This picture is just before we pulled out of the gate. Not a lot of activity near by, but lots of planes were flying at that hour (7:30 am).
Our one and only stop was at Juneau, the capitol of Alaska. The flight from SeaTac to Juneau was 2 hours and 15 minutes. We got a couple sodas and some chips while in route (yea....reminder for return flight was to bring on goodies). Take a look at the picture and notice the huge glacier looming over the town. That is called the Mendenhall Glacier.
Here is another picture of the glacier just after we took off.
After leaving Juneau, it was just a hop over the mountains (45 minutes) and we were landing in Yakutat. "Yak" is located half way between Juneau and Cordova on a bay called (of course) Yakutat. Ken has been traveling to Yak every September since the late 1960s. I was finally "allowed" to go fishing there after I retired in 1999. The only way to get to Yakutat is either by air or boat. The whole time we were there, we had no cell phone or Internet service. There is Satellite TV in the lodge, but we are usually so tired after fishing, we don't go over there.
This is the Glacier Bear Lodge where we stay. The rooms are in the smaller building in back. On one side of the main lodge is a two story building with rooms, but we always stay in the "older" portion that is on one floor. We like not having anyone moving around over us...the walls are paper thin, so even on one floor, things can be noisy.
Yakutat's rainfall averages around 270 plus inches every year. This last winter, they had 12 feet of snow, which hasn't happened for several years. For the first four years I went fishing, I never saw the surrounding mountains because all it did was rain. However, the last five years, we have had many nice days, and the views are spectacular.
Mt. St. Elias (shown here) is the second tallest mountain in North America. It is very impressive when you can see it. The snow is so white, it almost looks like a painting.
This year, we had several cloudy days, but only one really nasty rainy day with high winds. When it isn't raining, the mosquitoes and other flying and biting critters are out. My "perfume" while in Alaska is called DEET. Deet, and Skin So Soft, are pretty effective in keeping the swarm of skeeters and "no see ums" from biting...but they still tend to hang around your face and just "bug" the heck out of you.
It is always hard to get in the swing of fishing because we have to get up before dawn, dress in layers; thermals, other wear, then waders (mine are neoprene...boy are they fun to put on) then rain gear or a jacket depending on what is happening at the moment. After putting on all those clothes, you feel like mr/mrs dough boy/woman (but they sure keep you nice and warm and above all dry). Yep, I have taken a tumble in the water and didn't even get wet!
We have a John Boat waiting for us on a tidal river called The Ankau (rent is $75 a day). The drive to the river is about 5 miles from the lodge, which takes all of 20 minutes over a gravel, pot holey road. We have seen bears along the road in the past.
Once to the river, we "pull" the boat to the river's edge, place motor on the boat, then motor about a mile up river to some narrow chutes that flow into and out of a beautiful upper lagoon. We like to fish the chutes and sometimes the lagoon. The chutes flow both ways depending on how high or low the tides are. The best fishing is on an incoming tide, but this year we caught the most fish on the outgoing tide (go figure).
This is the lagoon looking toward the chutes.
This picture is one of the chutes we like to fish. Normally the flow out is much rougher, but the tide is coming in, so the chute is starting to fill up and will soon flow into the lagoon.
While out fishing we see many Eagles, Sand Hill Cranes, Seals, and an occasional bear. There are many black bear in the area plus the brown bear (coastal grizzly). The local "Sitka Deer" are growing in population, and we saw a mama with two fawn our second day out. They are a small deer and not afraid of anyone. Last year, Ken had one walk right up behind him while he was fishing. Good thing it wasn't a bear because he didn't even hear it. Ken does carry a short barrel Smith & Wesson Model 500 (we ship it up) on his belt. That is one powerful gun and we feel very safe in bear country.
My first year in Yak, there was an orphaned female Moose hanging around the lodge. The guides named her Muffin and hand fed her until she was able to live on her own. Of course she was gone by the time we went up the following year.
We spent the next six days fishing and made our limit each day.
This is Ken with half of a day's catch. After six days of fishing, we had over 3 fish boxes full of Salmon filets and had to quit. We ended up with 180 lbs of Salmon filets, plus a large amount of Clams. We did de-shell them to keep the weight down.
This picture is just a few of what we gathered.
Since we didn't fish on the 7th day, we had time to get our gear dried out and Ken was able to go pick cranberries. This year they weren't very big or plentiful, but he still managed to get a good bag full. He has a yearly order to bring cranberries back for Thanksgiving because they are so much better than what you buy in the store.
On Sept. 19, we finished packing our bags and took the boat motor, a box of our gear, and a seabag full of dirty fishing clothes to the airport and shipped them back to Portland. We then took the rest of the morning, which was very rainy, to check out another place to hide a geocache. We already have a "cache" hidden in Yakutat, but thought the town needed another. We located a neat spot and will place it on line in a few days. Check out geocaching.com to see what it is all about. Our handles are "Snobird & Mountain Goat." Guess who the Mtn Goat is??
Later that afternoon, we gathered up our 4 fish boxes and headed for the airport.
Our plane arrived on time and we took off just before 7 pm. Look at that stormy, dark sky. At least it wasn't raining when we left, but it was raining in Juneau when we got there. The flight was uneventful, but we did have to wait in Juneau for some delayed passengers from another incoming flight. However, because of a strong tail wind out of Juneau, we landed in Seattle ahead of time (10:30 pm). We placed the fish boxes in a freezer at the airport and again spent the night at the EconoLodge.
Early the next morning, we loaded the fish boxes in our Jeep and headed for Salem. While on the way through Washington, we had a call telling us our 92 year old lady friend, who we take care of, was in the hospital with Congestive Heart Failure. When we got home, we loaded fish in the freezer and went to see how she was doing. We were told she was doing better and possibly could go home the next day (today). We picked her up this afternoon and took her home. She is doing better, but still very weak.
That is enough news for now, but I will post more pictures of Yakutat tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment