Wilderness Adventure

We hung out around town this morning. As we drove through town we noticed a beautiful old church sitting up on a hill. St Rose of Lima Catholic Church was established in 1879 and was the "First Catholic Church in Alaska." The church had stonework stairs and pretty rose stained glass windows over the doorway. We continue on and parked on the town landing to watch boats go in and out of the harbor. After a while we staked out a bench along the coast next to the visitor center. It’s a beautiful day and warm. We have been around town so much people are starting to wave to us and recognize the jeep. We really like it here.

About lunch time we meandered over to the Stikine Inn for some chowder and I ordered a Sourdough Roll. Well when it came it was a loaf! - but it was good. After lunch it was time for our tour. We’ve been waiting for this trip since December when we booked it.

The tour is through Alaskan Waters and will take us up the Stikine River Delta. Cap’tn Jim met us at the Reliance dock and introduced us to the rest of our tour-mates. Phil was a corporate pilot from St. Louis who flew his boss up to Wrangell to fish, Darryl was with the Coast Guard and was here to do a river inspection, and the last was the owner of the Stikine Inn. It was a fun group. We left the harbor and headed for the mouth of the Stikine (meaning "great river"). On the way we stopped to check out Segrif Island which is a favorite place for Sea Lions - no one was home. However, on the way out of the harbor we saw some hanging out on the buoys.

The river is very tricky to navigate as it’s the fastest flowing navigable river in North America and one of the few remaining free-flowing rivers. Due to it's current the channels change constantly and it is laced with sand bars. I watched the level of the water go from 20 feet to 2 feet in minutes, but no worry Capt'n Jim knew the river like the back of his hand! We could tell he loves the river. Going through the channel there were huge sand bars loaded with dead trees that had floated down river during the flood season. It was strange looking at sand like desert with dead trees and gorgeous snow covered mountains behind them. Soon on our left was a cabin which was originally homesteaded in the 1800’s by the Nors family. The family occupied this for years first as a dairy farm grazing the cows on the grassy flats and later as a Truck Farm. People would come out from Wrangell by boat to visit and purchase goods. Today it’s still used and keeps its wilderness feel with no electricity or running water.

Soon we pulled up to our first stop along a sand bar where a group of Bald Eagles had gathered. One was doing a mating dance fluffing his feathers . It was great to see. Another eagle kept flying towards the “fluffer” to say stop! There was a young eagle also which was brown and hadn’t developed the famous white head yet! He was brown and white and much larger than the mature eagles. As we sat along the sand bar a group of Western Plovers flew past us. We have an Alaska Wildlife Checklist so we can check off the Plover. Once we get 25 or more animals on the list we can send for a certificate…

Back on the river the wind was whipping the sand into the air and we almost had a rainbow with the suns refection off the particles. When the Stikine floods it covers much of the land we are seeing today. The erosion of the river banks looks like someone took a knife and sliced it! We passed cabins built on wood rafts that will float in the river and are used for Moose hunting.

This past winter Wrangell had very little snow. Normally there could still be 10 ft of snow at this time and many of the tributaries are dry. We couldn’t go up to Shakes Glacier because there wasn’t enough water. Capt’n Jim said they needed atleast 8 more feet. Normally they have 20 - 40 feet of snow. A group of Mergansers were floating off to our left. Capt’n Jim told us the females do all the work nesting, birthing, etc. and the men just float around (having cigars & beer)…. Further down the river we saw several eagle nests in the cottonwood trees. The eagles come back each year and the nests can get extremely large. The mountains on the Stikine are round due to glaciation. We passed Castle Mountain which has jagged peaks because it’s 7500 feet and escaped the glacier.

Along the way there were small skiffs pulled up on shore. Capt’n Jim said the Canadian and U.S. governments are working together to test the fish in the Stikine to capture data on King Salmon. They want to document the DNA of the wild salmon. Seems as though some Atlantic Salmon have shown up here and they want to protect the wild salmon so the species isn’t compromised.

We are about 25 miles up river now. Our 2nd stop was a gravel bar with a grove of cottonwoods and wonderful vistas. It is amazing how fast the current is.

Finally we reach the British Columbia border and we can’t go any further up river. There is paperwork that needs to be done to enter Canada and of course everyone on board would need their passports. Capt’n Jim told us about a tour he does up to Telegraph Creek which is another 130 miles up river into the wilderness. We would love to do that if we come back to Alaska - who knows -

There were cabins on the U.S. and Canadian borders and yes there is customs control on the river. We floated here for a while standing on the back deck in the sun listening to the breeze. Suddenly there was a fog horn - ‘bear in the Canadian camp’. We were too far away to see anything.

The wind came up and we headed back to Wrangell. Down river we caught sight of a female and young moose swimming in the river and a group of Murrlets. Later we stopped at a beach to hunt for agates.

Capt’n Jim was a great tour guide and is very interesting. His wife is Tlinglit and is from a family where her mother (I think) married a Haida man. (The Tlinglit and Haida’s are like the Hatfields and McCoys) so you can imagine how that wedding went…. Jim came to Alaska to climb Mt McKinley and stayed. This seems to be the story of many people here.

Once back on shore we stopped for a beer at the Marine Bar and then went back to camp.

It was a great day! If you are in Wrangell do the tour with Capt’n Jim (Alaskan Waters), it was fantastic.

Pictures: (left to right) St Rose of Lima Church, Travel up the Stikine River, Noris Camp, Tour boat on gravel bar, View from gravel bar (2), Waterfall on Stikine, View on Stikine River (2), Stop to agate hut