We made it!! Juneau to Skagway

Well, we made it. We haven’t really come to grips with the scope of our whole trip. It’s been so fun, beautiful, hard, challenging, and unforgettable. But we’re still letting it all sink in. So for now, we are writing this post on the last leg, the same as the others. 

In Juneau, we were able to get some advice regarding the next leg of our trip: Lynn Canal. Our guide book doesn't describe it (it goes to Glacier Bay instead) and boaters in the area never hesitated to remind us that, "it's a wind funnel and it's always nasty in there, also the walls are steep and you can't land anywhere." Thanks. The first piece advice from local paddlers was to cross Lynn Canal and head up the western shore, which has many more beaches and camping opportunities. The other piece of advice was if our egos allowed for it (they did) we should just skip the Mendenhall Bar, an 8 mile stretch of water just north of Juneau that dries up at low tide.
Mendenhall Bar is a waterway that follows a road and is in mostly residential areas, and if you don't get it right you can be stuck there for hours waiting for the tide to come back up. The timing of high tide wasn't particularly ideal so we took our hosts up on their offer to load up our kayaks and launch from Lena Cove, past Mendenhall Bar.
Many people have said "you dont have to tell anyone that you're skipping some!". In reality, we are sharing our trip to show that however you do the trip, you do it! "Skipping" 8 miles is all part of the journey. We still made it to Skagway!!!!!

Day 1: The process of getting the boats to the launch site (and making a trip back into town when we realized we forgot something) made for a late start. Thankfully, it was made easy by Heather, Randy, and the family. We enjoyed our stay with them immensely. We didn't want to leave! Anyways, our goal for the day was only 8 miles away. We crossed Favorite Channel and reached Shelter Island, battling a head wind the whole way up. Upon reaching Halibut Cove, we noticed a state park public use cabin on the beach! We used the little shred of cell service available to look online to see if it was booked for the night: it was. Oh well, we camped on the other side of the beach. Eventually some adults and little kids showed up to enjoy a beautiful little adventure not too far from Juneau. That evening the wind died down and we sat, mesmerized by the view of glaciers and rocky peaks across the channel. A humpback momma with her calf passed by as well.



Day 2: Another day with beautiful weather. We continued to make our way over to the west side of Lynn Canal by island hopping. On Little island, we spotted (well, heard first) a bunch of sea lions. They were making a whole bunch of ruckus. The water was relitively flat and the current was in our favor. Our goal was to make it to a little beach just outside of Boat bay and were able to get there around 3pm. We hopped out after chatting with a guy on a Tender (a commercial boat who collects all the fish commercial fisherpeople catch and brings them to the cannery.) The heat was melting us, so we stripped down to our underwear and quickly went for a swim. We found a nice spot to camp but after our swim we decided that the black flies were just too bad to stay. Instead we kept paddling for another 7 miles where we found a campspot on a beach. There was a small creek next to us and some big bear tracks as well. Casey's friend Robin had sent us a package in Juneau with some Mountain house meals and we felt like tonight was the perfect time to eat them. For those of you who don't know, Mountain house makes freeze dried meals where you just add boiling water. This is beneficial in bear country because it keeps the smells to a minimum. We enjoyed our meals, bear-proofed our gear, and headed to bed.





Day 3: We awoke to a dazzling sky. There was a small amount of wildfire haze in the sky, and this morning there were shafts of light breaking through the clouds and sending shafts of sunlight down from the sky. We packed up and headed north. The weather was calm and hot all day, and the current seemed to help us the entire way. Today was the first day we both wore shorts and a tshirt! We chatted at times, paddled in silence other times, and watched eagles sit in trees or fly by. With the trip drawing to a close, maybe we were spending more time simply taking it all in and processing how far we'd come to get here.
Eventually we made it up to Anyaka Island where we found a beautiful pebble beach to pitch our tent and enjoy the views. It was early so we broke out the camp chairs and read in the shade.







