Enroute to Punchbowl

May 27

We woke up to a beautiful sunny day.  Nat and Linda went fishing in the morning.  The rest of us went by dinghy up the inlet exploring.   Eagles on trees, snowcapped mountains, waterfalls, very large meadow at the end ... but no bear to be seen.  

While we were gone a guy from a boat anchored near our boats went over to talk to Nat and Linda.  Apparently he chatted with them for about an hour.  Born and raised in Petersburg.  Is a fishing and hunting guide.  On this trip he had his assistant and a father and son from Connecticut on board, they are bear hunting.  He asked where the rest of the group had gone in the dinghies and hoped that we would not go ashore at the head of the inlet.  He was assured that our group would not go ashore.  They have been tracking a large grizzly for three days down there, and if we had gone ashore it likely would have gotten the scent of humans and gone back into the woods further. They are hoping that tonight is their lucky night.   He apparently also told Nat and Linda where the best places are to fish for salmon and halibut; they took notes.   

Back from the exploration, we all pulled anchor and headed for 'Punch Bowl Cove', about a 2 hour run from Carp.

Punch Bowl cove is an amazing place.  Rock walls all around with snowcapped peaks of 2,900 to 4,432 ft all around.   One other boat in here.   We anchored and tied to shore near the end of the bay in 74 feet of water.   Weather is sunny and warm - 70 degrees.  Amazing to be wearing shorts in Alaska in May with snow capped mts all around.

Nat and Glen went for a hike up to the lake.  The trail consisted of - boardwalk, stairs, roots, loose rock, mushy stuff, steep scrambles, and areas where the trail was very narrow loose rock and a 75 foot drop straight down on one side.  Glad I did not go, Glen is too.   Apparently the lake is quite large.  The forest service has a row boat and canoe up there for visitors to use. There was a sign that said wear life jacket but there were none and who would have thought to carry one up with them.   The guys were going to launch the rowboat but when they put the plug in it they found that the hole was much bigger than the plug, thus not seaworthy.   They used the canoe and paddled around the lake a bit.  Having had enough of that they headed back down the trail.  Thunder and Lightning started and they got back to the boats just before the rain started. 

About the time that the boys left Steve, Michelle, Tom and Chris all headed out exploring over water.  It being 4:30 Marilyn, Linda and I decided it shore boat to explore the next inlet.   We ended up finding Miners and Nelson's who had spotted a bear on the beach and had been filming him for about 30 minutes.   We got there and I was able to get a couple photos but nothing great.   We were there about 5 minutes when the bear had had enough with visitors and darted back into the woods.    So back to the boats we all went.

We got back about the same time the boys did about 6:30pm and started to think about what to do next.  Whatever it was it would be undercover as the rain was coming down and the thunder and lightning were just overhead.     Everyone took their dinner over to Nelsea and all eleven of us gathered around their inside table to eat and share stories of what we'd seen that day.