Days 19-20: July 9-10, 2009

We spent most of Thursday morning packing our gear and cleaning the house, and by midday we were ready to go.  We had a quick lunch at Andy's and watched a photo slideshow and then departed for Kodiak Airport.  For the next 18 hours, we made our way back to New York (with a quick stop in downtown Anchorage for dinner).  We flew through the night from Anchorage to Dallas and then on to LaGuardia, and we were excited to arrive home to our families.  

Stay tuned for a final post in the next few days, which will include more photos and a few videos.  Here's a photo of our group, with Andy, at the Kodiak Airport.  Click the photo to see the full-size version.

Day 18: July 8, 2009

"Sudden Movements is almost as fun as Hide the Cub."  --Gus Halper

With our work completed, we slept in today until 9am, had a leisurely morning, and headed to the beach.  We timed our arrival to coincide with the low tide; by 10:30, the beach was enormous and completely flat.  We played a game of soccer and a game of ultimate Frisbee, though our field was eventually washed away as the tide came back in.  We moved away from the rising waters to enjoy sandwiches for lunch; a few of us even swam to beat the heat, as it reached about 70 degrees today.  It was a fun experience to swim near Kodiak Harbor, as the air was hot, the water was cool and refreshing, and snow-capped peaks rose not far from the beach.  

We left the beach and headed for Pillar Mountain, which rises over the village of Kodiak.  The mountain is the site of the island's cellular towers as well as three new windmills.  Kodiak gets most of its energy from the Terror Lake hydroelectric dam; when the mills come online, the island will get almost all of its energy from renewables.  Each windmill blade is 200 feet long, and they emit a soft, eerie hum as they rotate.  The summit of the mountain offered a wonderful panorama of the harbor and the nearby mountains, and we enjoyed the views and some more time in the sun.  

We came down the mountain to make a quick stop in Kodiak and then returned to Andy's for dinner.  After some downtime at the house, we headed through the woods to Crow Beach for a bonfire.  As Ethan and Andy gathered driftwood to stoke the flames, the rest of us laughed around the fire, skipped stones into Monashka Bay, and took photos of a spectacular sunset.  

In two weeks of work, we moved thousands of pounds of earth during our trail maintenance, and we collected almost 4000 pounds of marine debris (no small feat, considering most of it came in small pieces of plastic).  So the night on the beach offered an idyllic conclusion to a wonderful trip.  We went to the beach with just a bit of newspaper and a match, and within 20 minutes we had a fire roaring on the Alaskan shore.  For the next three hours, we were content -- pleased, even -- to just enjoy our world.  The fire crackled and snapped, the waters retreated as the tide went out, the sunset blazed along with the fire...this all might sound a bit saccharine, but it was fulfilling to know that in just 18 days, we helped to improve the condition of this wonderful location.  It was just as satisfying to realize that we actually could make such an improvement, not by leaving these locations untouched, but rather by inserting ourselves gently into the environs and helping to secure their future.  We tweaked the premise of "leave no trace" a small amount and instead left behind sustainable trails and clean beaches.  Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/mtgn9e

Day 17: July 7, 2009

We began the day with a pancake breakfast and then headed out for more bear viewing.  As we approached the beach in the skiff, we could see the mother (from Monday) and her two cubs.  We made our way to a bluff over the Thumb River and watched them as they napped on the riverbank.  As we watched, we caught sight of a few other bears spread across the area, and one of them crossed the river about 20 meters from us.

After watching these four bears for about 30 minutes, our bear guide led us back to the skiff.  On the way, we looked up yesterday's mountain and spotted the trail we'd blazed.  Coming down the trail was a sow with a cub, and they covered the difficult terrain much more quickly than we had.  We watched intently as they reached the lake shore -- about 200 meters from us -- and made their way into the lake for a quick swim.  After making their way back to the beach, both bears headed in our direction, and they eventually passed within 20 feet of us.  

Farther down the beach, these two bears were turned back by the sow and two cubs.  So, we had a second close viewing, this one from about 15 feet.  We and the bears kept our distance from the other, and the bears moved into the grass as they approached and then came back to the beach once they were past us.  It seemed the sow was only looking for food; the salmon aren't running yet in the Thumb River, and it spent the entire time eating grasses.  

We eventually made our way back to Camp Island, had a quick lunch, and then departed by floatplane.  One group had an aerial tour of Kodiak's last glacier, while the other saw a herd of mountain goats on a mountaintop snow pack.  After our arrival at Trident Pass floatplane basin, we returned to the Island C in order to offload the marine debris.  With the help of a boom truck and 13 sets of hands, we unloaded the debris in about three hours.

