. As we continued on, the water got a little wavy with about 3ft waves, (mom says ‘crashing to the side of the boat’, however the more realistic Maryann says ‘gently rocking’), so mom went to sleep to help her make it through.

Entering the narrow Skagway harbor, we passed by four cruise ships. We had a little fun docking, with the wind blowing us all around and the autopilot trying to go the wrong way. Finally turning off the autopilot, Glen didn’t know the rudder placement, and took us for a little spin, scaring all deck hands on the neighboring tour boat. Glen then redeemed himself by gently parallel parking, thanks to the bow thruster. No wonder they call it Skagway, which means ‘windy place with white caps on water.’

We walked through town and scoped out places to visit in the morning. We also hope to catch a ride on the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway. We then headed to dinner at the local Mexican Italian restaurant; good food was had by all. We were welcomed back to the boat by two critters, Sophie and her new friend Ollie the Sea Otter, who was twice the size of Sophie.

Costco Kayaking!

Day 44 – June 23 Auke Bay / Juneau

This was a day for re-provisioning. We started at the marine store, and then on to Costco. On the way into the marine store Tom got the call from Chris that Iola had passed and that he needed to fly home. When we came out of the store Maryann (our family travel agent) called the airlines and arranged for Tom on the 8:30pm flight. We all continued on to Costco and loaded up. Yep I mean loaded up. Five people, food, a supply of Kirkland Vodka, and two new kayaks don’t fit into one van/taxi. A second taxi was called and 4 people and the liquor got back to the boats.

The afternoon was spent helping Tom get things settled, the boat secured, the dog and her supplies transferred to Magic, etc… We said goodbye to Tom and headed back into town for Nicole to spend more of her dad’s money. But the new Ulu knife and bowl are pretty. We had dinner in town at the Red Dog Saloon and then the 1 hr bus ride back to Auke Bay. Shawn’s plane came in as we got on the bus and he still made it back to the boat before we did. Taxis are faster than buses; but the bus was $1.50 and taxi was about $15.

We caught up with Shawn on our adventures and his. He came to Alaska basically directly from Atlanta and his National Whirlyball Tournament. His team came in second in their division, missing by one point during double overtime. What’s Whirlyball you ask …. We are asking too. It’s a combination of basketball, hockey, and jai-alai played while driving Whirlybugs (aka bumper-cars). Check out www.whirlyball.com or www.whirlyball.net for more information on the sport. Between his Fencing and Whirlyball we’ve decided he selects exotic (odd) sports.

Tom sure went to extremes to get out of doing laundry. We saved his reputation of beginning a laundry virgin, and did 4 loads for him. Tom if you read this your laundry is clean, folded and delivered. No we did not make the beds, clean the bathrooms, do the windows, or re-fill the fuel tank. Blog comment removal service available for a negotiable fee.

We are head two Skagway tomorrow with our own boat as we determined that the airfare for five was about the same as the fuel for Magic. This will also give us more time to explore.

P.S. for those of you looking for a new boat, there are some nicely priced ones in Juneau.

Auke Bay

Day 43 – June 22 Auke Bay

Yesterday on the way to Auke Bay the Miner’s got the phone call to send Chris home for her mom. Tom pushed the throttles forward and rushed to town to get her on a plane.

We started out slowly this morning with getting fuel (it takes a while to load 520 gallons). $4.43 plus tax. Moved the boat to another slip, we had been on the inside of the breakwater with the mega boats the night before. We were small out there but not the smallest, there was a 28 footer out there too. We are now closer to Miner’s Debt.

Tom and his kids went to town early and started their looking around. After we got fuel and re-docked we headed to town ourselves. The bus ride from Auke Bay to downtown Juneau takes about 45 minutes. We did the tourist thing for a few hours, had a light snack, and headed back to Auke Bay (other long bus ride).

There were 4 cruise ships in town and lots of people walking around but it did not seem like enough people for 4 cruise ships. But then many of them were probably off on guided tours of the Mendenhall glacier, going up the tram for an aerial view of the harbor etc…

Bill Moffet and his buddy Frank met us down at the dock and we visited a bit and then they drove Becky and Mike to the airport for their trip home. It’s been fun having them along on the adventure. Frank also did a quick dive on Tom’s boat to double check the bottom after his incident (question of if he really hit something the other day or not …. It looks like not). Frank and Bill came back and the group went out to dinner at the pub near the marina. The pub’s kitchen was closed as they don’t cook on Sunday so we call for Pizza delivery. We had a fun evening visiting and then headed back to the boat for our nightly movie.

Oliver Bay

Day 42 - June 21 Oliver Bay

It was rainy and wet most of the day. We went for a hike on a boardwalk from the end of Oliver Bay across to Seymour Inlet where there is a public cabin. At the start of the hike we met a man who works for the Parks department. They were working on renovations to the cabin. We chatted with him and then he led our group on the hike. He was ‘armed’ and ready for bear.

