Prince William Sound July 2021

Pre Prince William Sound

This was the summer of Covid and Canada was not letting non essential drivers pass thru their county. We were grateful that we were able to drive south last fall and respected their rules. We thought about our options to get back to Palmer and came up with the ferry option from Bellingham to Whittier. We decided to leave our van in San Diego and drive our Rav 4 to Bellingham where we would board the ferry We even booked a cabin to travel in style. It would be a 4 day 3 night journey,

Once we left Bellingham the weather turned rainy and foggy. In 2016 we had kayaked the Inland Passage and had been blessed with overall nice weather. Of course that trip took us almost 2months so the averages of having some decent weather was with us. Masks were required and most travelers kept to themselves. We were fortunate to have the author of Arctic Son, and Arctic daughter on the ferry. There were several films that she had produced and were shown in the theater. She was quite the interesting woman to meet. When we were leaving Juneau one of the crew members told us that we were going to be in for a treat. We would be crossing the Gulf of Alaska which is known for its rough weather. Today however the weather was predicted to be calm with sun. The coastal range appeared and we totally enjoyed the view.

We made it back to our Ford Camp where we are always in awe of the views.

We decided to buy our first stove ever of our married life!

We also did another first this summer. We were invited to go set netting with the Nielsens.

Being in tune with the tides is important in this activity.

We decided to do as many local peaks this summer that we could. It was a beautiful day to climb Government Peak.

We got to share it with the resident Ground Squirrel

I have a feeling he was checking out the crumbs that might have fallen from our bars.

The next activity pre our kayaking trip was to spend a week with Ryan, Beth, Jeff and Emily. A hight light of the week was going fishing for a day on Prince William Sound.

Don got to drive the boat and everyone else got to catch the fish. A couple of 50 pound halibut made the fishing trip a success.

Now it is time to head to Valdez and start the kayaking trip.

Part One Valdez to Cordova

It is always fun to look at a map and figure out where the next kayaking adventure might be. As our friends began to ask us where we were planning to go, we decided to say we were going to paddle from Valdez to Cordova. This would be new territory for us. We were quite comfortable with Western PWS so thought we should stretch ourselves and try something new. We played with a couple of options : paddle from Valdez to Cordova and back or paddle to Cordova and take the ferry back to Valdez. We decided that our final decision wouldn’t be made until we got to Cordova. After that we wanted to check out the Columbia glacier which would be another separate trip. This trip had the potential of getting weathered in so we made sure that we had extra supplies.

Before we drove to Valdez we had a couple of hick ups in our plan. The first one was when we discovered the key that unlocked the kayak trailer hitch was on our key chain in San Diego. The hitch was also there.. Don borrowed a grinder removed the lock and went to Palmer to buy a new hitch. Then we blew a fuse in the car which meant going to Palmer to buy a fuse and then watch a you tube video to find out where this fuse went. Eventually we were on our way on a very sunny day. The drive to Valdez never disappoints when the sun is shining. The sunny weather changed as we dropped from Thomson Pass to Valdez. The rain started falling and as we pulled into Valdez it was pouring. We were going to meet a friend here who had a place for us to stay. We checked out some launching sites and met up with our friend Ben and his wife Lian. They arranged for a place for us to stay and we planned to depart tomorrow afternoon when the tide would be favorable.

We couldn’t have asked for a better day to start our trip. The rains had stopped and for the moment the winds are calm.

Across the way is the end of the Alaskan pipeline. We saw several oil tankers making their way to or leaving this location.

As we were starting our paddle we saw the tender called the Aquanator. It is owned by a friend of ours. We learned that there is a fishing opener tomorrow. We had no idea what that meant. More about the opener later.

The day started out calm, but it wasn’t long we were battling a head wind. The waves were steep and often came over our bow. We essentially paddled from point to point to take advantage of the leeward side of the point. We thought that we might make it to Shoup Bay, but when we saw a place to camp before that we pulled in, checked the tide line and decided this was home.

Ben had given us a fresh piece of halibut so that was the main entre of our meal tonight.

It is always a relief to get our of town and set up the first nights camp. We are on our way.
Miles paddled 8

The wind blew most of the night and several boats anchored near by running their motors. Cant say it was peaceful. Tomorrow is going to be interesting it seems that everyone is here for the opener. Ben gave us a heads up that it would be busy, but that is an understatement. We were up at 4:30 and on the water at 6. In the morning we heard planes overhead and later learned that they were spotters hired by some of the fishermen to look for the salmon. We heard a horn and the fishing season had began..

