Glacier Bay Day 2

We launched our boats about 1.5 hours before low tide. The day started overcast and warmed and cleared up as it went along. We headed to the west of Eider Island and skirted west of the outer Beardslees. This brought us over deep water where I thought there might be potential of seeing a whale. It was pretty and relaxing but uneventful. We did see one tent but no other boats. We stopped on a rocky beach for lunch. I perused the horizon with binoculars for a whale but only saw seals and sea otters. After lunch we tucked between a couple of islands and continued our journey up the middle of the Beardslees into a stiffening breeze. Here it felt more protected and visually the islands all looked like interesting places to explore but the wildlife spotting was limited. We were in no rush so we rafted up frequently to trade stories and snacks and debate whether the map was indicating that we could pass between the last two islands or whether a portage would be required. We avoided making the wrong call by going around the islands instead.

We only had ten miles under our boats for the day but we were surprisingly tired. The wide boats loaded down were deceivingly slow. We were at the top of the Beardslees at the entrance to Beartrack Cove. A squall was looming ominously to our west. It was time to find a campsite. I jumped out and was pleased by the first spot I found. It was a small knoll surrounded by beach on the front and marsh around back. I returned to the boat and discussed it with Lisa but her feeling (from a distance) was it was too wet. The second spot I checked was loaded with bear scat. The third spot was ideal from a tent point of view but was fairly close to the second spot and looked too “bear-y” to me. Lisa and I returned to the first site and with the two of us looking the debate about wetness was dismissed as we found multiple piles of both bear and moose scat. We headed further back towards where we had come from and finally settled in on our fourth choice. We had passed it initially in favor of sites with deeper water access but otherwise it was a beautiful sight! A lightly treed point facing straight up the heart of Glacier Bay.

Our camp site quickly became magical as the wind died down and the squall passed us slowly in the distance playing hide and seek with the sun. The marine mammals started to play right in front of us. Throughout the evening Sea Otters, Seals, and Sea Lions passed just off shore. In the quiet air we could hear the otters cracking shells on their bellies. Lisa spotted a baby on top of mom. The Sea lions rolled over each other like unruly teenagers wrestling.

We set up our tents (a little further apart than the first night) and began to cook dinner well down on the shore. Just as we were getting started a double showed up on shore with two slightly freaked out young men we had seen back at the ranger station. They said that they had seen 6 bear and 2 moose as they paddled up through the Beardslees along the mainland. Everywhere they had stopped had too much bear sign. And in fact we had a bear walking along the shore right now only some 500 yards to our south. I ran up to alert E&H to make sure they had their food packed away properly and have them join us on the beach for safety in numbers. I wanted to go see the bear but didn’t want to abandon cooking duty so we continued to cook. Given that we had not found any favorable sites for at least another half mile we invited them to camp near us.

Just as we were finishing up dinner our neighbors stopped by and told us there was a big bull moose just behind out tents. The four of us went off to explore and saw the huge animal a few hundred yards away and slowly approaching. He disappeared from view too close and for too long so we all retreated back to the beach.

Lisa and I walked the shore and I could hear what sounded like an elephant in the distance. I asked Lisa what it was and she said it was a whale she had heard before (or a whale with a similar atypical breathing sound). We searched for it until Lisa finally spotted its tail. It was not just diving but flipping its tail repeatedly at the surface.

What had been up until now just a nice paddle in a beautiful place had turned nothing short of breathtaking as the sun set and the animals continued to frolic out in front of our tents.

Each day at 8:45am and 5:45pm the Ranger station reads the weather forecast for the bay. The forecast for our forth day of paddling was rain and winds 20 knots from the south. Hmmm… I needed to sleep on that. Sleep that is until I woke to the sound of wolves howling and barking in the distance.

Air temp Low 60s, Winds light-10 North, water 45, 10.2 miles