ALASKA
           
 
In Glacier Bay, summer 1979
 
     
           
 
The Devil's Thumb at Sunrise from Petersburg, Alaska
   
               
                     
   

ALASKA 2004

For a month in May and June of 2004 I paddled a giant 42 ft canoe with ten companions through part of the Inside Passage of southeast Alaska. We set off in mid-May from Prince Rupert BC, arriving at Ketchikan a week later. Already behind schedule, we managed to get our fiberglass replica of a Montreal style voyageur canoe onto the Alaska ferry and get ourselves taken to Petersburg. From here we paddled all the way back to Prince Rupert BC. Highlights were the stunning scenery (including Le Conte Bay and the Stikine delta), the great weather (two weeks of unheard-of sunshine), the canoeing experience itself, and the heartwarming and very generous hospitality and helpfulness of everyone we met in Alaska and BC along our way. In particular, we were hosted by the First Nations communities of Lax KwAlaams (Port Simpson) and Metlakatla in BC and by the First Nations community in Wrangell Alaska. Their welcomes, feasts and celebrations were a unique and important experience for us all.

       
                     
   
With a group of youth paddlers from Lax KwAlaams we paddled from their village to Metlakatla near Prince Rupert. What a fun day we had, finishing in bigger water than expected!  
   
 
Rick C enjoys a break during a lunch stop. The giant canoe, with undeployed outriggers (each of which is a plastic double kayak), is in the background.  
   
               
                     
Sandy, Reg and Steve on a stranded iceberg in the Stikine Delta mud flats.
   
   
                     
       
 
As the tide rose on the vast mudflats of the Stikine delta we amused ourselves by paddling the deeper parts and hauling the canoe over the shallows just to make some progress before the seemingly inevitable headwinds set in later in the afternoon.