June 25 Thomas Bay
We went by dinghy to explore
the Baird Glacier, with a plan to stop at the Thomas Bay waterfall on the way
back. On the way we ducked into scenery
cove to take a look. There must be a hot
springs or something in the area as there was a very strong smell of sulfur in
the air. Went on to the glacier and
tried to find the best route up river.
Glen dropped Maryann and I off on the glacier out fall and he went back
to get Tom and Steve and lead them in.
Maryann and I walked up the rocky then dry moss covered rocks which had
been deposited by the glacier years ago.
Moss and pink flowers, lots of tiny baby
shrimp all over the place (dead).
Glen found another route up river
and past by us looking for a good spot to try to pick us up. Once back aboard we all headed further up
the water outflowing from the glacier.
The water temp was recorded as 32.3 F on our sounder. Cold, but what do you expect from melting
ice.. Glen, Michelle, and Steve got out
of the dinks and walked on the ice.
Michelle immediately commented on how slippery it was ... duh, it's
ice! They also stated that they could
feel the vibrations and up and down movement (slight) of the iceflow. Back in the dinks and headed further up. We stopped on a sandy beach .... okay silty
beach and anchored the two dinghies and climbed up the rock hillside. Some huge boulders and some very small rocks. A couple of the big rocks were being held up
by some very small rocks. Moss, small alpine trees and pink and white
flowers trying to make their mark in the area. A small supply of glacier ice was
collected for our evening use. We also
found a great ying/yang rock but did not pick it up. I did collect one rock for my collection. I call it the 'don't go there rock'.
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| Baird Glacier - Flowers |
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| Trail in 2008 |
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| Same trail in 2013 --- upgraded, yippee --- sorry photo is sideways |
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| Glacier Ice |
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| more new trail |
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| Ying Yang Rock - Baird Glacier |
Enough excitement, back to the
big boats for some hot soup and sandwiches for lunch. The waterfall can wait for another
trip.
Nelsea and her crew need to
head out for points north. They plan to
go into Tracy Arm tomorrow before their guests John and Elise have to fly home
from Juneau on the 28th. Steve and
Michelle plan to start heading toward home at that time. That is unless we can convince them to stay
out through the 4th of July. Tom and
Jason headed out of Thomas Bay with them.
Rendezous and Panacea pulled
into Thomas Bay about 40 minutes after the others left. 5:15pm still in the same place but
different boats tied to the mother ship for the night.
Eric, Megan, Ollie and Sophie
are now aboard Panacea, and they are getting used to having 6 people aboard.
June 26
Glen led a tour of the Baird
glacier for the Mehlum and Jung clans.
They had a great time and of course collected a few samples of glacier
ice for cocktail hour.
Then after lunch the Mehlum's,
Jung's and Dodge's all took the ride and hike up to the waterfall. Some more adventureous ones continuing to
parts above the bridge. Somewhere
along the way they came upon another group of hikers. Eric Mehlum recognized one as a guy he had
gone to high school with. He was up with
the small cruise boat 'ship' (98 passengers) that was anchored not to far from
our flotilla.
Back to the boats, time to
visit, nap, and then cocktail hour.
Reflections picked up there new crew in Petersburg today and rejoined
the group about cocktail hour. They
were ready for an adventure so Glen lead another glacier tour. This time the tide was up so they were able
to explore a different section of the glacier and actually getting on top of
the big berm that we climbed in 2008.
Glen says that it does not appear that the glacier has receded much over
the past five years.
The magic crew watched a movie
and then headed to bed.
June 27
Left Thomas Bay today headed
for Cleveland Passage. Panacea has to
make a detour back into Petersburg to pick up a new throttle cable for his
dinghy motor, after breaking one yesterday.
He will catch up with the group sometime this evening.
We traveled up Fredrick Sound
and anchored in Steamboat Bay. Much of the bay goes dry at low tide, and no
good spot to tie to shore, so we set two bow anchors and two stern anchors to
hold our position, with bows pointing seaward.
Horseflies were active. But we managed to lessen their population by
several dozen. Crab pots down. Nat, Linda, Pete, and Glen went out
fishing. Maryann and I baked bread well
rolls to be exact, and made a salad for our dinner with the Jung's; Linda is
making beef stew.
Fishing group came back empty
handed 'again'; that's why they don't call it catching!
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