Sunday, May 20, 2007
SMS from 881631611816@msg.iridium.com
N48 57.345 W123 34.403 WALLACE ISL WET WET DAY STOP AT STORE WITH SOUP MADE BIG DIFFERENCE I LOVE THESE GULF ISL ROCKS
Saturday, May 19, 2007
SMS from 881631611816@msg.iridium.com
N48 49.903 W123 23.598 THATS MY LAT LON SO YOU CAN MAP ME PREVOST ISL GOOD DAY SOME WIND RAIN MUD A SEA LION STINKY FEET
Friday, May 18, 2007
Thursday, May 17, 2007
beautiful San Juans
I decided to spend the past week exploring the San Juan Islands some
more, so I could paddle with Warren, instead of making our way
together through the Gulf Islands (the Canadian equivalent of the San
Juans). I'm spending tonight at Friday Harbor Labs (thanks FHL!) and
tomorrow am taking the ferry back to Sidney (after having paddled that
crossing twice, I'm figure I'd rather take the ferry to get back on
track if I can, rather than spending the next two days retracing my
steps). but enough about the logistics, you want to hear about my
trip.
It's great. The weather has been amazing. I have been vigilant with
the sunblock, but am still pretty pink on the hands and face. There
have been some winds and currents not in my favor, but on the whole I
feel so lucky weatherwise. There have been eagle and harbor seal
sightings almost every day. Yesterday we watched an eagle and two
turkey vultures feast on what I think was a sea lion carcass. Warren
was great for pointing out wildlife, and was very excited to track a
marten at our camp on Jones Island yesterday. Warren also made great
campfires, which I will hopefully keep up on my own. We ate
excellently and had fierce gin rummy battles. I'll have to get used to
playing solitaire next.
more, so I could paddle with Warren, instead of making our way
together through the Gulf Islands (the Canadian equivalent of the San
Juans). I'm spending tonight at Friday Harbor Labs (thanks FHL!) and
tomorrow am taking the ferry back to Sidney (after having paddled that
crossing twice, I'm figure I'd rather take the ferry to get back on
track if I can, rather than spending the next two days retracing my
steps). but enough about the logistics, you want to hear about my
trip.
It's great. The weather has been amazing. I have been vigilant with
the sunblock, but am still pretty pink on the hands and face. There
have been some winds and currents not in my favor, but on the whole I
feel so lucky weatherwise. There have been eagle and harbor seal
sightings almost every day. Yesterday we watched an eagle and two
turkey vultures feast on what I think was a sea lion carcass. Warren
was great for pointing out wildlife, and was very excited to track a
marten at our camp on Jones Island yesterday. Warren also made great
campfires, which I will hopefully keep up on my own. We ate
excellently and had fierce gin rummy battles. I'll have to get used to
playing solitaire next.
Well I think it's time to switch my laundry. And tomorrow will be an
early morning to get everything to the ferry ahead of time.
Friday, May 11, 2007
O Canada
Well I made it to Sidney, B.C. and I'm here in a hotel for the night. It's been an amazing week, with 5 days of beautiful sunny weather. I set an ambitious plan to make it here by today to meet Warren tomorrow and I did an awesome job getting here. Unfortunately, the %!%^&*ing Canadians wouldn't let my brother Warren across the border to meet me to paddle the next leg. So tonight I'll decide whether to adjust my itinerary to go back to the San Juans and paddle with him there or to go on alone. I've really enjoyed going solo this past week, but the thought of some company definitely helped keep me going, so I'm not sure. It would mean making up the time later, maybe by taking a ferry through a different leg up past Port Hardy. hmmm. I need to go plan. So anyways, if I don't continue blogging for the next week, it means I'm back to the US and so not in my satellite phone minutes. Hope all is well with all of you.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Tomorrow (technically today, it's getting late) is the day!
Note: I may not post here every day. You are not allowed to use this blog as a reason to worry. If I’ve been posting regularly and then I don’t for a bit, it may be because I’m too busy watching whales, too tired at the end of the day or am rationing battery power.
FAQs
1. How long will you take? When are you going/coming back?
I’m leaving Saturday May 5 and plan on taking the ferry back from Juneau on August 21, so that’s about 3.5 months. That should be plenty of time, but if I have a lot of weather days, and feel like I’m running behind, there are a couple bits I could always take a ferry for.
