Section III: Lower Stikine, Day-by-Day Report

Campsite locations in Canada are given in UTM coordinates (NAD27, easting first, then northing); the nominal accuracy is +- 50 m. Longitude and latitude

are used for sites in the US. Distances are to the harbour in Wrangell. Where appropriate, I give two values. The first includes the side trip down the North

Arm to the edge of the Le Conte Glacier (where it was when the topo was printed; I was told later that it has since receded 2 miles) and then to Wrangell

through Strait. The second value, 71 km shorter, is the direct distance as measured down the main channel, without the side trip. The distance from Telegraph Creek to Wrangell is 318 km via Le Conte Bay, 247 km by the direct route.

Night 12; Telegraph Creek. 318 km (247 direct).

3 August: After a great breakfast, we left Telegraph Creek at 9:30 in a light rain, Allan and Robert in the Nova Craft, Marilyn and Erwin in the Yukon.

The group of young people also at Telegraph Creek waited to get ww advice before heading out. We paddled several riffles, then the Three Sisters (have your camera ready - we missed them) and went around the right side of the island to avoid Bad Rapids (we have no evidence that there's anything "bad" there for paddlers). Somewhere near here Marilyn and Erwin saw two bear cubs. Because of the rain, we didn't stop to explore the features mentioned by Voss. By 1:30, about when the rain stopped, we had done 40 km and decided to stop at Helveker Creek, figuring that we would run out of river at this rate. A group

of 13 kayakers (6 tandems, 1 solo) pulled out just before we pulled in. We set up camp on the downstream side and dried out. Robert went fishing (got lucky).

Marilyn and Erwin hiked up the downstream side of the creek but found the brush too thick to get far. It's a great site, with a view of snow-covered

mountains; the creek is a bit milky though.

Night 13; 466 948. 278 km (207 km direct).

4 August: Snow-covered mountains were in sight all day, though we had some low clouds. We had planned to take Steamboat Channel and hike to

Missusjay Mountain but Robert and I missed the turnoff and so we ran Grand Rapids, a non-event (we saw nothing to merit the word rapids, much less grand).

We stopped for lunch on river right in Klootchman Canyon and sheltered from the blazing sun. I think it was Erwin who first spotted a herd of about ten

mountain goats well up the other side and slowly descending a meadow; binoculars showed me only moving white blobs but they had to be goats, since

there are no Dall's sheep (white) here, only Stone's sheep (brown) [Voss].

Night 14; 325 622. 234 km (163 km direct).

5 August: We decided to try to hike up to Flood Glacier. We passed the 13 kayakers as they pulled in for lunch on the upstream side of Flood River; we

went to the downstream side, paddled up the slough and set up camp. We hiked toward the glacier and even saw it from one clear area (former river

bed), but the bush (massive stands of Devil's Claw, fallen trees, alders, etc) was too thick, even though we crawled at one point. We set up our second major totem here; it is now in Guelph with Erwin.

Little Canyon Little Canyon was pushy as expected; the Yukon got whipped around in a strong eddy. We camped on the sand on river right, just upstream from Deeker Creek (rather milky); we found clear water seeping through, a little upstream and into the bush. Night 15; 309 430. 207 (136 km direct).

6 August: We got up to drizzle, mist & low-hanging clouds. Figuring that the river would be scenic between Flood and Great, we decided to stay put and hope

for better visibility the next day; this meant giving up an attempt to hike to Mud Glacier. Erwin hiked back toward Flood and got a little farther, but again had to

turn back. Next time, I'd try to hike the upstream side of Flood River. The drizzle and mist lasted all day; we loafed again. .

Giant Tree Washed Down Tangled near the outlet of the Flood Creek were many downed trees, washed down with the spring floods. Some were unbelievably huge! Night 16; same place

7 August: What prescience! The sky cleared to reveal glorious scenery with snow and glaciers everywhere. Congratulating ourselves, we took off

downstream. After dropping in at a snow patch just above river level, we passed the point where we had been thinking of starting a hike toward Mud

Glacier (we have no evidence that there's an established trail). We tried to hike up Sterling Creek and look at the falls we had spotted from the boats but

didn't get very far. Back on the river, we passed the student group, went by the warm springs site on river left and pulled in at the Great Glacier campsite on

river right; it is immediately below the outwash river from Great Glacier, as on page 115 of Voss (not upstream as on map 28, page 153). The landing requires crossing a stiff side current followed by a sharp eddy turn to a rocky shore; there's not much room, so best space the boats on the approach.