Day 4: While packing up everything this morning, both Casey and I had moments where we just stopped and thought about how we are almost done. One day to Haines, one day to Skagway. We honestly could have just paddled to Skagway today! Instead we made some plans. Casey has a friend in Haines who offered us her built out short-bus for a few days. So, we paddled to Haines, excited to have a little "vacation". The paddle today was nice. We had a little bit of a tailwind and some haze which cooled us down. Once we made it to the mainland again, there were plenty of cute houses to catch our eyes. We often talk about building one for ourselves in the future. We got in to Haines around 1pm, found a spot for our kayaks to live for a few nights, and moved into the bus. I was pretty excited to drive a school bus around and made a little jingle that I'm sure Casey will remember forever. We took showers, grabbed a beer with Casey's friend, and then headed to Chilkat State park for the night. Haines is a town surrounded by some amazing peaks. They are featured in a lot of heliski films (as Casey has told me many times). It is still pretty touristy, but they chased out the massive cruise ships by remaining local and not offering anything and everything to the guests. We like the vibe.



Day 5: Didn't do much today. It was great. Wandered around town and checked out artist studios and a coffee shop. Drove up the Chilkoot Lake state park to camp in the bus. We played cards and drank some beers and made tacos for dinner.

Day 6: We were able to sleep until 8am this morning, which was surprising because it gets light out around 4am. We made a delicious hash brown breakfast and headed toward town. Our goal for today was to hike, get up high, and look at some mountains. This lead us to Mt. Riley, a 6 mile round trip hike which gets us above town. It was a reminder to our legs that we need them too. The wildfire haze reduced the views but it was still a great time.

Day 7: Today was the day. 15 miles separated us and Skagway, the end of this long journey. We pre-celebrated by treating ourselves to a burrito and coffee at a local cafe and then went down to the docks to pack our boats and go. 

The weather was perfect. There was hardly any wind, and when there was it was a tail wind. The current helped us out, and some clouds even kept the temps down to a perfect 70 degrees. What a day! 

Tour boats sped by us loaded with dozens of tourists from the cruise ships in Skagway. We stopped for a minute to oogle at a massive waterfall. It was just another day on the Inside Passage, but knowing it would be our last kept us in a state of reflection and gratitude. 

We paddled into Skagway amidst massive cruise ships sitting in the sun. The Alaska ferry docked right as we were paddling in, adding to the chaos of the crowded harbor. As our boats touched land we looked at each other, accutely aware that we were here, at the end of a trip we’ve been thinking about and planning for nearly a year. We smiled. Laughed. Screamed “WE MADE IT TO SKAGWAYYY!!!” 

We checked in to our hotel, the Morning Wood hotel, and as soon as they heard we had just finished our trip, they gave us some champagne! We enjoyed that and figured out the boats and gear. We are staying here in Skagway until the 8th, when we board the ferry and head back to Bellingham. Plus, my mom flew in and we are exploring! Yesterday was the forth of July and Skagway goes all out! We even participated in an egg toss. It’s been fun! 

And that’s it!! We have some more blog posts planned about food, gear, numbers about the trip, and all that jazz. Thanks everyone for following along and supporting us. You are all awesome. 

Humpbacks and icebergs: Petersburg to Juneau

We’ve made it to Juneau! We couldn’t be happier to be in Alaska’s capital. We also surpassed 1,000 miles on the trip a few days ago, woohoo! 

Petersburg to Juneau, 8 days, 145 miles. 

Day 1: A quick note: last night we got to hang out with our friend Hannah again! The one who we met in Aaltanhash Inlet way back in Canada. She and her group were staying in Petersburg so we got to have dinner on their boat (again) and catch up. What a treat! We’re definitely missing all our friends in Washington and on the Island so it’s nice to get a slice of that while we’re out here. 

Back to the trip. We couldn’t leave Petersburg until we visited the post office and grocery store, since it was a Monday and neither were open on Sunday. So we had a late start, paddling away around noon, in the rain. We fought some current while leaving the harbor but were surprised to see an iceberg float into the harbor from the Le Conte Glacier! 

Once we left the harbor and entered Fredrick Sound the going got much easier. We even got to paddle up close to a tiny ice berg (actually called a bergy bit) and touch it! 

