Where did the Summer Go ? (Catching up - part 1)

It went so fast....and it was very full...

from our camp out into the bay..just the setting for Lord of the Rings.

Last night we finished The Lord of the Rings. The final chapter was read and the ending was  a rather poignant mixture of  happiness and sadness. We began the satisfying fat story in June after speed rereading The Hobbit. We were camped on a Glacial spit in Prince William sound in our version of a portable Yurt (Actually just a large tent with a wood stove ..and Oh how we love the wood stove)
Prince William sound is a beautiful place, wild and unforgiving but also intensely beautiful. We base camp which means rather than carry a smaller tent in our Kayaks and moving from place to place we set up our tent in a central location and Kayak out on day paddles or not as we feel like it (and as the weather allows) This year as we all except the youngest had decided to indulge in bouts of whooping cough base camp was the only way to go as we were unfit and my other half and my eldest were still in recovery stage. For a time I thought our trip would have to be canceled but we gathered our kit together and the great crew at Epic Charters carried us all (including dog) to our out of the way piece of heaven.

Bringing in a party of Kayakers.

The lagoon the odd red arrow points to our camp site (sort of)

Our base camp almost on the same spot as last year.

Setting up camp was hard and made us realize how well everyone wasn’t. But once camp was set we could relax and recover. The weather was so kind to us the first 2/3rds of the trip was sunny ..so sunny we really needed the sunscreen and we got great tans! Gradually as the peace and beauty of the place took hold we began to unwind and slowly the poorly ones recovered. We read, drank lots of tea, waded across the river to walk by the lagoon each day (Much easier when we mastered the art of calculating the tides and the right spot to cross …at the right time you could have a couple of hours walking before the danger of the icy water overtopping our welly boots was serious . I did try wading across one day before we got our timing right…it ceased to be amusing at half way and I could’ve (and very nearly did) cry because the water was so painfully cold. There is something about fresh snow melt pouring down to the sea that has a rather brisk nip to it! It increased my desire never to try exiting the kayak into the sea there. 

The River charges down the rocks in a noisy splashy waterfall.

Cold, Noisy and Beautiful!

Over the river you walk across the tidal flats to the lagoon.

The lagoon is very beautiful we lay snug in  our sleeping bags and listened to the Glacier grumble and rumble in the night then we would cross the river and look at the Icebergs, growlers, brash ice and bergy bits that were beached on the shore. As they broke up and were re-floated by the tide they would be carried out down the channel to the sea with the out going tide. 
We did cautiously enter the lagoon several times by Kayak ..the channel is navigable for a hour or so around high tide when the tide is slack. So providing you time it correctly it's quite possible and we always took warm gear and something to munch so if we muffed our calculations we could just wait patiently for the next tide change. It was important to stay well away from the floating bergs..not least because they were unstable and some where the size of double decker buses but also because Seals and Otters breed in the lagoon and in order not to disturb them we kept to binocular distance ..the exception being a raft of otters that approached my husband and daughter while they were sitting quietly admiring the view..they swam up checked them out and then carried on their way.

Long lens shot of curious otter in the lagoon.

Nature spotting from the water.

As we regained our fitness we  also made some lovely longer  day paddles but as I haven't done the washing up yet..that must wait for another day :0)

and they didn't forget me ..I had lots of long walks ..but I had to stay leashed for the sake of the wildlife.