We returned to Andy's and enjoyed pizza for dinner.  Tonight was relaxing, as we took advantage of the creature comforts at Andy's -- like electricity and running water -- and we also played more Scrabble.  Click below's for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/nn39gn

Day 16: July 6, 2009

"Knock knock."  

"Who's there?"

"Control freak.  Now you say control freak who."  --Andy Schroeder

Andy made breakfast hash this morning, and then we headed out onto Camp Island to pull orange hawkweed.  The hawkweed is an invasive species on the island, and it threatens the pushki plant which makes Camp Island a natural bear habitat.  The plant is a member of a dandelion family, and it grows fairly close to the ground.  In thick waist-high vegetation, the tiny flowers were difficult to find, but we returned to the cabins with a few hundred plants.

After lunch, we decided to explore a nearby mountain.  The hike was slow-going at first, as the terrain was rough, the vegetation was thick, and the climb was steep.  And, in such a remote location, there was no trail up the mountain.  So, moving in a train of 11 people, we literally made our own trail and climbed for about three hours.  After gaining about 1800 feet of elevation (out of 3000), we decided to stop and just enjoy the views over Karluk Lake, Thumb Lake, Camp Island, and the nearby mountains.  It was spectacular Alaska scenery -- again -- and we reveled in the fact that we were 11 of the very small number who'd ever been up that mountain.  (It's remote enough that it remains unnamed.)

On our hike down the mountain, we watched a few bears play and hunt in the Thumb River and Karluk Lake.  By the time we reached the shore of the lake, the bears were only a few hundred meters in the distance, so when we boarded the skiff to head back to the cabins, we headed first in the direction of the bears.  We watched intently as some ursine drama unfolded on the beach, just 100 meters from the skiff.  A mother with three newborn cubs headed in the direction of a larger sow with two older cubs; the smaller mother was heading into the wind and the larger one was out of sight, so we were expecting a confrontation.  At about 10 meters, the smaller bear caught wind of the larger and began to retreat with her three cubs.  The larger sow (and her two cubs) took off down the beach to give chase, and eventually the two mothers squared off.  They tangled with each other for about 30 seconds and eventually retreated in opposite directions.  The encounter wasn't fatal -- or even that vicious -- but both bears moved swiftly and were quite territorial.  (In today's photos, the smaller sow is on the right, showing her teeth.)  

After our return from bear viewing, we took a quick dip in the lake to cool off and then enjoyed a dinner of hamburgers and grilled chicken, macaroni and cheese and vegetables.  A few of us also enjoyed a turn in the island banya, and then we turned in for the night.  Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/kqy44a

Day 15: July 5, 2009

(Note: After several days with no internet access, we're back in Kodiak.  We posted entries for our time on Shuyak Island and our first day on Camp Island, and we'll post the remaining entries by Thursday.  Check below for descriptions and photos.)

"Ummm, I ordered a vegetarian meal?"  --Mike Pauker

"Is it a little stuffy back there?  I'll put down the window." --Josh, our floatplane pilot

We finished packing early this morning and headed to Trident Pass for our floatplane rides.  We traveled in two separate planes, and the rides were incredible.  We essentially flew down the spine of Kodiak Island to Camp Island, so for most of the journey, we looked out the windows at mountains on either side of the plane.  It was a spectacular way to see the island.  We wore headsets and enjoyed chatting with our pilots, and both Josh and Adam were friendly and willing to answer our questions.  And, as you can see from our Quote of the Day, one benefit of flying at 3500 feet is that we could actually roll down the window (!!) in order to control the temperature of the cabin.  

We landed in Karluk Lake and unloaded on Camp Island, where we went to work making lunch.  The cabins are sparse but functional; the shelves are fully stocked, and we collect and boil lake water in order to cook and clean dishes.  After lunch, we went for our first bear viewing expedition.  We saw one large bear in the Thumb River and another bear on the edge of the lake.  The cabin manager, Alex, said there were relatively few salmon in the river, so the bears may be hard to find this week.  These first two animals, however, were really impressive.  As large as they were, they moved over land and through the water with ease.  

We managed to visit Camp Island on one of the hottest days of the summer, and by the time we returned from the bear viewing, we were all uncomfortably hot and sweaty.  So, even though the lake was frigid (it's fed by the North Pacific), we all wound up in the water for a quick, refreshing dip.  As cold as the water was, this was one of the highlights of the trip so far.  Our morale probably hasn't been higher than during the 30 seconds or so we all whooped and screamed together in the water (mostly out of enjoyment but partially out of a fear of frostbite).  Justin even managed to stay in for a full 20 minutes, and since Mr. Hoek offered him 50 cents per minute, Justin made a quick ten dollars!

