Hey Everyone! I’m back from Glacier Bay and what a fabulous trip it was! This last group was one of the best groups of student’s I’ve had and were so much fun to work with. Plus we had beautiful weather and saw lots of great wildlife! Here’s a sampling of what we did from the trip report:
May 25th and 26th- Intro to paddling skills all day in Bartlett Cove with Brian McGorry. Continued paddling skills introduction as well as introduction to rescues.
First day of paddling up toward the Beardslee Islands. Caught the 6:30 am high tide through the Lester Island cut into the Beardslees. Paddled north through the islands to the northern most island just west of BearTrack Cove. First backcountry camp, talked with students about all info pertaining to campsite selection in this environment. Also introduced TECs and Trip reports to add to the student journals.
Got up early to arrive at the Mt. Wright pick up by 7:30 am and had breakfast on the beach there. The Fairweather picked up Kaylyn at 9:30 am and the rest of the group packed up and continued north along the east coast of the bay. Group stopped at Maquina Cove for lunch and then paddled north to Goose Cove. Rachel spotted a brown bear between camp and the water source just south of camp and alerted expedition members. Bear wandered back into the alder. Students spend some time in the evening preparing the itinerary for the next 5 days of the course.
Rode the am rising tide from Goose Cove up to McBride Bay and set up camp. The arctic turns are nesting significantly closer to the terminal moraine this year and made finding camping that would accommodate the turns difficult but doable. (If you get too close to their nests they will scream and start dive bombing at peoples’ heads) At 2:30p a lone wolf wandered in near camp and spent about half an hour around the camp, but was more interested in the turn eggs that on getting close to camp. Then at 3:15p nine members of the group went on a hike up the shore to check out the glacier closer. Rachel and Staci stayed behind to work on repairing the kayaks that were needing patching. After the Rachel and Staci finished patching the boats they got up and found that there was a brown bear that had wandered into camp. Rachel instructed Staci stay with her as she moved toward the bear spray and after some whistle blowing the bear moved away from camp after ripping a dry bag. Meanwhile the rest of the group heard the noise back and camp and started working their way back. The bear momentarily was between the two groups but both groups of people moved toward the water and the bear toward the alder and then wandered out away from camp. Group debriefed the experience over dinner.
Another short paddle day. Arrived at Garforth Island by noon. Students spent the early afternoon doing peer midcourse evals. After evals were complete, Brian and Rachel had one-on-one meetings with each of the students to check in with them about how their course was going and giving feedback to them to take into their next section. Students worked on preparing for departure and resupply while they were not in their interview. After dinner the group sat down together and had a midcourse debrief regarding the first 12 days of the course.
June 4th- Garforth Island to Mt. Wright Drop Off to Tidal Inlet (15.5 n. miles)
Group got up early to pack boats and be at the Mt. Wright drop off by 7:30a. Group cooked breakfast on the beach at Mt. Wright and waited for the Fairweather. Boat arrived and the 12 day participants departed. Remaining group members received re-supply and packed boats to head to the West Arm. Smooth crossing to Tlingit Point and then paddled up the shoreline to campsite in the bay just north of Tidal Inlet.
Started the morning with a crossing to the west side of the Rendu Inlet from Composite Island. Throughout the crossing wave conditions continued to increase from the south and by the time we were finishing the crossing waves were consistently at 2-3 feet swelling to 4 feet. Ricky and Rachel started looking for a beach to exit onto, but the shoreline was too rocky to be landed on, and the one beach that would have been suitable for landing was tested by Ricky and turned out to be too steep to surf land without soaking everyone. (Ricky got wet to his waist while testing the landing.) It was determined that it would just be safer to stay on the water than try and land and the group paddled north with caution. Winds subsided as the group neared Russell Island and due to the tailwind and rising tide it was decided by Ricky to continue into the Tarr Inlet and take advantage of the conditions rather than stopping at Russell as planned. Group camped on the east side of the Tarr Inlet just north of the prominent alluvial fan. (LOD: Ricky)
Had a late and long breakfast and paddled south to catch the high tide at the cut into Skidmore Bay. Arrived at the cut at 4:00p with a high tide that wasn’t going to be in until 7:00p. Group stopped and made hot drinks at the cut and waited for the water to rise. Water never rose high enough to paddle all the way through. (13.5ft high tide on the Bartlett Cove tide chart). Group decided that they had already invested enough time there that they should finish the cut and lift the boats over the sections that weren’t floatable. Finished paddling/floating/lifting boats through the cut by 7:30p and started paddling up Skidmore Bay. Arrived at a campsite on the eastern side of Skidmore Bay around 9:00p.
Crossing of Sitakaday Narrows. Left the morning open for students to work on final projects and assessments and then prepared for the crossing in the afternoon. Caught the 5:15p low tide slack for the crossing. Started crossing from Rush Point at 4:30p. Crossed to the channel marker. Tide was still pushing at about 1knot through the 1st half on the 6th hour going toward low tide. About the middle of the crossing the tide mellowed out and crossing was completed without complications. Camped on the west side of Young Island.
Spent the morning doing peer feedback for students and working on rescues with students who wanted more time on the water. In the afternoon the instructors worked on final paperwork as well as final interviews with each of the students. After an early dinner the group paddled into Bartlett Cove and spent the night in the Bartlett Cove campground. Had the group final debrief on the beach at Bartlett Cove.
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