The rest of the day was filled with rain. We made it into Thomas Bay and found a spot in the woods where we could set up our tent and rain tarp to cook under. 

Day 2: It rained all night. Hard. Later we would find out that Juneau set some sort of record for the most rain in a single night, 1.7 inches of rain! We can definitely attest that it was a lot.

 We packed up pretty slowly and we’re off by 8:45am. The current was pushing us every which way on our way over to point Vanaput. The point is a long sandy bar perfect for bear watching. And guess what, we saw an adolescent black bear! It was digging through the kelp and rockweed on shore. I (Brooke), hadn’t seen one for 30+ days, so it was a treat. We continued on the 16 miles to Read Island where we set up camp in the rain. We knew days 1-3 were going to be mostly rain, so we planned short days. It gets so cold on the water when it’s that rainy that we struggle keeping warm. We wear all of our layers and our dry suits but end up getting wet and cold anyways. We stopped at 2pm and found a pretty site in the woods. 

Day 3: The rain let up a bit to allow us to break down a mostly dry camp. As we paddled out today, the clouds began to break up and by 1 in the afternoon it was only partly cloudy with sunshine. 

Along the way we stopped at a small beach for a break. It was low tide so we started scanning the rocks for intertidal critters. To our surprise, we saw lots of beautiful chitons! Chitons are mollusks, related to clams and snails. They always have seven segments to their shell, and some species have beautifully intricate designs on the backs of their shells. We mostly saw Pacific Red Chitons and White Lined Chitons. They were all about the size of your fingernail. 

After geeking out over the little mollusks we headed on in the sun. We rounded Cape Fanshaw and were shocked to hear voices. A little farther around the point we saw kayakers! 4 kayaks were on the beach and the people were scoping out tent sites. We paddled up and decided we’d camp there too so we could all swap stories and enjoy some company. 

The four of them were from all over, but know each other through a paddling group. They had done many trips together. This time they are paddling from Skagway to Prince Rupert. We talked about routes and campsites and stuff that each group should know continuing on. 

This was another short day (15 miles) so we also got to spend some time reading and relaxing. (It wasn’t raining!) 

Day 4: The other group woke at 4am and were off by 6am. We had done many days with a 4 am wake up, but we felt like we were over them. We set our alarm for 5:30am and woke up as the other group was about to leave. 

We made breakfast, broke down camp, and set off. The campsite we were leaving had really cool shelves created by the tides and possibly had the most interesting rocks on the whole trip, so we kept a few as favorites. 

We paddled about 8 miles before stopping on a beautiful beach with the a pretty odd site: a sailboat that had beached itself on a rock on accident. A marine helper boat was on scene and the boat was tied down in hopes that it wouldn’t flip all the way off the rock. It seemed like it was a pretty crappy day for the owner of the boat. We snacked and marveled at the site and then got back into our kayaks to keep moving forward. About a minute after we pushed off the beach, we heard a helicopter coming our way and we watched as it landed right in the beach we had been sittting at! They were there to assist further. We hope the boat made it through the tide cycle and there wasn’t too much damage. 

The next step was a long uneventful crossing and more paddling up the coast. We ended the day in a cove near Sunset island knowing we had another big crossing in the morning. It was so hot out that we were tempted to jump in, but ended up not. 

Day 5: The good weather continued today. We left our little cove and headed up the coast enjoying amazing views and flat water in all directions. At one point a pod of about 8 dall’s Porpoise came barreling at us at breakneck speeds! It made us a little nervous to have the porpoises head towards us and then travel under our boats. So cool! 

After that we continued up the coast until we entered Holkham Bay, a place we had known about since before we left on the trip. Holkham Bay is the meeting place of two tidewater glaciers and sits below Sumdum Peak and Sumdum Glacier, truly beautiful. We decided to camp on Harbor Island because I, Casey, was feeling pretty tired and didn’t want to paddle deep into Holkham Bay- something we had discussed doing. 

The campsite we chose on Harbor Island was south facing and in the sun. We both went for a swim (just a quick dip) in the water, with ice bergs in the same bay. 

