Into Alaska! Prince Rupert to Ketchikan

Woooweeee!! We cannot believe we actually made it into Alaska. We always said our main goal was to make it to Alaska. Anything between Ketchikan and Skagway is just “bonus.” It looks like we’re going to get those bonus miles because we still have time (nearly a month) before our end date of July 4th. 

Leg 5 of our trip: Prince Rupert to Ketchikan. 110 miles, 5 days. We made good time on this leg and enjoyed a mix of tail winds (yes I said tailwind!!), rain, pacific swell, sun, and headwind. 

Day 1: Day one was a long one. A lot happened. We left Prince Rupert early in the morning. We were excited to leave the industrial cargo ships behind and enter Venn Passage. Venn gets really shallow at low tide, which is when we were paddling through. Our route in the inReach looked like we couldn’t paddle in a straight line. We landed on a beach for a break halfway through the passage and were shocked to see sea pens and nudibranchs in the sand! 

In the San Juan’s, sea pens are rare to see- especially in areas close to the surface. Sea pens live in the sand and are related to jellyfish and anemones. They look similar to a feather quill pen, hence the name.There were tons on this beach, and the nudibranchs all seemed to love the sand as well and had pretty stripes on their backs. Nudibranchs are basically sea slugs, but generally a lot prettier. The one we found is a striped nudibranch. Brooke thinks they are cute.. Here are pictures of them:

Once through Venn Passage we headed north up the mainland coast for a long time with a nice tailwind. We saw some whales in the distance, we think they were orcas, but they were too far to know for sure. We could see their blows and some dorsal fins but so far away. Brooke grabbed her monocular and still couldn’t tell. 

Once we reached our anticipated camp on Meskalyne Island, we had paddled 30 miles. It was only 4:30 and we felt good (shockingly) so we contemplated crossing Portland Canal to another campsite 6 miles away. We eventually decided to cross in the morning, and to look for a camp spot on Meskalyne. Our guide book said on the SE point of the Island that had an abandoned cabin. We were on the NW point so we paddled all the way around the island looking for a good beach, but it was all rocky. 

We passed one beach that seemed landable, but it wasn’t quite the SE point yet. Brooke went to check out that beach while I paddled on to the point. About 5 minutes later, when I got to the point, I found an okay beach. Above the beach, in the grass, was a small animal. It took me a minute to realize that I was watching a PORCUPINE. I radio’d to Brooke that the cove looked campable and there’s a porcupine and she paddled her tail off to get there, but the porcupine had already sauntered into the woods. It was my first porcupine sighting ever, and Brooke was bummed because she had never seen one. 

We explored the cove and found that the “abandoned cabin” our guide book mentioned was demolished. The beach wasn’t great, camping wasn’t great, and there was fresh bear scat in the one good camp spot (sorry Aunt alynn, we forgot to take a picture of it). So that settled it. We were going to cross Portland Canal tonight. By now it was 6pm, and we were getting tired. 

As we left Meskalyne island, we were surprised by a Humpback whale feeding right next to us. It was really cool to watch from so close. It’s hump and tail we’re a little different, so we wondered if it was a grey whale. To be honest, we still aren’t quite sure.. but we are going to go with humpback. 

Portland Canal was not calm. Waves and wind and rain pummeled us the entire crossing. It never felt dangerous and we always felt in control, but it wasn’t a smooth ride. The current was ebbing out of the canal and meeting the currents from around Meskalyne and creating a big rip. When we finally reached Boston Island, we found a white sandy beach to camp on. It was 8:15pm, absolutely POURING, and we were cold. While we were setting up the tent, a pole broke. Perfect. 

I was getting pretty frustrated due to the cold, the rain, and fatigue at this point. However, I looked up and was surprised to see Brooke laughing and smiling, saying “of course it breaks now, when we need it most.” She knew that we would fix it eventually and eat eventually and then sleep, and all would be fine. 

So we got the repair kit, and splinted the tent pole as best we could given the rainy conditions. 

We finally got the tent set up, made dinner, and slept like babies. All was fine and dandy.. (or sandy?) 

Day 2: We were in no rush this morning. The additional 6 miles yesterday evening put us only 13 miles away from Cape Fox, our planned camp for tonight. We slept in, waking up around 7am. We took our time this morning and ate a big breakfast and enjoyed the white sandy and shell beach we were on. We were on the water by 10am and paddled only a few miles before crossing the border and entering Alaska! 

We were ecstatic. It was raining, foggy, and cold but who cares because we made it to Alaska. 

The rest of the paddle went by smoothly, we saw some fishing boats. The rain came down but there was no wind and we watched eagles, loons, scoters, guillemonts, rhinoceros auklets, and other marine birds go about their lives. 

Once at Cape Fox we found another nice white sand beach. The rain had let up and we even had a few breaks of sunshine to dry out our gear.  

