The Scheins' Blog: Alaska

Sunday, August 16, 2009

We slept in a little bit after such a long day yesterday, then had eggs, bacon, toast, and smoked salmon for breakfast - delicious! Josh joined us.

We weren't sure what to do after that. It was pretty overcast, but not rainy, so I thought maybe we'd get our bearings, so we went into town. We went to the brand new Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge (http://kodiak.fws.gov/) Headquarters. About 2/3 of Kodiak Island, which is the 2nd largest island in the country, is a wildlife refuge, and home to the Kodiak Brown Bear - the largest terrestrial predator in the world. The headquarters building was brand new and very nice. They had a nice video and very nice exhibits about the refuge and the animals in it. They also had a complete grey (I think) whale skeleton hanging from the ceiling from one that washed up on a local beach a few years ago. I was impressed - a great place. The ranger there was from a small town basically right beside us here outside of Philly, too.

Once we left, Josh had to go to Trident Basin, where his float plane company is located, to leave for a flight. So, we went with him and borrowed some kayaks. Sarah and I together in a double and Ed and Jeanette each in a single. We left from the docks heading northwest and around Holiday Island, but by the time we got about 1/2 way there, Josh took off and flew right over us - literally. It felt like he was just a few feet above us. It happened so fast we didn't have time to video it. A few minutes later he landed even closer right over our heads. Man those things are loud. We could feel the wind from it. Still to quick for a video but here's a picture.

Path of our kayaking adventure. Click on it for bigger view.

Sarah and I as we're leaving the docks.

Here's Sarah being a spazz - I know, it's a shock!

We rounded Holiday Island and headed for Bird Island. Josh told me this island is a Puffin rookery, and he was definitely right. We got out of the kayaks on a beach and then walked around the perimeter of the small island. Most of it was cliffs and we had to stay on top. Once we got to the top of the cliffs we started seeing tons of the. Tufted Puffins. Beautiful birds. I took a ton of pictures, trying to get them flying, but almost none came out very well. We were able to sneak up on a few pretty close to some on top of the cliffs standing on the ground. They live in burrows in the sandy soil at the tops of the cliffs. It was really cool to see these birds, all while hearing the waves crashing on the rocky shoreline all around us, and the constant cry of gulls and other sea birds. I love this type of coastline - so completely different from what I'm used to in the southeast. Of course it is way too cold to swim, but incredibly beautiful. I would love to have sat on the edge of those cliffs all day hidden with some camouflage - those birds would let you get pretty close, and I'm sure with time I could have gotten much closer.

Ed on the north end of Bird Island.

Jeanette kayaking.

Ed & Jeanette kayaking

Kodiak had a nice surprise since the last time I was here - 3 enormous wind turbines on top of Pillar Mountain, right above the city.

Our total kayaking trip was a couple of hours and nearly 4 miles long. We had a great time, but headed back to Trident Basin when the kayaks began to get uncomfortable. So, after putting them back, we drove to the grocery store to buy some things for dinner. We were planning to drive on top of Pillar Mountain to cook out, but Josh surprised us by flying us on a very short flight to Long Island.

Jeanette looking very worried.
Ed & Kody (Josh's dog) in the back seat. Coming in for a landing.

Approximate path of our hike on Long Island.

We pulled up on a nice beach and went for a nice walk across the island along some old trails and roads. Most of the way was through the forests, where we passed a lot of old military buildings, like barracks, bunkers and an old lookout tower left from WWII.

Some cool orange fungus growing on the side of a dead Sitka Spruce. These forests are just about the greenest forests you can imagine.

Josh climbing the lookout tower.

Eventually, though, we got to the far end of the island where the forest gave way to meadows and we were walking along beautiful cliffs above the ocean. This was really a beautiful place. There was also a huge old WWII defensive gun emplacement destroyed by the military after the war.

After we returned to the beach, we started the charcoal for our sausages and Jeanette's rotisserie chicken, and had chips and stuff while they cooked. We enjoyed a beautiful evening and sunset on the beach with a few of Josh's friends that drove over on their boat. I can't believe we didn't take very many pictures here. It was a great time and the weather was perfect.

The day started off overcast, but while we were kayaking the clouds broke up and it was absolutely beautiful the rest of the day. As it turned out, that would be the last time we saw any real clouds the entire time we were in Kodiak! That's pretty rare here - to have 5 or 6 perfectly cloudless and beautiful days in a row. We couldn't get over out good luck.

Pictures Added From Ed & Jeanette's Computer

A bear sneaking up on Jeanette in the welcome center to the Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge. She bearly made it our alive!