Northern Trails And Tales

This past Tuesday evening we boarded the Alaskan Marine Ferry “Tustemena” for  Kodiak Island off the southern coast of Alaska.  Kodiak: as in bears, the grizzlies (brown bears) that are reputed to be a third larger than those on the mainland!  But that’s getting ahead of the story…..Owing to security checks, and the fact that Dave was bringing his bike which had to be loaded in the hold with trucks, cars, trailers, and in this instance, a huge backhoe, we boarded the ship at 8:30 PM for a 10:30 PM departure.  Boarding with us was the whole men’s and women’s cross country team from Wasilla High School about thirty adolescents strong.  The important thing here is that there are only eight cabins on this tub.  That means the vast majority of the 240 people aboard have to sleep in chairs or lying on the deck in sleeping bags or on blankets, which is what we did— proximate to the Wasilla students.  Their behavior was impeccable!  Still, I honestly didn’t get much sleep and we didn’t reach Kodiak till 11:30 AM on Wednesday….At the ferry landing, we inquired about a taxi, but all were engaged by those disembarking quickly, which we couldn’t do as we had to wait to get Dave’s bike out of the hold.  But someone told us the Best Western, where we were staying was “less than a half mile.”  Despite the fact that I was carrying my duffle with clothes and books, a backpack with waders, boots and assorted fishing rods and gear, as well as my computer, we decided to walk/bike.  Dave went ahead and dropped off his stuff and came back to help me.  For the first time in my life, when someone said “it’s only a half mile,” he or she was correct.  But when we got to the Best Western they were laughing because they have a courtesy van and were waiting for us to call!  And so it goes.  We went to bed exhausted…..  Because we went to bed early, we missed the call from our guide for Thusday and the trip got messed up.  We finally made connections and changed the trip to Saturday as he fortunately had an opening.  We used Thusday and Friday to see Kodiak ”city” and Dave did some biking around the island….  It is a gorgeous place, just as “emerald” as advertised.  The whole island is clad in plush green grasses and real trees, as opposed to the stunted spruce to which we have becaome accustomed.  The Kodiak folks boast that it’s greener than Hawaii, and so it may be.   They do have are a couple neat museums that trace the history of the native population and the damage from a volcanic erution and the tidal wave of 1964.  Actually, quite impressive for a small town…..  But Kodiak is mainly two things:  It has the largest Coast Guard base in the good ole USofA at about 1,500 Guardsmen/women, and almost 4,000 counting dependents.  They constitute a big percentage of the island’s population.  Second, they are also commercial fishermen/women.  You just can’t comprehend the number of fishing boats coming and going on a 24 hour basis almost.  It’s the largest fishing fleet in the United States, also, but they no longer have the highest tonnage by landings as that honor has been lost to Unalaska over the past decade.  But there are seiners, draggers, set netters, pursers, crabbers, long-liners and who know what else. Literally hundreds and hundreds of boats.  A colorful crew, and a typical waterfront town.  Plenty of bars.  A couple canneries and packers.  Quite a place…..  On Saturday. we went on the postponed ATV/fishing trip.  Our guide, Mike O’Neal, spent 28 years in the Coast Guard, as many of those 28 years  as he could wrangle on Kodiak Island.  He’s a man in love with the place where he lives.  The Cof C couldn’t invent a bigger booster!  Anyway, he picked us up at the Best Western with trailer and ATV’s in tow.  We only got a few miles out of town when a deer darted right in front of the truck and we hit it.  Somehow, the deer managed to get back on it’s feet and into the grass and brush.  So we started a second time and proceeded about 15 or 20 miles before parking at a trail to Saltery Cove. Mike unloaded the ATV’s and gave us a quick rundown on their operation and we were off. We went sixteen miles  including along an old river bed, then up a mountain and down the other side to the Saltery River maybe a half mile above the cove.  We climbed obstacles you’d never believe, unless, of course, you’ve used one of these machines before— which I hadn’t.  The most amazing thing about the ATV’s is the suspension system.  You get a relatively smooth ride over the harshest washboard trail and even two foot depressions.  We were actaully driving along streambeds at times that were probably 18 inches deep, and maybe more like two feet in spots.  We shot up shale shelves that looked virtually perpendicular, though I’m sure they weren’t and plunged down muddy banks almost as steep.  But even on the smoothest trail sixteen miles is a long way, so we broke it up a bit looking for wildlife.  We saw cousins of the deer we’d hit earlier, fox, eagles, buffalo (more about which later) and wild horses grazing the grasslands where we fished.  We even saw fresh bear tracks, and they had to be really fresh as it was raining at this point, but no bears.  Thwarted again!  But the wild horses were certainly beautiful to watch.  Best of all, though,  were the buffalo.  A herd of a hundred to a hundred and fifty grazed placidly across the river keeping seemingly unconcerned as we fished.  But this “river” was only thirty feet wide and averaged less than two feet deep.  At times, the buffalo were scarcely a hundred feet from us.  The herd has thrived as it has no natural predators.  Even the famed Kodiak bears don’t seek them out as the buffalo circle the wagons in a protective fahion and face the grizzlies down.  It was just a thrilling experience!….  As far as the fishing was concerned, the river was paved with salmon.  Devoted blog readers know I’ve been less than happy having to “snag” salmon.  Well, most of the salmon here were pinks and they will actually take a fly.  However, there were so many of them that it was often impossible to retrieve the line without foul hooking one.  But I caught a few that whacked the fly and so was happy.  The pinks were mixed in with reds, and Mike amused himself by lining a couple to take home to smoke.  Again, I had a day where my arms were tired, or at least would have been had we not quit after a couple hours.  For the edification of those keeping score, the pinks, aka humpies (though these were so new to fresh water that the humps had not yet developed in most instances), averaged about five pounds, maybe six.  The reds that Mike caught I’d have estimated about seven to eight pounds….  On the way out, we stopped by a mountain lake where the salmon were spawing and then an old abandoned ranch up on the mountainside.  All in all a great day.  Mike is a real nice guy, the rain stopped and we enjoyed bright sun, and the ATV’s are just real fun…..  Saturday night we left Kodiak on theM/V Kennicott, a larger vessel than we had come over on and we were able to hire a cabin.  Its about 400 feet in length with an 85 foot beam.  With stabilizing fins, it provides a smooth sail, though the twin 6,500 HP engines did seem to vibrate the ship a bit.  Still, a pretty boat, fairly new having been launched in 1999, and meticulously maintained.  Yet, the turntable that assists in loading the cars/boats/trailers/bikes/backhoes/u-hauls and just about anything else you can imagine, busted while loading in Kodiak and caused our departure to be delayed about two hours.  We arrived in Homer at 9:30 AM Sunday, a bit late, but glad we had ventured a bit off the mainland…..  A recommended side trip for anyone traveling up here!