Yakutat Excursion

Prepare for a long entry, take a seat and get comfortable :)

Sunset from Ocean Cape

Cory and I were invited by our good friends, Banan & Crystal, to join them in Yakutat (population: 657) for Memorial Day weekend.  We were also accompanied with his parents, Kathy and Mike, and Robert Johnson(who is a long time friend of Mike's).  Every summer Kathy and Mike visit Yakutat, hence they used to live there when Mike started working for FAA.  Robert has lived there for the past 30+ years as a biologist for AK Fish and Game.  So he knew the ins and outs of the town and their wildlife.  He is now a hydro tech and a freelance photographer.  In fact, he is an extraordinary photographer.  The trip wouldn't have been the same without him.  He is the reason why we had access to our great adventures in Yakutat.  We were also blessed with pretty good weather.  It would of normally poured rain, but we were lucky not to get any of that.  Our days were with overcast weather, which was great for photos.  We expected it to rain according to the weather forecasts, but they were wrong, thankfully.

Day 1:
We flew in at 5:30PMish in a small Boeing 737 plane.  Mike and Kathy were anxiously waiting outside the little Yakutat airport for us.  We spotted them when our plane pulled up, thanks to Kathy's bright green shirt.  As we waited for our luggage, which didn't take long, we introduced ourselves to Mike and Kathy.  Then they introduced us to Robert.  They all seemed excited for our arrival.  We had no expectations of how this trip would go because every event would depend on the weather.  All I thought was, prepare to get wet.  Yakutat, being a coastal rainforest, is usually rainy or cloudy, so a sunny day was rare.

After grabbing our luggage, we hopped into our rent-a-van, which had a low back left tire and dents left and right, and headed to the Glacier Bear Lodge.  There is only ONE long paved road, which is the main road in Yakutat.  Other than that, roads were gravel and rugged.  We checked into our rooms and unpacked.  After we got situated, we headed to Monte Bay, where Mike and Kathy's cabin was located at, right on the coast.  The cabin was really nice, not even close to roughing it.  It had a small living room, bathroom with shower and kitchen downstairs and upstairs there were 6 twin beds.  Outside, there was a rocky beach and a handful of eagles soaring about.  It seemed so cool to see so many eagles at once!  It's a rare sight to see one eagle in Anchorage.

For dinner, Robert was master chef and made us sushi.  We had 3 choices of amazing sushi, which were tempera halibut crunch roll, herring eggs roll, and the crunch-herring combo roll.  They were absolutely delicious.  That was just the appetizer, what a tease.  The main dish was vegetables and grilled salmon by Mike.  It all felt so gourmet!  After dinner, we tried to reel in some eagles up close to the cabin for some sweet photography shots.  Robert placed goat and fish scraps on the rocky beach.  We all had our cameras ready and waited for the eagles.  The eagles usually come slowly, for they are shy.  Unfortunately, after 45 minutes of waiting, no eagles came down.  They must of been too full or scared of seeing us perched about the rocks with our cameras.  The only action we got was a pudgy beagle eating the goat scraps.  He ate so much he couldn't even walk up the porch steps.

Anyways, a local, Jennie, who owns a gift shop and has a nice house on the coast, came over to see what the commotion was all about.  We all were introduced by Kathy to her.  She has an amazing talent of sewing hides, making baskets and jewelry, and cooking.  I cannot name all of her talents, but those are a few.  She grew up on Knight Island, which is across Monte Bay.  So, she had no TV or much accommodations of digital electronics at her home growing up.  Instead, she became very skillful in many other crafts, arts and cooking areas.  I thought she was an extraordinary woman.  She got a crack up of us waiting for the eagles.  She sees eagles all the time, no big deal.  I wish I got see her gift shop,  but time didn't allow us to.

Robert Johnson's photo is
the Alaskan IPA logo

Since, eagle reeling didn't work out, Robert decided to take Crystal, Banan, Cory and I on a scenic drive on Beach Road.  The road was totally bushwhacked and ran along the coast.  We were surrounded by the woods mostly. Talk about off roading for several miles.  We made a few stops for pictures.  Our first was at Ocean Cape, where surfers hit up for the waves.  The waves were pretty moderate for height, nothing fierce.  Not big enough for surfers.  Yes, people in Alaska surf.  In fact, there is a doctor that comes down to Yakutat to surf, annually.  Robert caught an amazing portrait of Mount St. Alias in the background with him catching some waves.  Now that photo is the Alaska IPA beer icon.  Robert gave us a poster of the picture and signed it :)  It is put up on our wall and I am so honored to receive such a gift.  Unfortunately, we never saw a surfer on our trip, but wish we did.

