0° F?

This morning we woke up to an outside temperature of about 12 degrees F. That's ice on the port light in the v-berth where we sleep. Oddly enough we both woke up last night feeling much too warm. I think the down sleeping bags on top of the comforter were overkill.

Deciding that 12 degrees just wasn't cold enough we headed out to do our first ski tour of the season. The temps in the alpine were about 0 with a bit of wind chill to keep us on our toes. It was an absolutely beautiful day and we were both very happy to be out trundling about on our skis. We spotted some snowshoe hare tracks, and the trees were covered with rime.

From Douglas Island, looking across towards Juneau.

A view down on Stephens Passage, to the south west of Douglas Island.

Rime covered trees, looking like weird snow creatures milling around.

The Big Snow

Early this morning we woke up to snow again, this time quite a bit more, roughly 10 inches. We knew it was out there, since at around 3am the sound of snow slabs sliding off our tarp and into the water woke us up. The day went on as normal though. The swimming pool was open, and the main roads were plowed. More snowfall is forecast, so we'll see what happens!

Teddy Bear's Picnic?

If you go into the woods today
You'd better not go alone.
It's lovely out in the woods today
But safer to stay at home...

These are all signs one encounters in the woods just minutes away from downtown Juneau.

This one says: Hazardous conditions exist. Walkway slippery when wet, snowy or frozen. Rockslides may occur year round. Avalanches may occur winter & spring. Repair, renovation and/or maintenance may be in progress.

If the bears don't get you, something else might...

Henry Hall's Teddy Bear's Picnic

Snow!

We had been watching the snow level lower on the surrounding hills all week and were extremely excited to wake up to this view out our companionway Friday morning. I had to go to work, but watched the snow flakes fall all day out my window. While I was at work Matt spent the day outside in the blowing snow while he erected the frame for Wecantu's winter tarp.

Saturday we did a hike with the Juneau Parks & Recreation group, which has become part of our weekly routine. They are a great group to hang out with, and it's been fun to socialize with them. They do adventuresome hikes, go out no matter what the weather, and share lots of local knowledge. This Saturday's hike was a mix of trail walking, bush whacking, shore walking, and beaver dam traversing in the Mendenhall river area. With the fresh snow it was quite a beautiful hike. Back in Seattle we would have had to drive hours to enjoy a place like this, but here it was a 15 minute drive to the trail head, which hardly gives us time to even drink half our morning coffees!

In Search of...

This summer we had a lot of anchorages to ourselves. In part this was because we were cruising earlier than most of the seasonal crowd, but lagged behind the speedier 'Glacier Bay or bust' cruisers. We enjoyed the solitude but sometimes the atmosphere at night could be a little eerie. I remember one evening as dusk settled and we could no longer see the shore. Something started splashing very loudly on the beach. It was probably just a deer or bear, but since we couldn't see it our imaginations had us believing it was something big and toothy which planned on swimming out to the boat to get us while we slept. We were also surrounded by the sound of breathing. We hoped it was just seals.

I think part of my tendency to seek out the spookiness of my environment can be blamed on the fact that as a young child I loved to watch the t.v. show "In Search of..." narrated by Leonard Nimoy. The show explored unexplained mysteries and phenomenon; UFOs, Bigfoot, the Bermuda Triangle, disappearances of people like Amelia Earhart. The show would scare me silly and I enjoyed it immensely.

Fast forward to just a few weeks ago. I was in a bookstore in Haines, AK and overheard a conversation about a book titled "The Strangest Story Ever Told". After she sold the last copy in stock to another customer, I chatted with the store clerk and found out a little about the tale, which took place in Thomas Bay. I later tracked down my own copy to buy. It is a historical narrative about the encounters several different miners had with 'devil creatures', and other mysterious happenings in the vicinity of Thomas Bay. As I mentioned in my previous post, we had anchored in Thomas Bay. Reading this book and remembering our evening spent there was a little like being a kid again listening to Leonard Nimoy telling of strange and disturbing events. Most enjoyable. You can read an excerpt here. Hallucinations caused by "loneliness and morbid thought", or something else? http://www.bigfootencounters.com/stories/harrycolp.htm

No running on the beach!