We had a choice to make, we had planned to paddle up to Potato Point where we could cross at the narrows. This would enable us to have the shortest crossing, but as we looked at all the fishing boats we realized that it could be an epic to get around them all. Yesterday the weather forecast was for 3 foot waves, but the morning was quite calm and we decided to paddle directly across to the other side, Our challenge would be to stay out of the tankers path. Fortunately we only say one and were easily able to avoid it.

Needless to say they have the right away!

We thought that once we were on the south shore that we would have avoided the fishing fleet.
That was not the case as there were still quite a few. They often have the net stretched all the way to the shore. Some of the boats were gracious and would pull away enough for us to sneak by. Others, however waited till they were ready to check their nets which meant we had to just hang out.

Today we had lots of decisions to make. There were several bays to cross and if the weather held, we could cross near the mouth verses going around the shore.. Cutting across would save a lot of miles and since our main goal was to get to Cordova we were going to head across if the weather was good. We crossed Jack Bay and then Galena. Our bodies were getting in rhythm with the paddles. It felt great to be on the water. As we turned to the south we passed by Bligh Island and Bligh Reef. This is where the Exon Valdez run aground and leaked numerous gallons of oil. On the surface the sound looks recovered but there are still contaminated areas. We passed by the native town of Tatlik. This town was off limits due to covid. A loud generator pierced the air. I hope that at least some of the time they can shut it off. It doesn’t quite fit in with the quietness of the sound. There was a large ferry dock which is their main connection to getting supplies. Most of the land here is native land so camping unless one has a permit needs to be below high tide. We started looking for camping after we were out of site of Tatlik. We checked out several sites, but none were suitable. Don made the comment we could make them work in an extreme emergency, but at this point that was not necessary..Even though we were ready to stop for the night we paddled across the next bay hoping to find home for the night.

Finally we found a site. It came complete with rocks that had obviously been used before for camping.. We took a short walk to stretch our legs, made dinner and headed to bed. Tomorrow we will be able to leave at high tide which will make for a very short carry to load our boats.

Perfect campsite tonight
miles paddled 23

We listened to the weather forecast in the morning and were relieved to hear of the weather pattern for the next several days. It is apparent that we will be able to cross some of the large bays. This area can be quite exposed to storms that create large wind and waves coming up from the gulf.. We are prepared to wait out storms, but feel that the weather is giving us an opportunity to put in some miles today. Our first big bay today is Fidalgo Bay. It was named for Don Fidalgo in the late 1700’s when he was here from Spain on an exploration voyage. In recent years this area has had a lot of logging. Today though, there is a lot of new growth and the clear cut areas are blending in.

We point our kayaks toward the other shore and several hours later we arrive, Relieved that we are safely across.

We have another bay to cross before rounding a couple of points. We had been warned about these points. The points along with the larger bays are some of the crux parts. Today however, the seas are calm and only a gentle swell is running. The two points are called Porcupine and Knowles head. I feel fortunate that we have mild conditions to go around them.

At the point a flotilla of. sea otters and their babies entertained us They would shriek out and then dive under the water. We were also followed by seals who silently check us out and then would quietly submerge into the water.

There were also lots of eagles who were just waiting for the salmon to return to their spawning grounds.

As we rounded the point we saw artifacts from the logging days. It was difficult to imagine how logging was done on the steep slopes. It was also difficult to imagine the quality of the lumber. Some of the trees that had been around for awhile were not very large. There was another large bay to cross and we decided that we had done enough paddling today. We checked the weather again and it was calling for more of the same tomorrow. It would be nice to get to camp and set up for a leisurely afternoon. We had gotten up at 4. A steady but light wind began to blow. We put up the umbrellas and had a pleasant sail to camp.

Someday we may actually get a true sail for the kayaks but meanwhile umbrellas do work!

A long sandy beach came into view. It looked great!

It was a very long and shallow bay which made for a very long carry due to the tide level. The places to camp were very sandy and we quickly remembered why sand camping is not preferred. We only planned to spend one night here so we would make it work!

We weren’t the only ones here. We kept our bear sprays handy and were glad that we did not have to use them.

I spent the afternoon making bread which is always challenging in sand, but the results turned out well and it was a relaxful afternoon.

Miles paddled 32

The tide was higher in the morning, but we still had a carry to get to where we could load. As if on cue the weather forecast was another day of variable winds which means mostly calm. We crossed two rather large bays to get to our hopeful destination for the night. A couple of dall porpoises were fishing near our kayaks.

