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!