Please BEAR with me, 2024 is going to be full of unBEARable surprises!!!

[seeth07]

Has anyone traveled with Alaska airlines with the fishing rods as just your "personal item". I'm reading this can be done. I have seen people walking around with fishing rods in their hands on prior trips and it didn't dawn on me until this morning to look into that.

 

[Akcabin]

I have seen many different folks with fishing poles as carry ons. But I would call them n ask. Always changing

 

[seeth07]

"Honey, we packed the rain gear right?"

 

[seeth07]

Ok wtf, just sat down in SEA TAC and this guy walks up and sits down.

What kind of sign is this?

 

[npaden]

Good luck and have fun!

 

[popeyoung12]

Blackberry are from the pig species. Greasy, grease, dark meat. No thx.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Blackberry are from the pig species. Greasy, grease, dark meat. No thx.

 

[popeyoung12]

Blackbear. Sorry.

 

[Dave N]

Ok wtf, just sat down in SEA TAC and this guy walks up and sits down.

What kind of sign is this?

View attachment 327428

It's a sign you have a new friend for the next flight.

 

[seeth07]

About to get onto the float plane and the real adventure begins!

See yall in a week where hopefully I'll have a lot of story to tell!

 

[Sytes]

Find a big'un! Good stuff Seeth!

 

[seeth07]

It was Monday evening and after eating supper and doing a water run up into the river above the high tide flow, I had to convince my wife we should head out for the last hour or so of light and look around with the tide being low. Wind was whipping pretty good and it still hadn't stopped raining since arriving on Saturday.

As we left the comfort of our bay and around the point we were greated with some nasty 3 to 5 foot rollers. Bow in and forward we slowly went to get around the corner to look back into the next small bay.

"This is stupid, we aren't going to be able to even see or go after a bear with these waves" I recall my wife saying.

No more than a few minutes later I see a black blob on a green grass area of the beach for a second way back in that small bay. He vanishes. With no way to look through the binoculars to find him again or look him over in this rough sea, I just make a plan to head the boat past the bay and onto the far shore.

My wife gets the gun ready and her pack out. She gets up to the bow as we get close and a good wave hits us and water comes crashing into her. A soft word of displeasure but she is determined. Over 2 days already of getting soaked and a little more water isn't going to stop her. She jumps out into the surf rolling up on the gravel and pushes me away. I watch her run with pack and gun ready up the beach to get to where she can sneak through the point and see back into the bay to try and relocate him.

I've thought this numerous times before but there has never been a moment in our time together that this has been more true - my wife is one badass woman!!!

 

[seeth07]

Back to post 50, on Saturday May 25th flying out via float plane from Ketchikan.

We meet our pilot at the float dock and since we setup to fly in a Beaver, he was very confused by the amount of gear we had. 2 people, 3 hard coolers, a soft cooler, a hunting pack and a gun case. In total, it's about only 230# of gear plus us. Don't worry I told him, the return flight hopefully we are loading this Beaver up full.

We take the short flight over to POW Island where we land and taxi to a dock where the guy who is renting us our boat is waiting. He had decided due to weather and the current tide to put in a bit down the road so we take a short ride over to the boat. He gives us a very detailed account of the boat, things that could go wrong and things to consider for troubleshooting problems. I'll admit that going with this guy had me a bit nervous due to his communication (or lack there of) and reluctance to rent me this particular boat for a whole week being a new customer and not a referral or returning renter. All nerves were gone once we left the dock with a heavy sea worthy vessel that is very well maintained and his effort to prepare us before departing was well appreciated.

 

[seeth07]

Outbound we go. Nervous and excited at the same time.



We don't even get out into the main arm (body of water) and holy crap, there is a bear on the shore. A little guy but it's a bear and we haven't even got the fully loaded down boat going full throttle yet.



We cruise up the arm about 8 miles and spot another bear along the shore on our right back into a bay. At this time, we are out of the arm and have entered the main bay which is about 3 miles across - so a pretty big body of water. It's uncomfortable going full throttle so I lower it down and we have a chat about what to do.

Plan A was about a 30 mile ride further with a solid 10 miles exposed to the main strait. Plan B was about half that with 3 miles exposed to the main strait. Given the seas already in this bay, I knew it was only going to get worse. We could of handled it but having already seen 2 bears we both agreed that maybe plan C which was only a 2 mile ride to get out of the wind was the best choice for at least the first night.

We get around a big long point and now with the waves at the stern, it's smooth riding. We cruise along and I pull out my onX to get a good look around this more secluded but still rather large bay.