Tonight's dinner was grilled chicken, broccoli, and Kraft macaroni and cheese.  Katie and the interns also made an apple dessert and a chocolate chip bar dessert for today's birthday celebration.  Mr. Hoek turned 30, and his family sent a few cards and about two dozen photos from the past 30 years; a few of the interns really enjoyed seeing photos from his "Awkward Years".  

We turned in by about 11:30pm, and we'll start tomorrow with an invasive species removal.  Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/ms53gn

Day 14: July 4, 2009

We slept this morning until 8am and awoke for our final breakfast on board.  After filling up on pancakes and bacon, we split into two groups.  One group paddled the kayaks toward Whale Pass while the other group visited a nearby cannery.  The kayakers enjoyed the wildlife on the water, and we spent some time watching a tide rip in the middle of Kuprianov Strait.  (A tide rip is a section of water where the current moves quickly.)  We could see the rip from a distance, and as we paddled closer to it, we could hear just how quickly the water was moving.  It was pretty impressive, as the water sounded like river rapids, but it was flowing through the ocean strait.  We watched as a group of gulls took advantage of the current.  They'd fly to an upstream spot in the rip, drift several hundred meters with the current and feed on small fish as they drifted, then fly back to the beginning of the rip and drift down again.  The paddlers eventually pulled out at a beach in Whale Pass, and the Island C came to pick them up.  The other group spent about two hours at the cannery, where our deckhand Emily played guitar with Gus.     

After loading the boat, we set our course and headed back to Kodiak.  The return trip took about six hours, and we passed the time watching the wildlife and scenery, enjoying the sunshine on the decks, fishing, and watching episodes of Scrubs.  After arriving Kodiak Harbor, we unloaded the boat and bid farewell to the crew.  We saw this week that life on a boat presents some interesting  challenges.  There are plenty of places in the archipelago where the water is too shallow for the Island C, and there are also plenty of places where there aren't docks to use.  So we'd anchor the boat in a deep bay or cove and then shuttle around in the skiffs.  We also needed to adjust to the gentle rocking of the ship, and we took sea showers to focus on water and energy conservation, as well.  The boat itself was pretty incredible: with a fuel capacity of 15000 gallons, the Island C could easily sail from Kodiak to Seattle without needing to refuel.  It could store almost that much freshwater, as well, and it had no problem accommodating the 16 of us.  There was also plenty of space for us to store all the debris we found -- it was the ideal vessel for this part of our voyage.    

And the language on a boat is wonderful, too: port, starboard, windward, leeward, galley, head, gangway, wheelhouse, helm, boom, winch, skiff, hawser, cleat, gaf...saying any of these words with a gentle spray in your face makes you feel like a genuine mariner.  

We finished the evening with dinner at Henry's Restaurant and a birthday celebration for Emily.  We had burgers and cheesesteaks for dinner, and Betsy (Andy's girlfriend) brought a Cupcake Cake for dessert.  Back at Andy's, we unloaded our gear, did a bit of laundry, and prepared to travel to Camp Island.  Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/mt7ao5

Day 13: July 3, 2009

"Mike, it's essentially just a glorified sparkler."  --Trevor Jones, captain

We were back on a normal schedule this morning, and we were awake at 7am and on the beach by about 8:15.  Today was our last day of marine debris cleanup, and we collected more debris today than any other day this week.  We removed the remaining three sections of webbing/netting/fishing line, and the first section easily weighed between 250 and 300 pounds (it took four of us to drag it down the beach to load in a supersack).  We collected close to 1000 pounds of debris today, which was a nice way to finish our week of cleanup.  We're split on whether we prefer trail work or debris cleanup.  In the first case, we started with mostly untouched woodlands and left behind a trail; in the second, we began with a beach strewn with fishing detritus and tried to leave behind nothing.  

We returned to the Island C at about 1pm and sailed out of Big Bay.  At this point, we're pretty efficient at moving from one place to the next.  It takes all of us working together, but we can load the debris into the holds, hoist the supersacks onto the upper deck, load the kayaks into the skiffs, hoist the skiffs to the upper deck, and bring up the anchor in about 30 minutes.  We sailed southwest in the Shelikof for approximately eight hours, and we passed the time watching the incredible scenery.  There were spectacular snow-capped mountains on both sides of the strait; we also saw a small pod of fin whales and two large groups of Dall's porpoises.  The porpoises were thrilling to watch, as both groups approached the boat from the south and turned around when they reached us to swim out in front of the boat.  Standing on the bow, we watched as the porpoises leapt and dove just feet in front of us.  A few of us also watched movies and spent time in the wheelhouse with Andy and our captain, Trevor.  