One thing Matt and I missed this summer was lots of aerobic, weight bearing exercise. We rowed the dinghy around, we manually weighed anchor, we did what we called cockpit calisthenics, I tried to do yoga (some of those poses require mastery of yogic levitation when you're on a rocking boat), but what we really missed were long hikes up big hills.

The main problem was that in many of our anchorages much of the shoreline was like that in the photo. Steep, and even if you did get into the forest what you found was impenetrable without the aid of a machete. Very few areas were developed with trails. Sometimes there would be logging roads, but often those were overgrown. There were always the bears to worry about. And worse yet, the possibility of being chased by 'devil creatures'. (Read the wikipedia entry on Thomas Bay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Bay.) They make Bigfoot, and bears, seem benign in comparison. We anchored one night in Scenery Cove in Thomas Bay, and now I am glad we didn't go venturing ashore!

In the future we'll have to find some sort of balance so that we get our exercise while we cruise. We did find that towns offered great land access; we discovered great hikes within walking distance or a bus ride from the marinas in Prince Rupert, Ketchikan, Wrangell, and Petersburg. Now that we're in Juneau we are surrounded by more trails than roads. Our bodies are finally starting to feel normal again!

The Seal from Sequim

This particular seal is not a Southeast Alaskan, but was one who liked to haul out at our old marina in Sequim Bay in Washington. We called her Specs because of her distinct eye markings. (Now that I think about it, she looks like a sea mammal super hero...) If this was a Juneau seal, she'd be getting rained on. I hope Specs is enjoying some sunshine right now back in Sequim. We've seen seals in the marina here, but none seem to haul out like they did on the John Wayne marina docks.


I'm currently sitting in our office in Juneau listening to the rain and wind beat against the windows. When I left the boat this morning Wecantu was doing a bit of a jiggity dance along with her neighbors.


We've been enjoying exploring Juneau. We've taken a few hikes, and are always tickled that getting to a trail head doesn't involve hours of driving. We can often just walk to the start of a hike.


Bears are a common site, especially now as they are frantically cramming their bellies with food before they go hibernate. It's a state called hyperphagia, and I think it impairs a bear's judgement. A few have been seen foraging downtown, and early one morning Matt walked past a dumpster that had obviously been dived by a bear. Whenever we hike we are always on alert for them.


Matt and I have loosely established a routine. We do some laps together at the swimming pool in the morning, and then I join him later in the morning at the office. He works while I search job listings and write cover letters. I also work on other projects. We brought the sewing machine to the office so I've done a bit of canvas work for the boat. I also did a major organization of all our paper nautical charts, which temporarily satisfied the librarian in me.

Rear Window

I doubt Matt and I will witness anything like what James Stewart and Grace Kelly suspected a courtyard neighbor of in the plot of one of my favorite movies, but it is nice to have a window from which to watch a small part of the world in Juneau go by. The photo was taken on a rare occasion of blue sky, but so far much of the world we look out on consists of rain, ravens, cruise ship tourists, and a sometimes entertaining parking lot with one resident red squirrel (at least he loiters here a lot, if not actually resides). I'd better keep my eye on the squirrel, you never know what he might try to dig up...

Matt is doing remote IT work for his former employer and we have scored this nice office space from which to work. It provides a drier place to hang out than the boat and is within walking distance from the marina. Temptations include several coffee shops within just a few blocks, and the public library is just down the street. While Matt works I search for jobs, compose cover letters and tweak my resume, read books and look out the window. I am reading lots of books but that may be a post for next time.

North by northwest

Seattle to Juneau by sailboat: 3 months
Juneau to Seattle by plane: 3 hours
Seattle to Juneau by car (plus one ferry ride): 13 days

After spending a few days in Banff and Jasper National Parks, we continued our road trip. We headed west to Prince George, then onward past Smithers and up the Cassiar Highway. There were oodles of black bears along this stretch of road. So instead of doing a log watch to avoid hitting logs with our sailboat, this time we had a bear watch to avoid hitting large critters with our car. Luckily we were in no hurry. We developed the habit of honking at the bears we saw in an attempt to condition them to associate cars with a negative stimulus. Some ran, others just ignored us, so I think our Psychology 101 experiment wasn't very successful.

