Week eight was an incredible week for me. My dad was still in for the first half of the week, and I had an upcoming trip planned to explore the Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.
On Monday, we returned from Mosquito Lake back to Haines, where my dad and I spent the afternoon fishing at the Chilkoot Lake. It was a beautiful day, highs in the upper seventies, sun shining, and a light breeze. We started at the lake, where my dad caught his first fish in Alaska, which also was the first dolly varden of his life. We meandered down the river, stopping to try our luck at different locations. Underneath the shade of a tree, I casted out and began reeling slowly in, when I got my first bite! I set the hook and began reeling while my dad was off in the distance, distracted by the beautiful landscape that surrounded us. I called out to him; “Dad! I got one!” He started screaming at me for to wait for him to get the camera before pulling it up to the surface, and when he finally got the camera, and I went to pull the line towards me, that fish wiggled right off the end of my hook, and plopped back into the water. My dad started cracking up, and informed me it didn’t count if I didn’t touch it. So alas, it was the one that got away in Alaska. Quite quickly, late in the afternoon, storm clouds began to blow in, so we called it a day, checked into our hotel, and spent the night relaxing – watching movies, and talking about our favorite highlights from the trip so far.
Tuesday we left for Juneau, so before heading to the dock, we stopped in at the Bamboo Room for a delicious breakfast. I had been there before for lunch, but I was really blown away by the breakfast. Afterwards, we got on the ferry, and spent a smooth four hour ride playing yahtzee, catching up on some rest, and watching humpback whales. When we returned to Juneau late that evening, we were feeling pretty exhausted, so we found a hotel and called it a night.
By Wednesday, my dad was pretty worn out from all the excitement, so we agreed to take it easy. We walked around Juneau a bit, exploring little restaurants and gift shops. I was starting to feel a little sad that he was leaving so early in the morning, as it was so good to spend so much time with him out here in the incredible place. At the same time, however, I was starting to feel super excited about my trip to Glacier Bay. Both my dad and I were off to continue our journeys in the morning. Him back to Michigan, and me to Gustavus, to explore even more of southeast Alaska.
Thursday morning, I said goodbye to my dad as he headed to the airport and I headed to the ferry dock. The ride over was fantastic and seemed to fly by as I caught up on some writing. We docked in Gustavus around 11:30 am, where a good friend of mine picked me up. We were scheduled for a whale watching tour at 12:30, but decided to take a walk to kill some time. I was blown away by the amount of wildflowers, most particularly the lupines that painted the flat, open fields a beautiful purple. We got so caught up with these wildflowers, in fact, that we missed our boat for whale watching. We shrugged it off, and decided now was a good time to explore and familiarize myself with the town of Gustavus. We grabbed lunch at a great grocery and deli shop in town, then made our way over to the Fireweed Gallery, where we sat outside and had coffee for desert. When we made it back to Glacier Bay, we hit a camping orientation, as we had planned a three day kayaking and camping trip in the back country. I was so excited packing and preparing for the trip, anxious to finish so I could catch some sleep before our early morning.
Morning rolled around, and we packed all of our stuff into a wheelbarrow and hauled it down to the day boat, which does eight hour tours up and down Glacier Bay. We spent the first half of the tour with the boat, where we traveled as far north as the Grand Pacific Glacier. On the way, we saw so many sea otters, seals, humpbacks, and various birds. We even saw a couple sea lions and mountain goats. We watched the Margerie Glacier calving (which is when a chunk cracks off and tumbles into the sea.) The tour alone was incredible, but on the way back, right around the Muir inlet, the boat pulled up to a beach, dropped us off with our kayak and our gear, and took off, not to return for us for three whole days. Incredibly, it was such a hot day, that after unloading all of our gear, we took a swim in the ocean to cool off. Afterwards, we hopped in our kayak to explore, and find a good place to set up camp.
Now, I must make a sidenote here, that the experience of camping in the backcountry of Glacier Bay is one that words can not give justice to. Our second day out, we hopped in the kayak to explore the Charpentier Inlet, where we saw the most beautiful and massive waterfalls. After a good 4 or 5 hours, we turned around to head back to camp, and that’s when we saw it. About thirty yards away from us, a pod of orcas surfaced. It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever experienced, being in the water, and so close to my favorite animal. They swam at that distance alongside our kayak for a good couple of minutes, and then disappeared. We sat there awestruck, and then paddled back to camp. Once back to our tent, we wandered down to the beach where we had a true campers feast – pita chips with hummus and salsa, a couple apples, and good ol’ pb&js. As we were sitting there enjoying dinner, the pod of orcas surfaced again, this time even more incredibly close. They were so close to shore, I wondered how they were able to swim in such shallow water. I believe it was my spirit animal making contact with me in the wilderness.
On Sunday, unfortunately, our backcountry camping trip came to a close. We paddled back to the drop off point, and the boat returned to pick us up. Once back to the Lodge, we enjoyed some hot showers (that after a couple of days in the backcountry were GREATLY needed!) and then had a fantastic meal at the lodge. While we were eating our feast of big, fresh salads, seafood pasta, and fresh-baked bread, we heard in the distance a pack of calling wolves. It was the perfect end to a perfect week, and I couldn’t believe how much my spirit had opened in the wildness of Glacier Bay.
Needless to say, after all that kayaking and camping and excitement, I slept like a baby – eager to see how southeast Alaska planned on topping this phenomenal week.
Here’s a shot of one our fantastic views during the trip.
© Brooke Foorman 2013
-Brooke
