Reflections of My Travel

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We woke up this morning and packed the car back up and prepared to go sea kayaking. We got to the shop and our found out that it was just going to be us and a guide, a nice personalized tour. Our guide, Jared, supplied us with some wet bags for our cameras and lunch and such. As we were changing into our boots and splash-skirts, a car pulled up and out popped our stalkers. They were going on a different kayak trip but we laughed and talked a bit and agreed that we might as well have dinner together. We made plans to meet at Mike’s Palace at 19:00 and then went on about our sea kayaking way. It was beautiful out there, but it turns out kayaking is hard work. I was very glad that we were in a two-seater. Not that I just didn’t try, I paddled as much as I possibly could, perhaps 85-90%. It was hard work. And it was a five-mile paddle one way. On the way out to Gold Creek, we paddled by several harbor seals, sea otters, and a very large stellar sea lion as well as several bald eagles. It was very neat. When we paddled to our take-out place, we got out and pulled the kayaks all the way up onto the beach and hiked through some very high vegetation to get to Gold Creek. We then crossed a footbridge and started a vertical (and I do mean vertical) hike up to the waterfall that feeds Gold Creek. We stopped at a semi-mosquito-less area and sat down to eat some lunch. Jarrod even had some hot cocoa for us, which I thought was very nice. I, of course, took no more than a sip before promptly dropping my whole cup down the cliff. I have a special talent for stuff like that. Randal and Jarrod had to do some pseudo-rappelling in order to retrieve it. Unfortunately, the bears got to enjoy that cocoa more than I did. After our mini picnic, we continued our uphill trek. It got steeper and steeper as we went along, which my oversized rubber boots did not seem to think was their appropriate use. I felt bad because I slowed the guys down a lot, but I was proud to have made it to the top. And it really was a very difficult hike. It was beautiful though. And if you moved just fast enough, the mosquitoes barely bothered you. It was a very sizeable waterfall. Going down was slower than going up. I’m much better at upward hiking than I am at downward hiking. When we got back down to the bottom and crossed the bridge again, we went down the creek and observed some of the old, abandoned gold mining equipment. We waded through the cold creek a bit (now there’s a good use for those rubber boots) and looked for some gold-inhabited quartz. We didn’t find any but it was a nice cool down between hiking and paddling. We soon made our way back to where we had pulled our kayaks ashore and launched them to head back. Not long after we got started paddling again, I got up the nerve to bust out the cameras for a little bit of mid-water kayaking photography. Jarrod was kind enough to take the camera, paddle away a little, and take a couple of pictures of Randal and I in our kayak. On the way back, we were followed for quite some time by a curious harbor seal. He never got closer than about 30 feet but it was fun to watch him watching us. All in all it was a great experience, even if a little tiring. When we got back to town, we passed a bit of time exploring the old Valdez town site and such and then headed to Mike’s Palace to meet Ken and Alice for dinner. It was a very nice dinner with pleasant conversation. In all of our travels, we’ve never actually met up with people we’ve spoken with for the purpose of joining in a social activity of some sort, but this was a really enjoyable experience. At the end of the evening, we parted ways and Randal and I headed north. We camped out in Glennallen.