Chris asked if there were bear in the area and he said only about 1 per sq mile. I noticed several animal trails and bear droppings along the boardwalk. Paul; our hike leader pointed out various flowers and trees along the way. There are lodge pole pines, many dwarfed by the weather. Flowers included the normal Skunk cabbage, and buttercups, to wild sweet peas, wild iris, and chocolate lilies. The lilies are also called wild rice due to the bunch of rice around their roots. This rice is edible, but we did not try any. I did take a couple photos however.

The boardwalk also had rails (mini railroad rails) and a cart which could be used to haul gear. It is available for the public to use. The rail system is also used by hunters and fisherman to get their small boats over to the other side. It is much faster than motoring all the way around. The cabin is at the side of a large meadow along the shoreline with a creek in front of it. Paul stated that this is a very popular place to hunt bear. He also explained that after hibernation the bear come down to this meadow to eat grass, then as the grass grows and the snow level goes up, they move up into the hills, coming back down when the salmon come in. Then he added that at this time of year they are basically all over the place.

The cabin is quite nice and they are definitely doing quality work on the renovations. It is getting new flooring, bunks, cabinets, and tongue and grove type wall boards. They had a small wood stove on the cart which will likely be installed in the cabin. We are quite impressed with the cabins that the state has around Alaska. There are apparently 150 of these cabins in Alaska for the public to use for a small fee per night. Paul indicated that this cabin is generally booked most of the year.

After the hike we went back to the boats to relax for the afternoon and wait for high tide so we can get out of the bay. Not many people bring their big boats into this bay as the entrance can be quite shallow and tricky. That does not seem to bother either Glen or Tom.

We will be heading into Juneau this afternoon. Maryann (Glen’s sister) arrives tonight and Becky and Mike (Miner’s kids) leave tomorrow night. Shawn (our son) arrives Monday night, he always likes to be the odd one. Juneau will also be a place for re-provisioning.

Taku and Oliver Bays

Day 41 – June 20 Taku and Oliver Bays

It’s a sunny warm day. Forecast says it’s going to be 67 degrees today. Most of us are wearing shorts today. Yippee. We walked around the Taku area a bit. There used to be a fish cannery here and some of the housing buildings while in fairly sad shape are still here. The cannery buildings and docks are long gone, as are most of the piling. The waterfront looks kind of like a piling grave yard.

I chatted with the owner of the Delta briefly and found out that it is a brand new yacht just picked it up in Seattle in May and this is their first cruise. They went from Seattle to Ketchikan in 3 days, up the outside. He said it was a pretty rough trip, but that they wanted to test the boat in open rough water. He is from Florida but the boat is registered and will be kept in New Zealand; where he spends 6 months per year. His crew is from Australia and New Zealand. After this trip it goes back into the yard in Seattle for the post shakedown adjustments and then they will be taking it to its home port.

The kids went fishing in the dinghy, and Nicole caught a baby Halibut (which went back to grow up) and Becky caught a small Cod which got filleted for a meal. No crab or prawns found their way into the pots, darn it anyway. Well actually we don’t really know about the prawns as Glen’s pot, line, etc… were nowhere to be found. It is probably floating down stream somewhere or else someone else has a nice new pot.

We made our way to Oliver Inlet and dropped Anchor for the afternoon and night. It is indeed a warm sunny day. Everyone relaxed in the sun for the afternoon and then had dinner on Magic’s back deck.

Note it was still quite light out at 3:00 am.

Endicott Arm and Fords Terror

Day 40 – June 19 Endicott Arm and Fords Terror

It was a sunny morning. We (Glen, Liz, and Nicole) headed out in the dinghy on an adventure while the Miner’s stayed to go fishing.

We went up Endicott Arm all the way to the Dawes Glacier. We could get right up next to the glacier (if we’d wanted to) this time. We watched as the glacier calved small to medium chunks, but no really big ones. Wish we could have gotten some of it on video. We did get some great glacier photos. There were a couple small cruise boats in there at the same time. They had passengers in small boats as well as in kayaks going up fairly close. The sun was shining and made this a spectacular sight. We could also see the glacier to the north which no longer reaches the water. Very near the beginning of Endicott Arm is another glacier high above the water called Sumdum glacier, it was very visible today and beautiful.

The side hills only had a few clouds which only added to the beauty. Virgin snowfields, large cornices, evidence of recent avalanches, smaller slide paths, and lots of waterfalls; all backed by sunny skies. Endicott Arm is a bit wider than Tracy Arm and its walls are not as steep.

Again there were lots of seals with pups. Not as many as in Tracy arm, but these pups seemed to be smaller/younger.

I highly recommend this place!

Fords Terror is amazingly beautiful. Steep side walls, with large cracks from top to bottom, some narrow and some quite wide. There were lots of waterfalls. The narrow sections had rapids for Glen to play in. In a couple places there were rows of bubbles coming to the surface. Not sure what those were from but the water temp was not different and there was no noticeable smell.