That night we were baking brownies in our FryBake and saw humpback whales splashing and tail slapping all around us. 

Day 6: We woke up to some heavy winds and rain. There had been some talk of having a rest day today, so it was easy to shut off the alarm and fall back asleep. When we woke an hour later, it was much calmer. We debated staying and going, but staying won. We read and rested all day, watching giant icebergs float by. We could have paddled, but enjoyed the rest day all the same. 

Day 7: Fog and rain was the scene this morning. We packed up and pushed off and ten minutes later paddled up to a giant blue iceberg. It was quite a scene! Since they float with 66% of their mass under water they can flip so it’s best to give them space. We got as close as we felt comfortable and then continued on. 

We didn’t make it far before we stopped to marvel at all of the humpback whales around us. They were traveling, feeding, and going on deep dives. 

After a while the fog broke and we got some sunshine with no wind. We stopped on a beach to filter water (there was none to be found on Harbor Island, during our rest day). The beach was pretty, the water was crystal clear, and we got to watch humpback whales lunge feeding! That’s where they launch their bodies at a school of fish, and their mouths explode from the water. We could see their open jaws breaking the surface and then snapping shut full of fish. 

Onward we went until we paddled into Taku Harbor, a state park. We were hoping for campsites here but there weren’t any, so we camped on the dock. While on the dock we met the other boaters (sail boats and power boats) who are traveling the inside passage. 

They were astounded to hear we kayaked from San Juan Island and immediately offered us drinks, canned chicken, broccoli, and one boat (from La Conner!) even gave us fresh baked brownies. They pulled up their crab pot to give us any crab they had but the pot was empty. Oh and a we got a couple glasses of wine. Waterway angels for sure.

Day 8: Another clear day today. We left our friends in Taku Harbor and headed towards Juneau. We passed lots of gillnet boats commercial fishing for sockeye salmon. Crossing Taku Inlet we got to look up into the mountains and see the Devil’s Paw, a large mountain, and the Taku Glacier. Entering the channel to reach Juneau the winds started to pick up. The remaining 8 miles into the town were long and slow, but it was so nice to finally reach the docks. We were lucky to connect with a local paddler, Karla, here in Juneau who found us a place to stay! We packed up our stuff and hoped in the car to meet our host family. Randy and Heather have welcomed us into their home and have offered so much. We will be forever thankful. They also have two boys, ages 6 and 8, so it has been fun learning some of the games they play, including “knee hockey”. Hoping to have a rematch tonight.

Currently hanging out in Juneau for two days before heading off to Skagway-the end of our trip! Our goal is to arrive on July 3rd, hopefully Lynn Canal is kind to us. Brooke’s mom will be there waiting for us and we will turn into tourists before the trip back to Bellingham! 

Rain and Glaciers. Ketchikan to Petersburg

Ketchikan to Petersburg. 8 days, 140 miles. 

This leg was wet. It rained a lot. After hearing how much it rained on us my brother sent me this poem he had seen in the North Cascades Nat’l Park Ranger Station. The poem is written about the Washington State Cascade mountains, but very much applies to us as well. 

It rained and rained and rained—

The average fall was well maintained,

And when the tracks were simply bogs,

It started raining cats and dogs.

After a drought of half an hour,

We had a most refreshing shower,

And then the most curious thing of all,

A gentle rain began to fall.

Next day was also fairly dry,

Save for a deluge from the sky,

Which wetted the party to the skin,

And after that — the rain set in. 

-Anonymous 

Day 1: We left Ketchikan in a light drizzle. Leaving the town we passed cruise ships, industrial docks, fishing boats, and sea planes. None of them seemed to care about two little kayakers. Needless to say it felt good once we were away from the hustle and bustle of the city. 

About 10 miles past Ketchikan, we crossed Behm Canal. We crossed Behm Canal right before Ketchikan, too, and now we are crossing it again, in a different spot. This crossing is about 7 miles and we think is the longest of the trip. Except for a few humpback whales in the distance, it was mostly uneventful as we just talked and played hangman through the rain. 

