Sun. Aug 26

Last evening I made camp on top of a rocky point near North Sawyer Glacier. It was the most difficult pull out of the trip. Extremely hard to get out of the kayak and unload my gear having to climb steep rocks to my campsite 100 feet above sea level. I managed to pull my kayak out of the water and hang it from rocks 10 feet above the high tide level (should be safe in case of another big wave in the night). I set up my kitchen a short distance from the kayak and set my tent up on a rocky perch which gave me a great view of both glaciers, the small island in the middle of the bay and the surrounding mountains. The sky remained cloudless and the air crystal clear. I felt very happy and had a sense of great satisfaction at having been able to get myself perched in such a difficult but beautiful spot. I sat outside my tent and watched the sun set feeling too good to read or write.

This morning I started on my journey back to Holcombe Bay. I packed up my kayak which was very tricky having to climb over steep slippery rocks. I got underway without mishap. The sky was starting to cloud up and it looked like bad weather moving in for a long stay. I decided to paddle a fair distance (about nine miles) to a campsite I missed on the way in. It remained overcast the whole day and once or twice felt a light sprinkle but not enough to dampen my spirits, which are still high. I got to my campsite after about four hours of steady paddling. I found a beautiful spot in a valley on top of some rocks next to a small falls. I was told that this valley had the densest population of brown bears in all of Tracy Arm. At this point, I wouldn’t mind seeing a brown bear from a safe distance. However I practiced good bear avoidance techniques in setting up camp and making dinner. Cloud cover is very dense with an occasional shower.