<<<Moss Laden Tree The 13 kayakers (a guided group from Victoria) were there but they made room for us, and the 8 students came in too; there was room for all 25 of us and then some. The site has an outhouse and at least 3 tables. It is surrounded by tall trees with large patches of moss dangling from the branches and trunks. Water (with lots of rock flour) is available from the Stikine just below the confluence. Luxuriant Mushroom Path>>>> This area is in the Coastal Rain Forest area & normally receives a LOT of precipitation. There was a very wide range of fungi & mushrooms.

.

Great Glacier & Outwash Lake We set up and then hiked toward the glacier. After about 25 minutes on a well travelled trail in good condition, we arrived at Outwash Lake, well short of the glacier, which has retreated far back from the position given on the topo (1974 vintage); the outwash lake is more as shown in Voss's book of 1998. Though distant and partly in shadow, the glacier was beautiful and we burned up lots of film; the floes were even better. We returned to the campsite. A Czech couple in an outboard pulled in but didn't stay; a jet boat pulled in across the river and the group (of four?) set up camp there. That evening, the group with 8 carried their boats up the trail in order to paddle across Outwash Lake to the glacier first thing in the morning; we stayed put. We saw beautiful alpenlicht on the mountains to the east. Night 17; 301 996. 150 km (79 km direct).

8 August: We spoke to the students before they left. They had gotten up early and paddled across Outwash Lake to near the glacier before the wind came

up; we should have done the same.

The kayakers loaded up; about 10 of them carried each boat (suspended from straps) to the river, carefully lowered it

down the bank to the river and loaded it; they left and we didn't see them again.

Erwin carried the Yukon about 20 minutes up the trail to the rocky hollow and the bay on the right. From there Marilyn and he paddled to near the glacier, struggling against the wind.

As Robert and I waited for them, Dan Pakula of the Stikine River Song arrived with two guests; they had motored down from Telegraph Creek and were heading back shortly. The Czech couple also showed up. Marilyn and Erwin came back tired from battling the wind so Robert and I decided not to paddle out but rather to leave the boat there for the morrow.

We returned to the campsite, which we had to ourselves; while fishing (fruitlessly), Robert spotted a seal in the outlet river and we watched it for 15 minutes

or so as it goofed around, playing with an ice floe and a branch. Night 18; same place.

Iceberg at Great Glacier

9 August: Robert got up early, paddled out on Outwash Lake and then carried the boat back. We packed up and headed downstream. We pulled in at the

salmon factory on river right (the Czech boat was there), talked to some people and bought a 7 lb sockeye for $20 (Cdn!).

Erwin Lounging on the Ketili River (Slough) After crossing the border and having lunch, we turned down the channel called Ketili River. Be careful not to miss the turnoff if you want to stop at the hot tubs (the river still has a good current and you'll have to slog upstream). On the Ketili, we ran into the students at a side stream located near the top and just east of the west end of map Bradfield Canal C-6. They told us they had seen salmon spawning. We went up the next stream and saw salmon doing their thing, plus lots of wolf and bear tracks; we refilled the water jug.

Back on the Ketili, we paddled up the stream (easy to miss) toward the hot tubs, smelled the sulphur en route, parked the boats and walked to the indoor hot tub where we found the students. We had a glorious playful soak after they left. My companions hadn't had enough so we went on to the outdoor tub where we found 9 kayakers (in 3 tandems and 3 solos) guided by Alaska Vistas; the guests were mostly from the Netherlands and Belgium. After being motorboated from Wrangell to Shakes Slough, they had paddled the four miles to the tubs in four hours (upstream). At neither tub did we encounter ill-behaved people as mentioned in some reports. The guides were very helpful re the tides and paddling on the Sound. In particular, we learned that the USFS cabin at Garnet Ledge, which we had reserved, is accessible only at high tide.

On the walk back to the boats we spotted several Steller's jays. Back on the river, we caught up to the yackers and left 'em in our dust; they were going to

camp some place before the Shakes USFS cabins. We turned up Shakes Slough to USFS cabin #2 (which we had reserved), a nice place in good condition

with few bugs; those sleeping in the loft disturbed the others though when they got up. Supper was the sockeye salmon. Slough water was better than river

water but not up to our standard. In preparation for the next day, we emptied food from one barrel and distributed it among the others (why do we have so

much food near the end of every trip?).