Once across, we were back on the mainland. We had heard there was a cabin tucked in the woods somewhere along this stretch of shore. We paddled slowly and kept our eyes peeled, checking every little cove. Eventually, we found a spot that looked promising. Paddling closer, we could see something darker in the trees, and sure enough, it was a cabin! 

Spirits were high as we got out of our boats to check it out - though not too high as we had found broken down, or locked, cabins before. 

We were in luck. The cabin was unlocked, clean, stocked with dry wood, a wood burning stove, a gas lamp, and two bunks. It was positively perfect in every way. 

We made a fire and enjoyed the warmth and being out of the rain. After dinner, I (Casey) was pretty toasty with a full belly and a warm fire so I went outside to cool down. Bear spray (essentially just pepper spray) in hand, I was walking on the beach when I heard a Snap! in the trees. I looked up only to make eye contact with a grizzly bear about 30 feet away. Holding the bear spray out I said “hey bear,” with whatever authority I could muster. The bear looked at me for a second or two and then turned and left. 

I ran back to the cabin to grab Brooke - this was the first grizzly of our trip. We walked around a bit to see if the bear was still nearby but it had left. The majority of bears don’t want anything to do with humans and will leave as soon as they know you’re around. 

Day 2: We woke to rain pummeling the tin roof of the cabin. We knew the forecast called for rains and strong winds, so when we looked out to see big crashing waves on our little beach it was an easy decision to stay inside our warm cabin and wait out the storm. 

We spent the day reading, napping, playing cards, looking out for bears, and chopping wood. 

Day 3: The waves and wind were much nicer this morning, so we packed up and said good bye to the magical cabin. Into the rain. Today’s paddle was mostly uneventful. We paddled north up the coast towards the tiny homesteader “town” of Meyers Chuck (pop. 35). 

During the paddle we had a 6 mile stretch that we think is the toughest water we’ve ever paddled in. Big waves were coming in from behind us and then bouncing off of the steep cliffs on the coast. This effect is called clapotis and makes the seas extremely confused and hard to predict. 

So it was with extreme relief when we rounded the corner and entered the protected harbor of Meyers Chuck. At the dock, a couple walked down to greet us. Our conversation when something like this:

“Where are ya coming from?”

“Washington State”

“Nice. Good job. Are you looking for a place to camp?”

“Yes, If that’s possible,”

“Great! We have a spot for ya.”

And so it was that we met Carol and Dan, the couple that lives in the old schoolhouse in Meyers Chuck. We camped on someone’s covered porch (they weren’t home) so we were out of the rain. Dan and Carol gave us a few fresh baked cookies and we were happy. A lady named Cassy bakes cinnamon rolls for the boaters here in Meyers Chuck, but has a minimum order and we didn’t think it was okay to carry 12 cinnamon rolls in our boats...

Day 4: We had a long day planned today. We set out early from Meyers Chuck and rounded the corner into the massive Ernest Sound. It was a long paddle up Ernest Sound with headwinds, tail winds, side winds, and no wind, but always rain. The rain never really stopped, just changed between downpour and light drizzle to something in between. We were very soggy. 

Eventually, after 32 miles, we found our destination: Found Island. We even found a little beach on Found Island and found a spot for a tent in the forest. Lots and lots of banana slugs had to be moved to make way for our tent.

Day 5: Rain pounded the tent most of the night and well into the morning. We made a quick breakfast and started paddling. Everything was wet in one way or another. This was our fifth straight day of rain with only minor breaks. (And Casey woke to a puddle in his dry pants!)

We paddled up through Zimovia Narrows and enjoyed a favorable current all day, as well as a tail wind. Our goal for the day was a campground 5 miles south of Wrangell, a fishing town on Wrangell Island. 

However, when we finally reached the campground location we found that it doesn’t exist anymore. There was a lumber yard and a few homes in the area. We got out of our boats and had enough service to look on our phones for lodging in Wrangell. Using your iPhone with wet hands in the rain isn’t very easy, as the touch screen gets very temperamental. 