As we paddle near the mouth of the bays we realize that this trip would have been twice as long if we had to go to the foot of the bays. There is a lot of shoreline in this part of the sound. As we rounded the point past sheep bay we were hoping for a campsite, we were not disappointed. A beautiful spot that had plenty of gravel for our tent and kitchen. Life is good. It was a rather short day so we had plenty of the afternoon to read and explore.

It was a good beach for walking and watching the sea lions and seals swim by our camp.

Don even took some time to read up on sailing for a course we will doing this fall.

We also did some reading in a couple of guide books about the area that we were carrying. The bay that we crossed yesterday got rave reviews and told about a waterfall that shouldn’t be missed. We were ahead of schedule and thought that maybe a layover day to do some day exploring in unloaded kayaks would be fun.

Not a bad place to spend a couple of days

The fog that was across the way had lifted and we were given a good view of the other side

Looking forward to a day tomorrow that we won’t have to break camp.
Miles Paddled 18

The next morning when we looked out from the tent, Our view had completely changed.

It was a thick fog sort of day…perhaps we will be just hanging out in camp today.

Always fun to see how plants adapt to growing out of rock crevices.

It was easy to check out the different tide levels on this beach.

As the morning progressed the fog lifted and soon we were loading up our boats with just food and water to go exploring.

At the very back of the bay is a salmon stream. As we approached there was a brown bear feasting on fish. We watched from a distance and then paddled over to the waterfall.

The water fall was beautiful. With all the fresh water flowing into the sound there were quite the variety of jelly fish undulating with the movement of the tide. A musician would have had a great time putting the movement to music.
Miles paddled 20

It was past 9 by the time we arrived back to our campsite. Love these long days in Alaska. We were hot and a cool dip in the ocean was quite appropriate. Tomorrow we are going to cross over to Hawkins and circumnavigate it going counter clockwise. In the morning we loaded up and headed out. Today is Sunday and it seems like we have the whole sound to ourselves. It was a very easy crossing. Our friend Paul, who had paddled around the island told us that there was very little camping and gave us some advice where we might find some spots. The next day could be tricky as we will be dealing with tidal current. We are using a program called Navionics to help us determine how we will approach tomorrow.

Meanwhile we decided to check out Canoe passage. Before the 1964 earthquake one could take canoe passage along with some short portages on a route that would cut Hawkins island in half. By using canoe passage one could avoid some of the potentially hazardous water on the west side of the island. This area rose about 6 feet during the earthquake and the route is not longer used, The island is close to Cordova so in the canoe passage area there are a fair number of private houses. Looking for a camping site became challenging as most of the beaches were quite rocky. They would look okay from a distance but once we got closer it was a no go. We passed one that perhaps could be used but decided to go further, but then turned around and decided we could make this one work.

We did some platform building and the site was adequate for the tide level we would get today.. We took a long walk along the shore taking note of all the bear tracks. Definitely sleeping with the bear spray close by tonight.

One of our favorite shore birds is the Black Oyster Catcher. Quite a few of them shared the beach with us.

Miles paddled today 20

We think we have the timing right for the paddle tomorrow.. We checked the tide frequently today to see if we could figure out its pattern. The west end of Hawkins can have quite the current and if you have wind it could be challenging. We wanted to paddle around the west end of the island during a mostly high slack tide. Our other challenge would be that we need to get to our campsite before the tide ebbs. This next section we will be dealing with the sand flats. Parts of the channel go completely dry. We want to be at camp watching it not stuck on it.

We were up at 5 and on the water by 7. It is another day of calm conditions. This should help immensely with the paddle. We read about Rip Rock which we passed with no problems. Getting wind and the tide at the wrong time makes the rock quite problematic . We had a little wind and could easily see how the wind gets funneled thru the island here. There were several arches.

We were given the advice of camping where canoe passage comes out on the south side of the island. This was good data as we were able to find a suitable spot. As we approached the campsite the water was quickly receding and leaving a super sticky mud surface. We quickly pulled our boats up on the shore and began unloading.

This was our view after about 30 minutes

about an hour later we would have been sitting out in the flats waiting for the tide to come in.

A couple of river otters climbed out on the sand. They took one look at us and off they went.

Several deer checked out the sand bar looking for food.

Then the tide started coming in and the landscape completely changed

Tomorrow we are going to have to leave at high tide. Fortunately it is going to be in the morning.

