The Tsiu River and more rainy days in Yakutat

Well, it's another rainy day here in Yakutat, which has been the case for about 90% of the time during the past 3 months. You'd think the rain would eventually have to stop at some point, but evidently not. I guess there's not much hope for better weather now since September is when the heavy rains usually begin. Anyways, I've learned to cope with rain, and still get out as much as I can so its all good but I have to say I'm looking forward to a HOT SUNNY BEACH somehwere!.

Its very hard to believe that I'll only be here for 2 more weeks! I'm amazed more and more, as I grow older, at how fast time passes us by! You definitely have to live life to the fullest and enjoy every moment! So far, I think I'm doing a pretty good job of that!

The pics I have here are from my trip up to the Tsiu River on Monday. Its about 120 miles West of here along the coast and right now the Coho Salmon are running up the rivers so i's a pretty popular fishing spot for both sport and commercial fisherman. I have a friend here (yep, it's true, I do have a friend!), Haans, who owns Yakutat Coastal Airlines and he does a lot of flying in the area. Anything from hauling totes of fish that are caught in remote areas, to transporting climbers out to the base of the mountains. He was flying back and forth all day with fish so he offered to drop me off on the first run and bring me back on the last. Luckily, it was one of the few sunny days we've had since June!

Looking down on Yakutat. I live right at the head of Monti Bay, all the way to the right.

Malaspina Glacier w/ the St. Elias Range in the background
The mountains here are without a doubt the most beautiful of any I've seen. The St. Elias Range is the highest coastal mountain range on earth with 9 of the 16 tallest mountains in North America. Pictures don't do it justice!
Almost all of the rivers entering the ocean are full of glacial sediment. You can see perfect lines where they enter into the sea. Glaciers, with all of their weight and force, grind the rock into a fine powder, then it gets transported out to the sea by the rivers.

Here they are loading salmon into the the Otter

These fish were just caught by sport fishermen downriver.

There he goes

Greater Yellowlegs

Nice spot huh? People pay big bucks to be flown out here! Not meee! hahaha

There were a few good ole boys who come out here to work every season for about 5 weeks when the fish run. They just load the planes all day long and stay in this tiny little cabin. I'll bet they make damn good money too. Anyways, they let me borrow their 4 wheeler, which was awesome, and allowed me to get around and see the area more.

Looking back East

They even bring this DC-3 in to haul fish! Its crazy how they land these planes in the middle of nowhere. They'll haul a load to Yakutat and bring ice with them when they come back. All day long.

Yakutat Sunsets

Yakutat Sunsets

We haven't seen too many lately but the ones we do see make it worth the wait!

Another night on Cannon Beach

Towah Creek full of salmon

I rode my bike out to the beach to camp for the night since I had the next day off! Hundreds of miles of beautiful, sandy beaches here. Never much of a task to find firewood either!

Camp 4 the night

Back to Yak

Esker

A few weeks ago I was sent out with 2 other rangers to do some maintenance on a backcountry cabin we have in the park. We were flown out in the plane you see here and dropped off on the beach at low tide. He was supposed to pick us up the next day but the weather was too rough so we stayed an extra day. I would have like to stay an extra week! It was beautiful, just across Yakutat Bay so about 30 miles from here. You can see the Hubbard Glacier from the beach, there were bear, and wolf tracks everywhere though we didn't spot any on this trip. It is amazing to be out here in true wilderness! There are no planes flying over, not even a highways within 200 miles. I have to say, I've gotten some pretty amazing opportunities this summer! I'm thinking seriously about returning here next year. Now I have several friends and good contacts so i could make the most of it if I were to come back fully prepared, and knowing what the possibilities are.

Here's some of that trip;

Huge icebergs get stranded on the beach when the tide moves out

I almost blew my back out trying to lift this one!






Creepin

St. Elias towering over everything else!

Beautiful dunes along the beach Sophie about to get eaten by the dragon

We waited half the day for the fog to lift on the beach so Les could come pick us up. I was hoping we'd have to call the flight off again..

but he made it.

There it is from the air