During our research we found that the hostel in Wrangell doesn’t open until July 1st. So with camping and the hostel unavailable, we shelled out for a bed and breakfast. 

We paddled the 5 additional miles and got into Wrangell around 7pm. This made it another 32 mile day. The bed and breakfast owner was kind enough to pick us up. We changed and then went into town for dinner. Oh the joys of not cooking your own food in the rain! We had some delicious chicken curry. 

Day 6: We decided not to paddle today. After back to back 32 mile days and 5 days of rain a town day was great. The rain even stopped! It became dry enough and the sun poked out enough for us to set up our tent and tarp and dry everything out. 

We went on a walk up Mt Dewey, which is only about a mile from downtown and enjoyed views of Wrangell and the ocean. 

Day 7: We left Wrangell a few hours before high tide. Today was mostly cloudy with no chance of rain, woohoo!

 Our route today would pass through Dry Straight, an area that dries up at low tide. The mouth of the Stikine River dumps millions of cubic yards of sediment into the ocean here and it all builds up in Dry Strait. We need the tide to be high in order to paddle through. 

The water during this stretch was so murky with silt that we couldn’t see our paddle blades when dipped into the water, let alone the bottom! So we continued on hoping we wouldn’t be surprised by running aground unannounced. 

There was one moment when we touched bottom and had to paddle and push our boats out away from land in order to get to deeper water - pretty scary. But we made it without having to get out of our boats!

Once we made it out of Dry Strait we headed for a cove called Ideal Cove. We had heard of a nice cabin in there so we decided to search for it. Anchored in the cove was a crabbing boat. The captain talked to us and said the cabin was in rough shape and that there is a nice beach a mile farther on, out of the cove. 

He was right. The cabin was falling apart - though it was clearly very lovely a decade or so ago. 

A mile on we did indeed find a nice beach with a tent spot in the woods. The views from camp were beautiful, as the clouds slowly parted they revealed glaciers snowfields amidst rocky peaks high above the ocean. We could even see icebergs!! Floating out of Le Conte Bay from the Le Conte Glacier they lined he opposite side of the channel (5 miles away). Le Conte Glacier is North America’s southernmost tide water glacier. Icebergs were the last thing in Brooke’s “to-see” list, so we joked that we could go home now. We weren’t able to see them up close, so we decided to continue on (A joke of course).

Laying in bed at 8pm we started to hear a noise right next to our tent. Scared it was a bear scratching around we grabbed the bear spray and peered our for a look. No bear. The sound was coming from above us, in a tree. We looked up to see a porcupine! Brooke was ecstatic. We got up and walked around for a better look. It stopped moving and was clearly scared of us. 

Brooke was nervous it would fall as studied have shown that 90% of porcupines have a broken back due to being prone to falling out of the trees they live in. What a creature! 

Day 8: The porcupine saga continues. At 3am our bladders woke us up and we got out to pee. It was still very light out, as it never gets fully dark this time of year in Alaska. We looked into the tree and the porcupine was still there, same spot as before. It started to move so we went into the tent so it wouldn’t be hasty and make a mistake. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before we heard the scratching of its claws on the tree stop, followed quickly by a dull thud. It had fallen, probably about 12 feet to the ground. I got up to see if it was okay, and it seems it was because it was sauntering off on the beach like nothing happened. 

When we eventually woke up (slept in until 8am) we searched the ground for porcupine quills, and sure enough, there they were! We found a lot, and even a couple porcupine hairs. 

After a big breakfast we paddled off towards Petersburg, our resupply town. Today was opening day of Dungeness crab season up here which meant there were about 30 boats zipping around throwing numerous pots into the water all around us. It looked like organized chaos. 

We found a nice place here in Petersburg to stay and are enjoying our rest day. We even have a hot tub! It felt so nice on our muscles, which get less sore now, as long as we drink enough water. This morning we learned that our friend Hannah, who we stopped to see in Aaltanhash inlet is getting to Petersburg tonight! We get to have dinner together again! It is the happiest of news. 

Thanks for reading!! Our next leg takes us up through more wild Alaskan wilderness to Juneau! More icebergs await!