A bonus at this camp was the ability to have cell service on my iPad. This was the first time we had it for awhile. We made the decision to try to take the ferry back to Valdez. We felt that we had great weather for paddling this route and most likely that would not be the case for next week. I checked the ferry schedule and there was a ferry leaving tomorrow. I was able to use Skype and called to see if I could make a reservation. No problem! I also did some research on where we might camp in Cordova, but came up empty handed. The only campsite that was listed on the town website was no longer in use. Our friend Mary has a son, Craig, who is a commercial fisherman and he was in Cordova getting ready to leave in a day.. She gave us his number and we were able to make contact with him. He told us where the take out for us would be. He also had a truck and would try to help us move gear. We didn’t realize how helpful that was until we arrived in Cordova.

Miles paddled 18

The high tide was great for loading and we did quick work of getting out. a nice paddle with some waterfalls made the morning paddle enjoyable.

We could see the town on the other side of the channel and started heading across. There were a lot of otters just hanging out and checking us out. They were so unafraid of us making us think that they are quite accustomed to people.

We found the dock, unloaded and Don went to check out the location of the ferry. Yikes it was about a mile away. Kayaks are not that easy to portage and having all gear would make for a very long and tiring effort. We gave Craig a call and he was quite close. He told us he would see us shortly! He figured that he could take us and our gear in a couple of trips to the ferry. Thanks Thanks and thanks again,

At the ferry terminal we found a tiny piece of grass that we could put up the tent and got a take out meal with Craig. He told us a lot of interesting stories about the life of a commercial fisherman.

Miles paddled 11

Next morning weather was coming in and rain and wind was in the forecast. This sure was a change in the weather that we had experienced. We carried over our boats to the ferry and soon were sitting inside watching the rain come down.

The ferry went to Whittier and then to Valdez. We even took advantage of the shower. The rain stayed with us most of the day. We just sat back and enjoyed the ride arriving Valdez in the evening. Ben met us with our car and we headed out to a very peaceful campground near Valdez Glacier. This part of our trip has come to an end.

Part Two Columbia Glacier

We spent the first day back in Valdez, doing laundry and visiting the fish hatchery with Lian. The fish were coming in and the well fed sea lions were taking part of the easy pickings. It was easy to see how they could become so large. There were salmon being eaten constantly.

Later in the summer, the bears also take advantage of the fish hatchery. We were too early to see them, but the sea lions were quite entertaining.

It was back to the campground for another peaceful night of sleep. The rain began to fall and we were glad to be sleeping in the car. Next morning we were up at 5 and heading to Safeway where we purchased some food to supplement our rations. A covered pavilion in a park became our staging area. Our friend Ben came to say Hi and see how things were going.

We made lunch repacked our bags and headed back to the launch site. The tide was flooding so we didn’t have far to carry our gear. Last time we headed out of Valdez we had paddled against a strong headwind with clear blue skies. Today was the opposite. We had overcast skies and no wind. There was also low visibility. We had the radios on and stayed quite close to the shore. The fog finally lifted by the time we rounded the point and headed into Shoup Bay.

The tide was flooding into the bay so we decided to check it out. There were several forest service cabins here and also several kayaking groups. It is pretty close to Valdez so it is a popular trip from there.

We didn’t paddle to the toe of the glacier as there is a narrow channel which has a flow depending on the tide. The tide had a little time before it changed and we didn’t want to get stuck.

There are so many water falls on this stretch, sending cascades of water to the ocean.

We were again reminded that Valdez is an oil community as several large tankers make their way in and out of the terminal.

Since the oil spill they are a lot more cautious. Hopefully there will never be another wreck like the Exon Valdez.

Our destination for the day is Potato Point. We pass thru the narrows where we are entertained by sea lions and a whale. When the sea lions surface near your boat, there is always an adrenaline rush. They come up for air and let our a huge breath. Somewhat curious and somewhat territorial I always like to stay out of their way.

Potato Point has a great beach for camping. Our tides are 14 feet tonight so we need to have a high camp tonight.

There were a couple of fun birds that shared our site today.

We took a walk today and found some salmon berries, we hope that that is a sign we will be finding more.

It was a pretty quiet night and even thought the tide came up 14 feet, we had no need to check to make sure we were not going to get wet. There were boats moving out of the narrows so we figured that there must be an opener tomorrow.

It was nothing like the number of boats that were fishing last time we came thru.