wheelchair accessible outhouse

We ran out on to the sandy beach to catch the last minutes of the sunset. So gorgeous!   All 5 of us armed with our Canon cameras aligned on the coast.  It was just a nice view.  Banan sacrificed his dry feet just to get a great upclose shot of the waves coming in.  It was so funny to watch Banan and Cory run away from the waves.  Anyways, we continued on and saw more of the pretty beach.  Some places had so much drift wood that the driftwood made a dam like structure to protect the land from high tides or giant waves.  We saw a little sitka spruce octopus tree, nothing like the one in Oregon at Cape Meares.  It was still so odd looking, but we didn't get a photo of that because we didn't realize it was a such a thing until we passed it on the drive.  One of the most out of place things we saw was this silly outhouse Robert showed us.  It only had two half walls and it was wheel chair acessible.  What a crack up to see!  We drove around the long loop of Beach Road and that concluded our day.  We went back to our lodge and pretty much went straight to bed.

Day 2:
We woke up early, about 7AM, just to catch the breakfast that came with our room.  Breakfast was only from 7-8AM.  It would of been nice to sleep in, but our breakfast was so worth it.  It reminded me of Gwennies.  We each had a big plate of scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon and toast.  We then packed up all of our belongings because we decided to get a place closer to Banan's parents.  We got a cabin that was walking distance away and it was so much better.  Our new place reminded me of a tree house.  It was all made of wood, like what a real cabin should look like.  We had a bathroom, a kitchen, two twin beds downstairs, and two twin beds upstairs.  We can tell it was built recently and it smelled a lot better than the hotel we stayed at the night before. 

Since the weather was good, Robert planned to take us to Harliquin Lake to check out the icebergs.  The drive to Harliquin Lake is about 35 miles from Yakutat on a gravel road.  We stopped at a little bridge where Situk River flew under.  Situk River is the big known river for steelhead and salmon fishing.  It is a popular spot for fishermen.  We took a couple pictures on the bridge and spotted a few fisherman.  Two were in a boat and the other was fly fishing. 

We were hoping to see a bear or few on the way, but didn't have the luck to.  Bears are highly spotted throughout Yakutat.  We convoyed to the mouth of Dangerous River.  Robert had his truck, which the skiff was attached to.  We followed in our van.  His skiff had a nice motor, nothing I have ever seen.  It had a propless motor, which allows him to get into really shallow water.  Very cool.

When we got to the mouth of the river, there was no boat launch.  Although, Robert is an expert on getting his boat in the water no matter what conditions.  There was a little gravel hill that lead down to the river.  Basically, with the help of Cory, Banan and Mike, Robert belayed his boat into the water.  It was so entertaining to watch.  I am glad it went down to the water smoothly with the gravel hill.  The skiff woulnd't hold all 7 of us safely, so Robert had to take two trips to take us to the lake.  It only took Robert 15 minutes to get from the mouth of the river to the lake. 

Ship shaped iceberg

When Robert was taking us to Harliquin Lake, I could not believe what I saw ahead of us floating about.  Giant blue icebergs were everywhere.  It was so surreal.  It felt like I was in a fairytale setting, especially when we were really close and they were surrounding us.  We parked it on shore where we had a great view of the blue giants.  Robert took 3 trips, taking 2 of us each, to mosy around in the boat to get a closer look of the icebergs.  We got some really neat pictures.  Some icebergs had gigantic holes through them, which looked so cool.  Some were forming caves and others had shapes of their own.  The only fear we had was if the iceburg shaved off chunks of ice while we were out there on the boat.  They chunks of ice would of cause some scary waves, but we were thankful that didn't happen.  It wasn't warm enough for such a thing to happen. 

We hung out for a couple hours on shore.  Lunch was a salmon spread on bread and cheese that Robert made.  It was so scrumptious.  It can also be a dip with crackers.  We also made a fire to stay warm from being surrounded by all the coldness.  We took more pictures from where we were hanging out.  It was just nice to enjoy each others company.  Although, the mosquitos and bugs were a little annoying.  Good thing we had our Repel bug wipes, yea not spray, but wipes.  Time flew so fast hanging around the lake, but by late afternoon, it was time to head back.  On the boat ride back, we saw two people hiking by the river.  One was carrying a dip net, which was odd, because there is no fish in that river or lake.  They met up with us when we got back to the vehicles.  The man was a local and the woman was from Portland.  They said they brought a net to grab ice from the lake for their cocktails.  Very common for people to do in Yalutat, since iceberg ice lasts way longer than regular ice. 