2. Who are you going with?
I’m doing it solo, primarily. Warren is going to meet me for the Sidney to Powell River leg, Neil is going to meet me for a side trip to the Queen Charlotte Islands (I’ll take a ferry out there and back) and my parents are meeting me in Juneau at the end to take the ferry back with me. It’s hard to find someone else who can take 4 months off at the same time I can who would want to spend it kayaking. Yes, I will get lonely. I hope to get better at striking up conversation with people I meet along the way. I really like my time to myself.
3. Where will you sleep/camp?
I’ll be camping most of the way, with some nights in hotels when I stop in towns to resupply, recharge batteries, shower and do laundry. For the first third of the trip, official campsites are easy to come by. After that there are stretches where the chief concern of the day is looking out for the next place to camp. What I’ll be looking for at that point is places that are good to land/launch, aren’t too steep and that bears wouldn’t find appealing.
4. Bears?!? What do you do about bears?
I’ll take reasonable precautions. I’ll hang my food (and I’ll have one bear cannister as a backup stash if a clever bear outwits my super bearhang). I’ll try not to camp in places where there is evidence of bear activity. I’ll be bringing bear spray in case of a close encounter, but I sure hope I don’t have to use it. I’m also really looking forward to stopping at one or both of the bear observatories in Alaska.
5. What will you eat?
I’ll take about 2 weeks of food at a time. It will be camping type foods. Yummy bowls of mush are my specialty. I’ve been dehydrating some. Most towns will have a grocery store for resupply and I’ll stop in a town about weekly, with one stretch of 2 weeks between towns. I will mail myself resupply boxes to where there isn’t good grocery stores to be had. Contact Neil for those addresses and approximate dates.
6. Are you crazy?
No. This is something that I’ve been thinking about doing for a long time, that I’ve put a lot of planning into and that I plan on being very cautious about. Yes, there are risks kayaking in the wilderness, and going solo makes those risks scarier. I’m bringing appropriate safety and communications gear. I’ve been sea kayaking for 13 yrs now. I know there are some worriers out there and I’d like to do everything I can to alleviate them, but probably the best thing I can do is pass along updates and photos when possible.
FAQs
1. How long will you take? When are you going/coming back?
I’m leaving Saturday May 5 and plan on taking the ferry back from Juneau on August 21, so that’s about 3.5 months. That should be plenty of time, but if I have a lot of weather days, and feel like I’m running behind, there are a couple bits I could always take a ferry for.
2. Who are you going with?
I’m doing it solo, primarily. Warren is going to meet me for the Sidney to Powell River leg, Neil is going to meet me for a side trip to the Queen Charlotte Islands (I’ll take a ferry out there and back) and my parents are meeting me in Juneau at the end to take the ferry back with me. It’s hard to find someone else who can take 4 months off at the same time I can who would want to spend it kayaking. Yes, I will get lonely. I hope to get better at striking up conversation with people I meet along the way. I really like my time to myself.
3. Where will you sleep/camp?
I’ll be camping most of the way, with some nights in hotels when I stop in towns to resupply, recharge batteries, shower and do laundry. For the first third of the trip, official campsites are easy to come by. After that there are stretches where the chief concern of the day is looking out for the next place to camp. What I’ll be looking for at that point is places that are good to land/launch, aren’t too steep and that bears wouldn’t find appealing.
4. Bears?!? What do you do about bears?
I’ll take reasonable precautions. I’ll hang my food (and I’ll have one bear cannister as a backup stash if a clever bear outwits my super bearhang). I’ll try not to camp in places where there is evidence of bear activity. I’ll be bringing bear spray in case of a close encounter, but I sure hope I don’t have to use it. I’m also really looking forward to stopping at one or both of the bear observatories in Alaska.
5. What will you eat?
I’ll take about 2 weeks of food at a time. It will be camping type foods. Yummy bowls of mush are my specialty. I’ve been dehydrating some. Most towns will have a grocery store for resupply and I’ll stop in a town about weekly, with one stretch of 2 weeks between towns. I will mail myself resupply boxes to where there isn’t good grocery stores to be had. Contact Neil for those addresses and approximate dates.
6. Are you crazy?
No. This is something that I’ve been thinking about doing for a long time, that I’ve put a lot of planning into and that I plan on being very cautious about. Yes, there are risks kayaking in the wilderness, and going solo makes those risks scarier. I’m bringing appropriate safety and communications gear. I’ve been sea kayaking for 13 yrs now. I know there are some worriers out there and I’d like to do everything I can to alleviate them, but probably the best thing I can do is pass along updates and photos when possible.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
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