Paddling from Valdez to the Columbia Glacier - July 2010

July 1, 2010 - Jean and I made the 6 hour drive from Anchorage to Valdez over 300 miles of road. Valdez was cloudy and cool but dry. We stayed at the Bear Paw campground tenting area for $25.

July 2, 2010 - Got up early to launch at mid-tide from the beach at the Bear Paw campground. We paddled 4 hours to a single tent site across from Middle Rock on the west side of the Valdez Narrows. Saw a tanker pass through the Narrows that evening. A number of commercial seiners were out but they were not catching much. I caught a pink salmon from shore. Jean fried it up and it tasted great. We saw bald eagles, seals, sea otters, and sea lions. The day was cool and cloudy with a light breeze. There were lots of biting flies but the Bug Armor did a great job of protecting us. Drizzle started about bed time.

July 3, 2010 - The light drizzle lasted all night and into the morning. We went to Saw Mill Bay since we had never been there. We started in a light rain and headed south. We saw eagles sitting in trees in pairs, which was unusual. Usually they are alone. A sea lion came up behind us several times and snorted. We saw other sea lions too. There was a following tide, following sea, and following breeze so we really cruised along. We checked out the campsite at Potato Point and it is great. There is a nice beach at the west entrance to the Saw Mill Bay where 3 tent sites were scrapped out of the gravel. We paddled into the bay and found the Trails Illustrated campsite. It is impressive with a fire ring, bear box, tent platform, outhouse, and 2 ground tent sites. A hummingbird visited during the evening. A guided group came into the bay in the evening and camped west of us on a grassy peninsula between the mainland the the island. Saw a pacific loon in the bay during the evening.

July 4, 2010 - The night was dry and even saw patches of blue sky in the morning. We paddled to Columbia Bay with a light north wind that changed to south at noon. Most of the shore is cliffy but after 2 hours of paddling we came to the first beach that has great camping spots and a stream. The locals call this 17 mile beach. An hour later we passed another beach that is another good rest spot and it may work as a campsite. The rest of the way to Columbia bay is cliffy with a few rocky beaches that could be used in a emergency. The hole trip to Columbia was 8 paddle miles.

Numerous sea lions came up behind us and snorted repeatedly. We'd see them fishing then they'd come up behind us. Maybe they were escorting us out of their fishing areas. It was a great paddle around Point Freemantle. This point always makes me nervous because it can have swells, waves and currents from many directions at the same time. An armada of icebergs were flowing out of Columbia Bay. They were completely across the horizon.

Tonights campsite near Elf Point is great, back in the trees, well protected from a storm with views to the north or south. The best landing beach is on the north side. There are several camping sites on either side of the point. We saw a group of paddlers crossing from Columbia Bay to Glacier Island. A pair of oyster catchers are on the beach probably protecting a nest. We stayed away from that section of beach but the birds raised a racket when an eagle passed over. Drizzle began after supper but we were ready with tarps.

July 5, 2010 - Today was cool wet, breezy, and rainy. We stayed in camp because the north wind and rain made paddling unappealing. It rained steadily last night and the ground could not soak up the water as fast as it collected. We moved the tent to a slightly higher location to avoid the pooling water. A guided group camped at the sites on the north side last night.

July 6, 2010 - Today is a good day to get around Pt. Freemantle. It is still rainy, wet, and cold so we don't have much enthusiasm to paddle into the ice of Columbia Bay. The guided group said they couldn't get very far into the bay so we headed back toward Valdez. There were a lot of icebergs along the coast for the first few miles of the paddle. As we rounded Pt. Freemantle, we saw a fishing boat catch a halibut after a long fight. We wanted to camp at 17 mile beach but the guided group was unloading there so we moved on to Saw Mill Bay. We camped on the beach we saw on the paddle out that had three scooped out tent sites.

On the cliffs we saw guillemots, black and white sea birds with red legs, feeding their kids who were in the cracks of the cliffs. Pairs of eagles perched in the trees along mountain streams, maybe waiting for salmon. A land otter cruised along the shore. A sea otter floated offshore nursing a pup. One sea lion accompanied us for several miles. It was not like the previous lions who appeared to want us out of their territory. This one swam parallel to us, about 25 feet away. It would look at us then dive and a little while later it would come up besides us again. It did not make a sound. It was neat having the curious animal stay with us for so long. At our camp, a land otter swam along the shore and approached our beach. When it saw our gear it veered off and continued swimming around the point.

It was much warmer paddling away from Columbia Bay. We had a few showers with light winds and seas.

July 7, 2010 - Today was a rainy day. We thought of packing up and moving to Potato Point but the winds there were consistently 15 with gusts to 20. That would not have been fun spending the day in that. The rain stopped about 4 p.m. and it was pleasant all evening. We saw the land otter again. It wanted to come on this beach but it moved on like last night. We saw two small groups of kayakers today.

July 8, 2010 - There was light rain last night. We paddled back to Valdez in 6 hours counting breaks. There are lots of fishing boats about but they are waiting for a fishing opener and are not fishing. We had tidal currents, sea, and wind in our favor in the morning. The seas were 2' following or rear quartering and it was quite tiring concentrating for so many hours in those conditions. It was not hard work but we were constantly balancing with the different following waves and boat wakes. By afternoon the tide had changed direction so the seas had a shorter period and more peaked. We were glad to get to shore and get out of that. The day started sunny and became partly cloudy with 10 knot winds. We saw a big group of kayakers this morning. We stayed at the Bear Paw again, got cleaned up, and had a meal in town.