The students were camped in tents by cabin #1 (which is rather small); they were staying 2 nights, then getting picked up and boated back to Telegraph

Creek (I recall the figure of $CDN 1100 for the group but this seems small compared to what I've read). Night 19; coordinates were not noted (location

obvious). 110 km (39 km direct).

10 August: We got up early. As we were pulling out, we heard the kids shouting for some reason; of course one's mind thinks bear. We headed out to get as

far as possible in favourable tide conditions. After going up the more easterly of the two streams on river right just before Kakwan Point and filling the empty

food barrel with not-so-clear water for the rest of the trip, we followed the kayak map and turned right down the small channel immediately after Kakwan

Point, a nice route but not the fastest. We turned down the North Arm and worked our way through the mess of islands just before the river opens up. Even

with almost optimal tide conditions, it was touch and go through the sand flats. As the Alaska Vistas guides had said, the most water was where the water

was most turbulent. At the mouth, we decided (correctly) not to camp at what looked like a grassy site on river left.

We turned north toward Le Conte Bay, wading several times on the now too shallow mud flats on the way. The area near the bay looked like nothing on the topo (Marilyn would disagree!) but it was easily recognized from the ice floes and the cruise ship near shore. The mapping feature on Marilyn's GPS cleared great confusion from my mind. We pulled in at Camp Island where we had lunch, sheltered from a light rain.

Grotto Campsite by Le Conte Bay Entrance Then we slogged against the tide and wind to the point just west of Indian Point. The decision to stop was pretty well forced by conditions but the site was OK; it needed only minor levelling and brush clearing, and next day we saw no site on either side close to the bay mouth. After setting up, we walked around and found what seemed to be an old USFS cabin (not listed in any material available to me) with no one at home; we found also a smaller site closer to Indian Point, in the grass above a small beach. A flock of 100’s of water birds (Surf Scoters) diving, surfacing, taking off, landing etc in unison provided much amusement. And the ice floes were attractive, especially the blue guys; they really boom when they do their flop act. High tide got to within a few inches of one tent Night 20; N 56deg 45' 02", W 132deg 31' 50". 73 and 46 km from Wrangell.

.11 August: We got up early (5 a.m.) because of the tides, and paddled empty boats toward Le Conte Glacier; we saw little in the way of campsites going

up or back. We got to about 3 miles of the glacier's position as marked on the topo but couldn't actually see it. We might have been able to get a little farther,

but the floes were really thick and we had to leave to catch the tide and get through Dry Strait. The next day in Wrangell, Sylvia (Alaska Vistas) told me that

the glacier is now two miles up from the position on the topo so likely we couldn't have pushed through to a point where we could have seen it.

	Le Conte Bay :Icebergs, Floes & Plummeting Mountains Le Conte Glacier Bay was full of glaciers, ice floes & seals. Pieces of ice have been calving at an increasing rate in recent years, choking the bay & making it difficult to paddle very far up the bay. Wonderful Impressive Scenery!!!

Many seals were on the floes; they popped up, inspected us and dived. Robert figured it's a defence mechanism to distract predators. We returned to the

campsite, loaded up and headed down the west side of Pocket Island toward Dry Strait. By this time we had pretty well decided not to stay at the USFS

Garnet Ledge cabin (which we had booked for 12->13 August) and to try instead for Wrangell on the 12th; the worry was that, if we stayed at Garnet Ledge,

low water and wind might make us miss the ferry on the 13th. We got through Dry Strait OK. We were a few hours after high tide and the sand flats were

well developed; I don't know whether the strait is open at low tide.

Extensive Mud flats at Low Tide We decided to try for the tent site that Marilyn's topo showed on Little Dry Strait Island, but the water was way too low to get anywhere near it; and the USFS cabin (we didn't see it) on the same island looked even less accessible. Since the prospect for camping closer to Wrangell looked pretty bad (we could see no clear way through the mud flats to any possible site), and since we didn't know what else to do, we turned left up King Slough..