Tragic

We had a long 35 mile drive ahead of us.  The men got the skiff back on the trailer and hooked up to the truck.  Again, we followed Robert's truck back to town on the gravel road.  Cory, Crystal and I decided it was nap time in the van.  We were exhausted, plus it was the perfect time to nap.  20 minutes later, we all awoke from a loud bang sound.  How tragic, our left back tire blew.  We noticed it was a little low in the beginning of it all.  Robert and Mike were already way ahead of us to even notice something happened.  We all got out of the van and checked out the situation.  Cory and Banan went right to work, while Kathy kept freaking out.  Crystal and I photo-documented the situation.  When we pulled out the spare, the spare was in horrible condition too!  So we found the jack, the jack handle extension, but no tire iron.  Oh great.  Now Kathy was really freaking out.  She even suggested we walk all 18 miles.  Crystal said she didn't mind, but the rest of us disagreed.  We decided to drive on the flat tire at 5mph.  We probably drove it like that for 15 minutes and it felt like time was going so slow.

Saved!  

In our hope, we saw head lights from a far.  We were so happy,  but then we saw them turn around because we saw their tail lights.  We thought we were so screwed, especially since we didn't have the gun because we placed it in Robert's car.  Right when our hopes were giving up, the car we saw from afar came back and this time it was getting closer.  Thank goodness, it was Robert and Mike!  They told us they stopped when they were far ahead because they had seen a grizzly bear.  Then realized we weren't anywhere near when we should have.  Robert said he saw the hazards on and that is when they knew they needed to come back to us.  So, we grabbed Robert's tire iron and came to find out that it didn't fit because the van's lug nuts were too long.  Can't believe that rent-a-van didn't have a tire iron.  Our last option was to leave the van there 18 miles away from town in the middle of nowhere on Dangerous River Road.  We took our belongings and put them in Robert's Tacoma.  Then we all packed into the truck.  Banan and Crystal had to sit on the truck bed so we all fit, while the rest of us got in the truck.  We all rode back into town and went straight to the rental place to tell them the situation.  They supplied us a new passanger van, except this one didn't lock and the windows didn't go down, which we found out later.  At least, it didn't have any bad tires.  What can you say, there isn't much picks at the rental place.  As long as the rental gets us from point A to B this time. 

When we got back we all decided to relax in our cabins.  By then, it was dinner time and this time we all had steaks Mike grilled with wild rice.  Yummy.  During dinner, Robert decided that he will take us fishing at 5:30AM the next day if we are all up to it.  I told him earlier that I really wanted to go fishing, since that was all the original plan.  Of course, we were all up to the idea.  So, we took it easy and just hung out in Mike&Kathy's cabin for the night.  Before we went to bed, we agreed to set our alarms for 5AM to go fishing.  Robert said he would meet us on the dock, which is located at the end of our cabin, where he would pick us up on his Carolina Skiff.

Day 3 (last full day in Yakutat):
We woke up with Crystal's alarm at 4AM.. but we weren't supposed to.  Her iPhone read a funny signal and thought we were an hour behind.  We were supposed to get up at 5AM and I double confirmed it with my watch.  So, we all went back to bed for that sweet hour.  So 5AM rolled up and my alarm went off and we all started getting ready for fishing.  With only half an hour to get ready and chow on some food, that pumped me up for the fishing trip.  It was the rush feeling that woke me up.  Bob showed up as he said he would at 5:30AM.  His house is located across Monte Bay which is across from where our cabin was located.

Starfish fun!

As we walked down to the boat, we saw starfish all over attached to the dock pillars.  It was a sight I have never seen before.  Wild starfish!  Crystal and I took some photos with them.  We all got into the Carolina Skiff and then we were off to the deep sea.  It only took us about half and hour to get to a nice spot for halibut fishing.  We were somewhere between the Gulf of Alaska and Yakutat Bay to be exact.  Either way, we were just surrounded by the blue waters.  It felt kind of scary being in a little boat, but it was exciting at the same time.  We saw many kinds of birds, porpoises and otters.  I wish we got to see an orca,  but no luck.

Robert and Banan baited the fishing poles with salmon and herring pieces one at a time, and handed them to each person on board.  The limit is catching 2 halibut each, which we tried to shoot for.  I was the last person to receive a pole.  Now, this is my first time going halibut fishing, which is crazy considering I have lived in AK for pretty much my whole life.  Well, let's just say my family doesn't have the time or luxury to do such things, but I am very fortunate to have friends that can take me out to do such fun Alaskan activities.  I guess my parents aren't the super outdoorsy type, being that they didn't grow up here. They grew up in the Philippines, so that is just way different all in itself.