Let's call this body of water Big Bay from this point forward for the story. From this point on, this main body of water will be central to the story telling. It is roughly a 4 mile x 2 mile area of open water. The far west end is rugged and rocked and extends northward and into a long line of various islands that skirt the entire north end of the bay. Some at low tide don't have passage thru. The bay is open on the southeast corner to the main huge bay we came in on. It has a long south shore with some tiny bays and points and ends to the east at the big long point in which we came around to enter. At the west end of this south shore, a long point forms and there is a secluded bay in which on the southwest corner is a river inlet. I happened to notice a forest cabin symbol at this spot so we decided to head in there and check it out.

This photo is from on the way out but shows Big Bay. We were flying over the huge bay we were traveling in when seas started to get rough. It was calm on this day. You can see all the islands on the north end and the big point at the south shore on the left of the photo.

 

[mtmuley]

Outbound we go. Nervous and excited at the same time.

View attachment 328343

We don't even get out into the main arm (body of water) and holy crap, there is a bear on the shore. A little guy but it's a bear and we haven't even got the fully loaded down boat going full throttle yet.

View attachment 328345

We cruise up the arm about 8 miles and spot another bear along the shore on our right back into a bay. At this time, we are out of the arm and have entered the main bay which is about 3 miles across - so a pretty big body of water. It's uncomfortable going full throttle so I lower it down and we have a chat about what to do.

Plan A was about a 30 mile ride further with a solid 10 miles exposed to the main strait. Plan B was about half that with 3 miles exposed to the main strait. Given the seas already in this bay, I knew it was only going to get worse. We could of handled it but having already seen 2 bears we both agreed that maybe plan C which was only a 2 mile ride to get out of the wind was the best choice for at least the first night.

We get around a big long point and now with the waves at the stern, it's smooth riding. We cruise along and I pull out my onX to get a good look around this more secluded but still rather large bay.

Let's call this body of water Big Bay from this point forward for the story. From this point on, this main body of water will be central to the story telling. It is roughly a 4 mile x 2 mile area of open water. The far west end is rugged and rocked and extends northward and into a long line of various islands that skirt the entire north end of the bay. Some at low tide don't have passage thru. The bay is open on the southeast corner to the main huge bay we came in on. It has a long south shore with some tiny bays and points and ends to the east at the big long point in which we came around to enter. At the west end of this south shore, a long point forms and there is a secluded bay in which on the southwest corner is a river inlet. I happened to notice a forest cabin symbol at this spot so we decided to head in there and check it out.

This photo is from on the way out but shows Big Bay. We were flying over the huge bay we were traveling in when seas started to get rough. It was calm on this day. You can see all the islands on the north end and the big point at the south shore on the left of the photo.

View attachment 328342

Your take on some other issues I don't agree with. But, this is awesome. mtmuley

 

[seeth07]

We hit an anchoring bouy at the head of the river in about 50 fow and notice some strong currents but manageable at this tide level. It steps up quickly to 15 fow and we can see bottom and rocks. My wife heads to the bow and we carefully cruise in on a straight line. Due to a near high tide, this proves to be very safe and there was no need to be cautious as we reach where the river actually roughly starts and right there on the turn of the river is a small forest service cabin. We beach the boat, toss an anchor to secure the boat and take a look around.

The cabin is unoccupied and looks cozy. A wood stove, some shelves, a table and bunks to sleep 5. It has a big front porch and a great view of the river although at high tide it really is more just part of the inlet than a river. We decide this will do for the night and unload the boat.





We get settled in and eat something followed by properly securing the boat. We push it off shore a bit, I toss an anchor and then use my little raft to pull myself back to shore along the rope we tied to a tree to also hold the boat. Note this this is the only time I used the raft. Not because it didn't work but simply because we found smarter ways to anchor and use the currents to help get our boat in safe water.



We decide to take a hike up the river to explore a bit. There is just something magical about walking through the Tongass Rain Forest. The large canopy from the massive old trees covered in long strands of moss seem to provide some relief from the pouring rain. It is load with song birds and hummingbirds buzzing around all the bushes with wide open pink flowers. All the while with the calming background music of running water rushing to the ocean through rapids and small falls. Even the devils club looks pretty this time of year and growing on flat ground. Flashbacks to hell on Kodiak Island where this stuff was no fun on steep slopes ran through both of our minds. Salamanders are slowly crawling around and you need to be careful not to step on them. Those and the slugs. Massive huge 8 inch long slugs! We get to a bend in the river and see a blacktail deer getting a drink of water in the river. The amount of life that exists in this ecosystem is astonishing and I'll continue to be amazed every time I come to visit.

 

[Sytes]

Very cool! Keep it rolling!

 

[seeth07]

Probably it for today. We are headed out for drinks soon and a nice dinner to treat ourselves. Lots of time in the airport/on plane tomorrow to really get into it.

 

[Dave N]

I could have stayed at the cabin for a long, long time! Beautiful place.

 

[Valley1320]

Great story so far!