Fortunately we found a grassy area on our left (river right) where we set up camp.The shore was greasy, slippery mud, the ground was damp, the bugs

(no-seeums) were the worst on the entire river, and the water in the slough though flowing well was little better than a mud slide (I dare you to cook with

that stuff) but what the hell it was home (to rephrase a comment from Tom Lehrer's Dixie). We were almost within sight of our goal; we could see the quarry operation at the north end of Wrangell Island through the slot between Kadin Island and the hill on Little Dry Strait Island. I saw my first sun dog in warm weather. Robert failed to catch the large fish that broke the surface near shore for an hour or so (in fairness, we could see maybe a few mm into the river).

Night 21; N 56deg 37' 30", W 132deg 31' 35". 21 km to Wrangell.

12 August: After slogging down the Sound (we had somehow grown to like paddling downstream in a 10+ km/hr current), we reached Wrangell in the early

afternoon; we passed the ferry dock and pulled in under (literally) the cruise-ship dock. The kayakers from Shakes tub were there, preparing for a

trip to Skagway. We went to the Alaska Vistas office (go straight ahead from the end of the ramp) and asked Sylvia there how to check in with the Customs

& Immigration Officer. She got him (he doubles as the town chiropractor) on the phone and let us use it in turn to provide him with the information. She also

gave us instructions on how to find the campground; alas, we pulled in about 100 m too early, by the cemetery at Cemetery Point. The campground (with toilets,

running water, etc) is actually located south of the cemetery and the baseball diamond. After setting up, we walked to town (about 40 minutes to the centre),

found the right laundromat (turn left before the Brig Bar; the one closer to town lacks showers), did laundry and had showers! at $US 0.25 per minute. Robert

and I decided to honour a great trip by going over to the Brig and having a few beer… he wasn't impressed with the local product. We returned to the

laundromat where Robert phoned a family acquaintance who joined us at supper at the nearby pizza place. He's a really friendly guy who arrived in Wrangell

from Ontario 18 years before and settled in (he is now on town council); he told us that the garnet part of Garnet Ledge had been closed recently. He

drove us back to our camp site; the dredging operation carried on in full swing until well into the little hours.

Night 22.

13 August: We packed up, walked to town, saw Chief Shakes Island, the museum (excellent) and the petroglyphs, bought garnet, enjoyed the can-can show,

ate and generally pretended to be tourists. Around 4 pm we returned to the campsite, loaded the boats, paddled to the ferry dock and got our stuff up the rocky climb. The ferry left promptly at 6:30 pm. On board were some younger staff from the salmon factory We had supper and turned in, the four of us sharing a cabin. More adventurous (or less affluent) souls slept on deck and others slept in the movie lounge.

Cruise Ship at Wrangell	Chief Shakes Island
Can Can Show in Wrangell

14 August: We arrived in Prince Rupert on time; we were the last off and had a long wait at Customs & Immigration. We got to the B&B and unloaded the

truck. After a good lunch at the Breakers Pub downtown (by the cove), we looked into various tours at the nearby visitor place. We were rather late for the

bears. Whalewatching looked like fun but eventually we decided to do our own thing. We shopped, returned to the B&B, and got to work, spending several

hours sorting and repacking and throwing out stuff; and we did more laundry. We had supper at a seafood restaurant; the fresh fish was good but the rest not.

Robert and Erwin accosted a kayaker parked across from the B&B in a futile effort to run Butze rapids (reversing tidal rapids) the next day.

Giant Tree Stump on Butze Rapids Trail 15 August: We hiked the Butze Rapids and Grassy Bay nature trails and then the lake trail farther from town. The Butze Rapids Trail in particular was very beautiful with lush vegetation. We had lunch, returned to town, visited the Museum of Northern BC and the sunken garden and had another supper. In the evening, we drove up the ghastly road (don't even think about doing it in a car) to the top of Mount Hays but arrived too late to see the sunset. Prince Rupert is a nice place and there are many things to do. I'd like to go back and spend a week or so there; I'd be sure to see the whales and the bears.

The remainder of the trip is described in Section VII ("Driving Out and Back").

Home : Table of Contents Section I: Assorted information. Section II: Upper Stikine: day-by-day report. Section III: Lower Stikine: day-by-day report. Section IV: Distances. Section V: Declinations, etc. Section VI: Alternative logistics (email messages from Hank Hays). Section VII: Driving Out and Back.