Pacific NW

Expeditions

The geese woke me up today. Their honking echoed off the mountains in the crisp, glassy-calm morning. I threw open the hatch and discovered Oliver Inlet for the first time in daylight. It is a hauntingly beautiful place, absolutely teeming with wildlife. Behind the inlet rises a spine of snow-clad pinnacles. Part of Admiralty Island, “Kootznoowoo”, fortress of the bears. I stood in the companionway in my long johns for awhile taking in the scenery and listening to the thousands of bird calls. Geese, ducks, herons, bald eagles, hawks, kingfishers, swans, and juncos were among the few that I could identify. There were so many more. There is endless opportunity to expand my appreciation for this vast wilderness in Alaska! Neptune and I rowed to shore to look for a tramway we’d heard about. We had received conflicting reports as to its existence and location. Upon reaching the beach we hauled “Modulus” up above the high-tide line and tied her to a tree. We struck off to the north and almost immediately found a huge old wooden shipwreck on the beach. The timbers of the hull were a foot thick! Soon after we rounded a bend a hiked up a streambed. The snow began to get very deep however and we had to abandon our search for the tram in that area. We found hundreds of wolf, deer, weasel and bear tracks in the snow! After a failed attempt at an overland expedition to find the tram we headed back to the beach and hiked south. Soon we came upon a set of rusty railroad tracks that led down into the saltwater where they disintegrated. The tram! We followed them up a rise and were met with a discovery way beyond our expectations. Two tram cars sat on the tracks, ready to go! The tracks were in good condition and led away into the woods. It was sort of like those carts that Indian Jones rode in through those tunnels. Without hesitation we leapt in and began riding the rails. One of the cars was fitted out with a hand brake, but mine was not. After a distance the rails led down a hill and around a bend and we couldn’t see very far ahead. My car picked up speed and raced toward the bend. Soon I could see that the tracks crossed a gulch on a small trestle and at the far side a steep snowbank crossed the tracks, cutting off my route! I prepared to leap from the runaway car, off the trestle and into the gully. In the end I decided it was safer to crash and derail with it into the snowbank. I held tight as the tram car plowed through the snow and came to a sudden halt in a spray of ice. Excellent! We walked the rails the rest of the way. They led through an expansive muskeg, over a few more ravines, and through a small wood where it eventually came out on Seymour Canal and the tracks once again plunged into saltwater. Seymour Canal has the highest known concentration of nesting bald eagles anywhere in the world! We found a cabin, complete with woodstove and bottle of gin on the counter. I read through the journal on the table. August 09, 2001: “Just shot a beer can off my brother’s head with my trusty 30-0-06. Ready for a bear” July 07, 2002: “Saw 10 grizzly bears from the cabin today, many humpback whales in Seymour Canal”. Back at the boat we fired up the woodstove and spent the remainder of the day reading, relaxing and snacking on fresh fruits and vegetables.