There were sea otters this morning. They are playful creatures, flipping and flopping from side to side and laying on their backs in the water. They’re adorable, and I admit I spent way too much time watching them when I should have been eating breakfast. We also saw some whales, and at first it looked like they were bubble net feeding, but they weren’t…
After breakfast, we prepped to go onshore. I opted for the long, all morning hike with Pete. There were about 10 of us, and Pete led us through the lush coastal rainforest, up a fairly steep cliffside (read: muddy), and into a muskeg – a marshy meadow with ponds and a plethora of plants. We hiked through the muskeg for awhile, stopping from time to time to look at plants, or to simply admire the view. The mountains rose up in front of us, and although it was cloudy, we could see the peaks as the clouds shifted and the sun came out (occasionally…). We saw devils club, a prickly plant with huge leaves, frog’s umbrella, a little white flower with upside down petals, butterwort, and chocolate lillies (and I know I’m spelling these wrong…).
We also saw some perennial bear trails. Pete explained that a bear will start a trail, and will teach it’s kids to walk that same trail – in it’s footsteps – but also that other bears that walk that trail will use the same footprints as the first bear. They looked like deep holes in the moss. We also saw some more recent tracks, as well as plenty of bear scat. Fresh, wet poop.
From the muskeg, we headed downhill, sloping and picking our way around the many ponds, into the rushing stream. Pete stepped to the middle, had Henry cross to a far rock, and the two of them helped us all across. Our path then wound through more muskeg and more forest, coming out at another strong stream crossing at the base of a waterfall. The falls wasn’t excessively high, but it was strong and it rushed into a shallow pool before streaming onward. It was very pretty.
Lastly, Pete walked us to the delta of the river because he said there was a chance we could see some spawning salmon. We didn’t, but we had a nice view of the sea and of the mouth of the stream. The whole hike took about 3 hours, and we concluded by walking leisurely up the beach to the zodiacs. Have I mentioned how cool the zodiacs are? They are inflatable boats that seat 10 people along the sides and are powered by a boat motor. They can go pretty fast, and they skim over the waves like a speedboat. You get the wind in your hair, eyes and it can get cold during the trips.
After lunch, we took a zodiac cruise through the Inian Islands, just north of Chichagof Island. I was on a boat with half of my family and Larry and Judy Sall. Pete was our naturalist, and he was so knowledgeable about the animals that we saw and the landscape. He has an interest in geology, so it was interesting to hear his thoughts on the rocks around us. We boated close to sea lions, some lounging on the rocks, but a lot swimming around us, and they came close to the boats too. We didn’t want to get too close to them, but sometimes you just couldn’t help it. They look like dogs – they are kind of cute things, and have these massive whiskers. The weather was intense [post trip note: this was our second rainy day of the trip]… spray all up in our faces, rain all around… thankfully I brought my sunglasses to help keep the spray out of my eyes, but I don’t think it helped that much. It was also freezing out there. I had on jeans under my rainpants, a teeshirt, a long-sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt and a parka… and I was still cold. The wind really whipped up around us and the current was at times strong. The waves crashed around too — thank you Pete for having the sense to not talk us clockwise around the island…. 🙂
Everyone has said that the zodiac cruise was their favourite part so far.