This is the Haines Junction 'muffin' sculpture. It features various northern mammals emerging from a muffin-esque mountain. Speaking of muffins, there is a very good bakery in Haines Junction, so if your travels ever take you here make sure you check it out.

Once we got to Yukon territory the terrain started to get very spectacular. It was hard to capture the landscape in photos. It is very different than the Canadian Rockies where we had just been. The foothills are more rounded here and things almost look pastoral, except you realize just how immense the land is. You could easily wander and become a disappearing speck very quickly.

Good tidings in the Rockies

After leaving Augusta we spent a few days in Banff National Park. We have been here before, but the scenery of the Canadian Rockies always amazes us.
We decided to spend a day in the mountains to receive their good tidings, as John Muir would say. A ranger recommended Cirque Peak so that's where we went. It felt good to be slogging up a mountain slope again.

A view south. The geology of the range is stunning.

We gained a great view of the Wapta Icefield where Matt and I did a spring ski tour several years ago. The lake was frozen then, enabling us to ski across it.

Soaking up the sunshine and fresh air.

This mooching marmot summited too, hoping to receive good handouts. We refused to give in to his charms. I suspect he enjoyed the tramp up the mountain as much as we did.

An evening drive

One of our favorite things to do in Augusta is to take drives. (This was a favorite activity of Matt's Dad, Aunt and Grandparents too, so we're sort of carrying on the tradition.) There are numerous dirt roads that lead up into the mountains. The landscape is very different from the Pacific Northwest, but its beauty has grown on us over the years.
Haystack Butte, a prominent landmark in the area, is in the distance above.

We caught the dumb ones

I have a distinct childhood memory of fishing on a river and having a trout steal my bait over and over again. It annoyed me greatly and left me with the impression that trout can be rather clever, considering their brain size. Yesterday Matt and I spent the day fishing a few holes on the Sun River, and once again the trout outwitted us many times over. Our combined years of higher education amounted to nothing. We did end up taking two trout home for dinner, but we think we only caught them because they were lacking that trout intelligence. You can tell the fish in the photo below is a bit slow because he is missing part of his upper caudal fin. He must have done something pretty foolish to have had that happen.



So, we've been enjoying our time out here in Montana. It's been warm and sunny. We find the act of fishing very riveting. We never thought we'd be so into it, but it puts us absolutely in the moment. It flows and makes the time speed by, and is a great excuse for being outdoors.

We would have taken photos of the fishing hole where we found our gullible trout, but we are keeping that a secret.
Instead you get a photo of one of the many small lakes found on the Rocky Mountain Front.

Big Sky fishing

We are spending a few days out in Montana before we head north again. This evening we decided to try a bit of trout fishing. We had only one bite but nothing was caught. These fish aren't being as obliging as the ones out on the coast, but the fishing was really just an excuse to get outdoors and soak up the fabled big sky of Montana.

Nilan Reservoir at sunset

Juneau reconnaissance

The past few days have been spent exploring Juneau. We walk and take the bus a lot.

A few days ago we visited the Mendenhall Glacier. It makes us giddy to know that there is a huge icefield right outside of Juneau.
On another day we hiked from the marina up to Gastineau Peak, then rode the tram back down to town. This photo is looking north up Gastineau Channel.

This photo is looking south at Stephens Passage which we came up.

Looking east towards Canada from Gastineau Peak. The mountains here remind of us of the Olympics - the coastal climate keeps the vegetation lush and free of forest fires.

More Alaska photos

An iceberg aground at Tracy Arm cove.

Grass and sedge.

Sumdum Peak to the left, and Sumdum Glacier in the middle.

Alaska photos

Scenery Cove, where we anchored near the Baird Glacier. Early the next morning we found ourselves surrounded by a school of colorful kayaks as they paddled by us. It was a bit surreal as we had thought we were alone! They had camped at the head of this cove.
Ice berg in Holkham Bay, at the entrance to Tracy Arm.

