Glacier Bay Day 3

The first half of our trip was within the protection of the Beardslee Islands. The second half was to be up the east side of the bay along the Beartrack Mountains. This section was exposed to the most open section of the bay. It also was a section with limited shoreline camping because a significant portion was closed due to high bear activity. This gave us few fall back opportunities is something was to go wrong. Our plan on paper was to paddle about 10 miles to Sturgess Island on day 3 and then 6 more to Garforth Island on Day 4. But with a forecast was bad for day 4. I was wondering if the right thing to do was head back along a different route within the safety of the Beardslee Islands. Back home, on a day with 20 knot winds and rain predicted I’d tend to stay home. Here, in Glacier Bay, miles from help, in uncomfortable and fully loaded kayaks, why would it suddenly be a good idea? Lisa and I discussed it a bit in our tent and then opened it up to Eric and Heather. It was decided that we’d go for an epic day and try to go all the way to Garforth.

With full agreement we all suited up in our Drysuits for what would include two 5 mile open water crossings. While making the first crossing we were fighting a light headwind (the forecast was for a push). But a little liveliness in the water and sweeping views in every direction as we paddled in the open water was exhilarating. We stopped for a snack at Leland Island which looked to us as if we were in the middle of Glacier Bay. We had distant views of Mt Fairwether at over 15,000 feet. We were also in a zone where the glaciers were approximately 150 years earlier. Our next crossing brought us to Puffin Island which was where we would begin to paddle against the shore and search for a much needed re-supply of water.

Our long paddle didn’t allow us to explore this shoreline as much as we would have liked to. It was a shore with mile high peaks and in spots dropped from about 2000 feet of elevation to 500 feet of depth over less than a mile. Some of the streams would disappear into the coarse rubble within the last few hundred feet of the shore. I finally located a stream where I could just step out of my boat and fill the dromedary bags.

We were now in clear sight of our destination but it was still almost 4 miles away. We paddled on with the long twilight beginning to start. I was starving and tired so I quickly jumped out of the boat and began to search for a place to camp.
I was excited to find zero sign on bear but the first spot was not ideal. Lisa and Eric continued to search around the island for a good spot. There was a boat camping on the north end (this island is often used as a staging point for the guide boat drop off spot which was less a mile away). We settled on a beautiful spot on the west side of the island that had almost 360 degree views.

It was still clear and comfortably light outside when we retired to our tents at 12:30 (We never used a flashlight during the whole trip). We had completed our “epic day” and were prepared to hole up for a windy rainy fourth day.




Air Low 60s, clear, light North wind, 16.2 miles