Tonight was new moon, meaning the tides were “spring” tides, meaning they go as high and as low as possible. Out here, spring tides reach about 20 feet. After dinner the tide was all the way out so we walked around and looked into all the tide pools, finding sea stars and anemones and other invertebrates. We saw our beach was disappearing and wondered if we were going to be stuck in the morning. 

Day 3: Today was the day we would tackle Dixon Entrance, our 6th and final crux of the trip (although all of Alaska and it’s crazy weather is probably our 7th crux...) We got an early start in the rain and rounded Cape Fox. Luckily for us the swell was minimal, and we were aided by a tail wind and a favorable current for a long time. We passed Tree Point Light, the first lighthouse for us to encounter in the US. We continued on all the way until Foggy Bay, 15 miles later, where we found a nice white sand beach on a small island for a break. The 15 miles took us just under 4 hours - we flew! Foggy bay also marks the end of Dixon Entrance and the exposed waters. The sun even came out and we had a crazy dichotomy of sun when we looked one direction and dark dark clouds the other direction. See here-

After our lunch break we paddled 7 more miles to Kah Shakes Point where we found yet another white sandy/shell beach for camp. Unknowingly at first, we pitched our tent under a bald eagles nest. So we watched the two eagles hunt, soar, and chirp at us all afternoon. 

On our beach we found close to 20 abalone shells. And we werent even trying to find them! We just picked them up when there was one in front of us. The inside of the shells are super pretty and the natives used them for buttons and decorative pieces. 

The skies were really pretty going from cloudy, to sunny, to rainy. 

Day 4: Today was forecast to be very calm, but that wasn’t exactly the case. The winds were coming from the northwest, against us. Oh well. To start this morning we had to carry our boats way down as it was low tide. When we arrived, yesterday, it was high tide and only a 20 foot walk from the water to our camp. Now it was close to 200 feet that we had to carry all our gear and heavy boats. Tides are crazy! 

Once on the water, We crossed Boca De Quadra Inlet, and when we were across we paddled close to shore and gawked at all the invertebrate life clinging to the rocks. We saw so many abalone! In one 30 foot stretch I counted 14, and that’s just the ones out of the water. It’s great to see these endangered species making a come back in some places. They’re so fascinating to watch, as they’re mollusks (related to clams and snails) but they move around very quick. 

After a while we crossed Behm Channel to Revillagegido Island (rev-ee-ya-hee-hay-doh.... or something like that haha). During the crossing of Behm we saw Dalls Porpoise and a humpback. 

 Soon after we ran into a kayaker! She was solo, paddling from Ketchikan all the way south to the mouth of the Columbia in Washington. This was day 3 for her out of 90. 

Eventually we made it to Cone Point, where there supposedly is a “well maintained kayaker campsite.” We never found it. It was also high tide and maybe the beach had disappeared. But we never found a good beach or anywhere that might hold a camp spot, despite looking for an hour and a half. At one point I was checking a small “cove” and looked into the trees (looking for a tent spot) only to see a black bear looking down at me. As soon as we made eye contact it bolted into the trees... I wonder how long it was watching us? 

We decided to leave Cone Point and cross Thorne Arm. It was bumpy and a little slow, but okay. Once across, we found a beach (not great, very rocky) that had a nice flat spot for our tent. It would do. 

Day 5: Ketchikan today! We were only 10 miles away so we took it easy in the morning. The sun was shining and we had a tail wind help us all the way into town. Along the way we saw some odd sites: 

-a procession of 14 small sport fishing boats all fishing for king salmon and all fishing in the exact same spot, moving back and forth in a conga line. 

-a bunch of things floating in the water... looked like birds with bright colors until we got closer and realized they were snorkelers in wet suits! The bright colors were the snorkels. No doubt guests on a cruise ship. 

-the cruise ships. 4 cruise ships arrive daily in Ketchikan bringing 10,000 people. Every. Day. Pulling into the docks we looked way way up and spoke to a couple on their deck, on the ship (the ship was docked). They had also come from Washington. 

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We met a nice lady named Ann at the yacht club while searching for a place to leave our boats. She started kayaking back in 1992 and dreamed of planning an inside passage trip. She had the time to do it, but it never worked out. Her shoulders, arms, and wrists gave up before she could make the trip happen. She was so excited to meet us and talk to us and even offered her boat to keep our kayaks. We ended up leaving them closer to the main office, but we are planning on spending some time with her today. She sold her house in Anacortes, WA a couple years back and bought a boat! It’s a perfect sized and beautiful boat. What a life! 

Our evening included beer from a local brewery, a burger at the famous Burger Queen, crab cream cheese rangoons, books, and Finding Nemo. Oh and a crazy sunset! Tomorrow will be relaxing and exploring Ketchikan and then starting the journey to Petersburg in Saturday!