Jeff's Log ~ Friday, September 19th, 2008

Friday, September 19, 2008 Icy Straights, Alaska

We have completed another trip around Glacier Bay National park. We spent more time touring this time and saw lots of beautiful sights. The night before last, we were anchored about a mile from Reed Glacier, and on Thursday morning, I splashed the dingy for the first time since Japan, and we all went to shore to do a little hiking. I made it my mission to walk on top of the glacier. It was quite a hike to get there from the beach we landed on. There was some light climbing and crossing of several streams necessary. Scott and I saw one bear track in the area of a lot of empty mussel shells. Judging from the amount of eaten mussels, I knew we did not have to worry about a hungry bear in the neighborhood!

Gill and Pat took off quickly, wanting to be the first on the glacier. I caught up with them quickly by making my way over the higher ground. They did not think that was the right approach, so I helped them over a couple of streams, and then they went their way, and I went mine. It turned out that I was right. I made it to the top of the dirty part of the glacier, and then it was getting way too slippery. Going up wasn’t the problem, it would have been controlling the speed of descent that was. I had no cleats on my sea boots, and the sun was beginning to shine on the ice making the surface liquefy.

Pat and Gill stayed on the bottom, and made their way into one of the fissures. They were actually in the glacier! Gill slipped while crossing a steam, and got herself soaked, so upon the return to Pipe Dream, the first order of business was starting the generator and turning on the heat, so everyone, and especially Gill could get warmed up. The next thing was getting the mud under control. The dirt and mud from the glacier is called “glacier flour” and believe me, it is just like flour. It gets on everything, and sticks with the slightest amount of moisture. Our boots were covered in it, the back of my jeans were covered in it from when I had to reduce vertical mass on the ice slope, The dingy deck was covered in it, and it was almost spreading to the big boat. Everyone took off their boots in the dink, and got on Pipe Dream in their socks. The soles of the hiking boots were absolutely the worst. My sea boots rinsed right off, and I proceeded to clean hiking boots of the other crew, confining the mess to the area behind the steering wheel. Then it was time to raise the anchor and get under way for the John Hopkins Glacier, which is the one setting off the most calving.

On the way there, we passed the prettiest glacier that we have seen yet. It comes right to the water’s edge, and in the middle has a hole through which a river of water runs. That was spectacular! All around the hole could be seen the layers which make up the glacier. It was like a cross section of time right in front of us.
We continued up the fjord and began encountering lots of floating ice. Rather than risk the waterline paint, we opted to turn around about five miles from the glacier. It was still quite impressive, as it goes from the sea level to about 2,000 feet in altitude. On the way out. I jumped in the dingy which we were towing, and had a Pipe Dream photo shoot using a small iceberg and the glacier with the hole as props. The pictures turned out very well, and Scott was pretty happy with them. It is a little hard to get good steady pictures while on a bouncy little dingy, but I did the best I could. I also had Pat’s camera, and she has some of the better shots on hers because my batteries went dead after a few shots. After pictures, Pat made some wonderful hot buttered rum. It really hit the spot after the chilly picture shoot. I also just had to give the dink a good high speed run, so my face and cheeks were a rosy red.

We proceeded to our anchorage that Scott chose, and it was like target shooting with the anchor. There was an underwater mountain that we had to hit the top of with the anchor. Everything around was hundreds of feet deep, and our target was sixty feet. The GPS put us right on the spot, and our timing could not have been better. The anchor went down very quickly and set on the first attempt. Sometimes we really look professional. The next day, Scott and I were up early to get a good start on a long day of motoring back to Coot Cove. When we arrived there, we decided to anchor on the other side of the ridge from where we had been previously. When we pulled in close to shore, we noticed a floating dock that is not attached to land. We decided to tie up there, rather than anchor. It turned out to be a very good decision, because for the first time since being in Alaska, we saw two grizzly bears come out of the woods and wander up the shore.
When Scott spotted them, he said to be quiet and come up on deck. Well, the large roasting pans that are usually stored in the oven had been placed right in front of my cabin door. I did not see them, and the resounding crash from kicking the pans accidentally could probably be heard twenty miles away. The bears were not phased, however, and continued their slow stroll as if we weren’t there.
On Saturday morning, it was a return trip to Juneau. Gill is leaving early Monday morning, and Scott’s brother Tom arrives on Sunday night. He and his girlfriend Kristin will be staying at a hotel Sunday, and will move into my cabin on Monday. Tom had our new anchor windlass shipped to the hotel, so I went and picked it up on Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon was spent removing the old and installing the new. That job went relatively smoothly. The hardest part was getting the corrosion broken between the inner and outer pieces on the old windlass. I got a good workout in the process. Sometimes, I wish that I had a helper. The new one is chrome plated, and sure does look a lot nicer than the old brown colored one. Sunday would have been my Dad’s birthday, so I also took a moment to think about him.

Moving out of my cabin was not too bad either, although I found that I have accumulated a lot of stuff in a year. I packed the shorts and light clothing away in storage bags and put them out back in the lazarette. Souvenirs and things I did the same with, and my working clothes I put in my bag and moved to the knee hole under the vanity in Scott’s cabin. I’ll be all right for the eight days that Tom is here.