Humpback in Frederick Sound. There were so many of them, most not as close as this one. We turned our engine off for a while to drift though, and we could hear the whales breathing all around us. We also spotted a sea otter with her two kits - they crawled all over her as she swam along. We also saw what was unmistakably a shark fin that crossed in front of us. We assume it was a salmon shark, which are fairly common up here. It was a bit creepy to see.

Baird Glacier.

Buoy Bingo

Wrangell Narrows is the shortest route from Wrangell to Petersburg. The entrance is shown above. The passage has been dredged and features roughly sixty aids to navigation which mark the rocks and shoals you want to avoid. It is a common suggestion to make a list of all markers and check them off as you pass them, especially if it is your first time through the narrows. So we made a list and decided to call it Buoy Bingo. It wasn't exactly like bingo but it had a nice ring to it. Playing Buoy Bingo kept Matt and I on our toes, but in the end it was probably the most fun bit of navigating we have done.

It is a bit hard to make out, but all those things in the water are buoys and markers. The greatest challenge was figuring out the sequence, since perspective (as in which are closer) wasn't always obvious. Without binoculars this would have really sucked.

One of the logistics to transiting the narrows is to enter from either the north or south end at the last hour or two of the flood, depending on the average speed of your boat. That way you ride the flood in, and then once you reach the midway point, the tidal currents change and you ride the ebb out. The above photo was taken at about the mid point, and we are meeting all the south bound boats. Some sections of the narrows are also, yes, rather narrow. The largest cruise boats don't go through, but the Alaskan ferries and smaller cruise ships do use the narrows. So, another part of the game is to monitor VHF and AIS to know who's coming, and to plan to pull over if you need to to let the larger boats by. We met the ferry Matanuska, who was southbound, in one of the narrowest parts, but we were able to time the meeting at a place where we could safely pull out of the channel.

Here's Matt checking off another buoy. One of us would be at the helm while the other helped keep track of the markers and kept up a narration of what was coming up next. All the navigation aids are distinctly numbered, and with the chart we always knew exactly where we were at. We each had our own pair of binoculars.

Here's the almost finished buoy bingo sheet. That's our idea of fun.

All summer in a day

After living through three Seattle Novembers (as Matt likes to say) during our weather bound stay in Ketchikan, we were rewarded by a blue sky and warm temperatures in Wrangell. It felt like the summer days you remember as a kid, sort of carefree with endless hours of daylight. Our stay in Wrangell was made even better when the crew of S/V Celtic Song, who we had met many weeks ago in Shearwater, arrived. We decided to stay an extra day just to enjoy their company.

The above photo of Wrangell was taken from Mt Dewey.

The weather clouded in a bit on the day we left, but it was still pretty in it's own way.

Totem poles and rain

We've decided to spend one more day in Ketchikan before we move on. Today we are going to try to do some relaxing and get a bit of boat work done. We've spent the last few days walking a lot, and getting drenched in the process. It's been raining pretty much the whole time we've been here. The location and topography of Ketchikan makes it a great funnel for weather. In the evenings we have been running both shore power heat and our Dickinson diesel heater to dry out, and it's been very cozy.
Yesterday we did a hike up to Deer Mountain. The buses weren't running (no service on July 4th) so it ended up being about a 9 mile jaunt since we had to walk to the trail head. Nine miles isn't much, but it's been a few months since our last real hike so it felt like a good work out. It was a good change to go into the woods - the forests are incredibly lush here. A couple of days ago when the buses were running we went south to Saxman and then north to Totem Bight to check out the totem pole collections. The above photo is from Totem Bight.

Another winged visitor

While we were crossing Dixon entrance under sail I happened to be below when Matt called me to come look. Perched in our companionway was a slightly bedraggled looking red crossbill. Apparently he either was getting tuckered out and sorely needed a break, or he wanted to try a bit of sailing. He stayed for little while, then eventually flew off. We really hope he made it back to land. We think he just needed a few moments to dry off - right before he landed on our boat the rain had started to pelt us pretty good. The backlighting in the photo makes it hard to see much detail, but if you look close you can see where his bill crosses at the tip.