Well, I only waited about 15 minutes and then I got a bite!  It was so exciting for me!  I was so happy to catch the first fish on the boat.  Not going to lie, but my arms got pretty tired while reeling in that halibut.  Robert said my first was probably a good 15 pounds.  I will take it!  They say that is a good size, apparently the smaller one are a lot more tastier to eat.  After all of that excitement, we probably waited for another 40 minutes for another catch.  This is how it went

Banan: "I got one!"
Robert: "I got one too!"
Gly: "Me too! Feels huge!"

We were joking about how we probably just caught each others lines, but no.  A nice big 120lbs+ halibut had hooked 3 of our poles.  When she came up, Robert took his pistol and shot it.  It was pretty awesome.  We were all amazed at how big she was.  She just barely fit into our large cooler on the boat. That thing was as big as me!  It is definitely going to be more than enough fish for all of us.

We decided to try to catch 6 more fish.  Banan caught a 10lbs halibut and a rockfish.  We only kept the halibut, of course.  Well too bad, I got sick out of no where and had to throw up.  I felt back to normal after I got rid of my cup of milk I had for breakfast.  By 9:30AM, Robert said it was time we head back. We were just waiting way too long for more halibut, plus we were all satisfied with our group effort 120 pounder catch.   It was a successful morning of fishing :)

When we got back to our cabin, we were able to filet our halibut and clean them.  We stored them in ziplock bags and put them back in the cooler.  We decided later, we would cut all the pieces into smaller pieces once we figured out how to distribute the fish.  Really, we were all just hungry for lunch.  We headed back to Mike&Kathy's cabin for sandwich lunches.  Then Robert had the idea that he take us to Blacksand Spit, which meant he had to take us on his boat to get to it.  We were all in for the idea except for Crystal.  She wasn't feeling too hot, so she decided to stay back and nap.  Banan's father, Mike decided he wanted to catch and release some steelhead on the Situk river, so we dropped him off there on our way to the Spit.

Moose spine

It was a really nice, pleasant hike for us as we beach combed and took pictures on the spit.  We got some really neat pictures.  Our hopes was to find a glass ball that the Japanese left.  They are beautiful.  Apparently, they are a rare find, but they are still getting washed up on shore.  They are no longer made, but back in the day they were used a lot by the Japanese fisherman.  They are most often found on the beaches of Alaska, Washington, Oregon in the United States.  We did find some other things, like rib and spine bones of a moose, a small Japanese nonglass buoy, and other junk all around.

It was almost dinner time and we decided to head back.  I couldn't believe we were still all up and running from being awake at 4AM.  Tonight was Banan's night to cook.  Before dinner, we decided to set the halibut scraps outside on the rocky beach in front of the cabin.  This time we all waited inside for the eagles to come.  This was attempt number 2 and last attempt of reeling eagles in for great photos.  Of course, we all had our cameras ready and set for when the eagles flew down.

Banan cooked us delicious seafood pasta.  The sauce was of Alfredo with clam pieces in it, served with linguine noodles and garlic bread.  We also had salad on the side made by Kathy.  It was like I was eating at Olive Garden!  After dinner, the birds were coming down.  This was exciting.  We got some really awesome shots of them too.  Such rare photographs to get.  I mean, who gets to take pictures of eagles when they are 30 feet away from you?  We do!  The eagles kept coming all night, so we had many attempts to get the perfect shots.  It was a blast and I can't say I will ever get to do that again.  We all zonked out for bed and slept like babies due to our fun filled day.

Day 4:

Gotcha good!

There is only one flight a day that leaves Yakutat and it always leaves at 11:40AM to Anchorage.  We got to sleep in for once.  Well sleeping in as in waking up at 8AM.  I made everyone scrambled eggs and oatmeal.  I was pretty bummed to leave, especially knowing that I would go back to my classes and get back in studying mode again.  I was happy though, to sleep in my own bed.

We drove to the airport to check in our luggage and had 45 minutes to spare until boarding time.  We were able to check out of our cabin and check out Cannon Beach for one last time.  We all took some pictures with the rusty canon.  There are only 2 canons left on the beach from the war.  They cut off the tips of them so people, I guess, wouldn't get crazy and want to use them again.  The barrel was supposed to be 30ft long!  Well before we knew it, it was time to go.  Had to say our goodbyes and we were off.

I will surely remember this trip forever.  I was happy that Cory got to see some of Southeast Alaska.  We are so fortunate and grateful to have great friends.

The group at Cannon Beach

♥Marie Glyness

To see the rest of the photos go to
https://picasaweb.google.com/gly.larson/Yakutat#

Video of our 3 hook catch