There definitely wasn’t the rush of getting nets in and out of the water. like the opener the first day. We were easily able to paddle along the shore with out interfering with the nets.

Out destination today is the mouth of Columbia Bay. Our goal for this trip is to check out the receding Columbia Glacier. We camp tonight at a well used campsite. Glad that no one was here when we arrived. We really haven’t seen any kayakers except for the first day.

Our camp tonight is tucked into the trees. It is another high tide so we secure our boats well.

We had arrived close to high tide and are leaving closer to low tide. Packing and carrying gear has not made this a fun morning. Today we should be paddling with the ice bergs. It is always fun to see what shapes are created by the melting ice.

We headed toward Heather Island. It wasn’t long ago that the Columbia reached all the way to the mouth of the Bay. In fact the ferry could see it from their passage to Whittier, not any more!

It didn’t take us long to catch sight of the bergs.

Gotta remember that we are only seeing about one third of the ice berg two thirds are below the water. We keep our distance. Some of the bergs have sea otters and seals on them. This is quite the beautiful day of paddling.

We found the most scenic camp of the trip tonight. I wouldn’t be surprised if we were the first to camp here.

Since pictures are worth a lot of words the next set of photos is from our camp site!

This was a five star site! Tomorrow we head toward the glacier!

The morning was overcast when we first woke up. We knew that the Columbia can create its own weather and it is often cloudy. We decided to have a leisurely morning and pack up our boats. As the morning progressed the clouds lifted. We are in for a gorgeous day! Once again the photos say it all.

It was noticeable colder by the glacier. we paddled around by the ice and then headed out toward the mouth of the bay. The wind coming off of the glacier even gave us an opportunity to umbrella sail. We had dressed for cold weather today, it was great for being near the glacier, but by the time we got away from it we became so hot!

We stopped at a site to camp. before overheating.

Tomorrow we plan to paddle around glacier island and then turn our boats back toward Valdez. The camp site which we had chosen had so many snot(slippery rocks) that we decided to wait for awhile till the tide started coming in. We had a leisurely breakfast and even listened to a podcast before we cautiously started carrying our gear to the water. This was definitely the worst launching that we experienced on the trip.. Finally we loaded our kayaks and crossed over to Glacier island.

The north shore of glacier island provides good protection from the main part of the sound. We were going to circle the island so we would have quite a bit pf exposure on the south side. Don had done this paddle before and when the wind came up it was time to seek shelter. As we rounded the western side of the island we encountered many large male sea lions. They didn’t seem to be too happy that we were encroaching on their space. Don and I were not paddling real close together and when they started coming up between us we realized it was time to paddle closer. Several of the sea lions followed us for a ways. They seemed to be young very curious and quite a bit smaller females and younger males. We found a site in the back of the bay.

Nice hiking right behind our camp. We hadn’t done much walking so this was a nice change of pace.

We weren’t the only ones that were hanging out here, Most likely a black bear.

When we returned to camp a group of young sea lions were checking out our camp. I started doing some stretches and they became quite animated, swimming back and forth and stretching their necks out of the water as they checked me out.

Next morning we headed out and intentionally stayed quite close together. We passed several large rookeries with many sea lions. Most of the groups ignored us but the males let us know we weren’t welcome. The weather remained calm which allowed us to make good time around the island and away from the lions. I would have liked to take some photos but paddling seemed to be a better option. By the time we got to where we were going to cross from the island to the mainland the fog lowered and we couldn’t see where we needed to go. Out came the compass and a bearing was taken. By the time we were half way across it lifted and we were able to go the rest of the way aiming for a point. We camped by a beautiful water fall tonight and the beach made for good walking.

Not the greatest beach to load, but we made it work.

We will be going thru the Valdez narrows today. The wind generally picks up as it gets channeled here. The morning started out so calm that we just took in all the views.

We plan to paddle to a campsite relatively close to Valdez tonight.

True to form though as we entered the narrows the water went from flat calm to a 15 knot wind rather quickly. It was a tail wind which pushes you along but also causes a surfing condition. We paddled safety and cautiously until we approached the point going into Shoup Bay. Our thought was to take a break here and see if the wind would decrease in the late afternoon. We did some reading and a little exploring. Then just as we expected the wind died and the seas became a lot calmer. We headed to a beach that we had picked salmon berries on the way out. It was a berry pickers’s dream. We filled several containers and will have them on our cereal in the morning.

Morning arrives and we head back to Valdez. We arrive at the kayak launch spot and give Ben a call.