Came back out and found the Miner’s still fishing, stopped to see how they were doing. They reported, one Halibut on board and “another on the hook” being reeled in. That one turned out to be a small cod rather than a Halibut. Continued back to Magic anchored in Tracy Cove. Saw that the Reed’s and there two traveling companions anchored in the same bay, so we ventured over to say hello and catch up. They were going to do at least one of the ‘Arms’ tomorrow. Gave them all the info we could and then back to Magic. Made lunch, pulled anchor and headed for Juneau.

A group of 2-3 Humpbacks just around the corner but they were shy and would not cooperate for photos.

Tomorrow was going to be the day of fishing with a commercial guide (Nick Newbury’s brother in law Louis), but when we talked to him yesterday he said that they had been out for the last two days and no one got even a bite in 6 hours. The salmon just weren’t there or weren’t biting. He wasn’t sure that we really wanted to go with that kind of fishing. So after talking it over we all decided to cancel the fishing trip for now. We might try again later in the trip. So instead of going into Juneau we went to Taku Bay and tied to a public dock. There were 3 other boats on the dock so including us there were 5. One of them was a brand new 90’ Delta.

Icebergs and Waterfalls - Tracy Arm

Day 39 – June 18 Tracy Arm - Icebergs and Waterfalls!

We woke up to another rainy fall like morning. Hey it’s supposed to be summer. Oh yeah it’s an Alaskan summer; damp. Pulled anchor and headed for Tracy Arm - glacier hunting. Saw a few whales (Humpback and one Orca) in route. There was another whale just outside the entrance to Tracy Arm.

Icebergs and waterfalls; lots of them, and snow down to the waters edge in many places. Beautiful is an understatement. It rained or ‘heavy misted’ most of the day.

We went up Tracy Arm dodging icebergs big and small along the way. When the ice chunks got thicker than we wanted to take Magic through we lowered the dinghy and let Magic float solo, while we headed on. The Miner’s did not follow. We went approximately 2 miles in the dinghy winding our way through the ice. We stopped about ½ mile from the South Sawyer Glacier as the ice got thicker than we wanted to deal with. But we were close enough to see the glacier, beautiful. We did not see it doing any calving, but there were both big and small chunks of ice everywhere. What seemed odd was that there were sections almost clear of ice and other sections full of small chunks and yet other sections with large chunks.

Way up in the channel there were lots and lots of seal with pups, some fairly small. Yes we did get some photos.

On the way back out Glen must have thought he was in the Everglades because he was buzzing through the ice. We came around the final corner before getting back to Magic and there was a Carnival Cruise Ship – The Norwegian Sun. They were headed up to see the glacier. I am sure that we are now in quite a few vacation photos. ‘There were these crazy people in a dinghy zipping around the ice.’

Nicole and I discovered the maximum number of photos that a 2 gig chip can hold – 611 photos. Yep we took a lot of pictures today, and that was just with one of the two cameras we were using and only part of the day. Yes, we will be deleting some I’m sure.

Tracy Arm is somewhat narrow and has very steep rock walls on both sides.

Anchored in the cove just outside of Tracy Arm.

What a great day! We were all exhausted by the end of the day. It’s hard to tell when the end of the day is because it stays light so late. At 10:30pm tonight it looked more like 7:00pm.

Walking on Ice

Day 38 – June 17

It’s a sunny morning.

We all went for hike up to a waterfall, which was very pretty. There was another boardwalk of sorts here; much of this one made from logs across the trail with chain saw hash marks to make them less slippery. Went back to Magic, pulled anchor to head over to look at the local glacier – Baird Glacier. You can see the North Baird Glacier from the bay but the larger South Baird Glacier isn’t visible until you get up into the inner bay/river area. Miner’s Debt went on but we stopped to look around and take another hike.

Water level was fairly shallow in the inner bay, but we wound our way around and up stream until we found a back eddy in which to leave the dinghy. Had to plan ahead as the tide was going out and we needed enough water to get back out over the sandbar. It’s very interesting to see rocks sorted by size along the shoreline. Climbed up the bank of loose rock and ended up on a plateau of sorts. At this point the ground was fairly flat with dry or fairly dry moss which looked kind of like a slightly lumpy carpet. There were small flowers which looked like they might be distant relatives of Fuchsia in clumps every so often. Moving on, the ground was like clay, and then more sand like. In the clay section we saw one sinkhole which was about 5 feet across and about 3 feet deep. The sandy stuff was really just a layer covering the ice. There was running water under the ice.

Back to the boat and heading up the channel to rejoin the Miner’s. Whale, Whale!!! Twice we stopped to watch Humpbacks heading our way. One came pretty close, Nicole got some good shots.

We anchored in Gambier Bay for the night. Nicole and I baked bread (Sesame Wheat Braid) this afternoon for the group dinner, it turned out perfect. Two loaves were eaten at dinner.