Katie delivered tonight's presentation, and she spoke about environmental engineering and New York City's drinking water.  We finished the evening anchored in Port Bailey, between Bare Island and Dry Spruce Island, where we celebrated the Fourth of July by using flares as makeshift fireworks.  Ships like the Island C are required to carry flares to signal for help in times of distress, but the flares expire after three years.  Since flares typically never get used, most vessels have a surplus of flares onboard.  So, after alerting the Coast Guard of our location (yes, really!), Trevor fired two parachute flares from the deck of the boat and the interns burned smoke flares.  It wasn't completely dark out -- because it never is -- and it technically wasn't even the Fourth in Alaska.  But we had to alert the Coast Guard, so we all agreed this was just as dramatic as the Macy's display over the Hudson River.  Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/npqr7l

Day 12: July 2, 2009

We altered our schedule a bit today and slept an extra hour (until 8am), and we awoke to French toast for breakfast.  (Mike, the cook, made it with bread he made onboard, and it was excellent.  We realize, however, that details like these might change your perceptions of our voyage!)  After breakfast, we sailed out of Carry Inlet and headed for Big Bay, which is on the west side of Shuyak Island.  The voyage around the northern edge of the island took about four hours, though we did stop for an hour to do a bit of fishing.  We brought up four more large halibut, so there will be plenty of fresh fish for the next three days.

We arrived in Big Bay by mid-afternoon and went right to work on a nearby beach.  This particular beach was almost a "double" beach -- it faced Big Bay on one side and the Shelikof Strait on the other; Mount Douglas and Fourpeaked Mountain rose in the distance across the strait.  (The Shelikof is named for Grigorii Shelikhov, who in 1784 became the first Russian to defeat the native Alutiiq people.)  Last year's ITN crew cleaned the same beach about a year ago, but it was again littered with debris.  We worked for four hours and collected more plastics and fishing gear, but this particular location had four large sections of netting, webbing, and fishing line that were caught in massive pieces of driftwood.  A team of three of us removed one of the sections, but we saved the other three for tomorrow when we can come back with a reciprocating saw.  It's difficult to cut through the webbing and hawser, and the hawser itself is quite heavy: just a four-foot section weighed between 10 and 15 pounds.  Tangled in the same collection of line was a section of high-seas drift netting, which has been outlawed by a consortium of Pacific Rim nations, including the United States.  Andy took a photo of the precise location and tagged the photo with latitude/longitude coordinates in order to report it to the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation.  

At about 6pm, we returned to the ship for dinner.  We were joined by the Shuyak State Park rangers, and we shared an excellent chicken dinner.  For dessert -- and Gus's birthday! -- Mike made a delicious chocolate cake.  Gus opened a birthday present from home, and we're all jealous of his custom-made t-shirt.  After dinner, we loaded the skiffs and followed the rangers back to the ranger station.  The station itself was spectacular; Ranger Kevin Murphy, who led our efforts at Abercrombie State Park, custom built the station over a three-year period during the late 1990s.  He and his crew used only timber cut from the site, and you can see in today's photos just how nice it is.  It's also the epitome of a ``green'' building.  The rangers use only  wind and solar power, their water is collected in a cistern from rainwater runoff, and they get hot water by heating a five-gallon container on the wood stove.  (For a high-efficiency shower, they connect a hose and valve to the bucket.)  It hardly seemed like hard living, though, with a banya out back and world-class views out the front door.  

We left the ranger station in the skiffs and cruised to the base of Mountain 508, which is named for its elevation (in feet).  The trail to the summit was narrow and steep, but we made quick work of the hike.  Our reward was a gorgeous sweeping vista of Big Bay and the Shelikof, and most of us took photos from the top.  We traveled back down the mountain and returned in the skiffs to the Island C, where we cleaned up for an hour and then turned in for the night.  Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/m2rxsz

Day 11: July 1, 2009

"Where the h@ll is everyone?!"  --Justin Stewart

After breakfast this morning, we piled into the skiffs and cruised out of Carry Inlet to today's beach.  We split into three teams and worked until noon, and we collected about two dozen garbage bags and filled four supersacks.  Jasmine found her souvenir for the trip -- a glass float! -- and we found even more commercial fishing gear.  We managed to pack all the garbage and the twelve of us (our engineer, Harry, worked, too) into the skiffs, and we returned to the Island C.  

Upon our return to the ship, we met two kayakers who paddled over to the boat.  They were visiting Shuyak from Anchorage, and we invited them to share our soup and sandwiches for lunch.  After lunch, we again split into a hiking group and a kayaking group.  The paddlers visited a white sand beach and saw a harbor seal with two pups; the hikers made their way through the spruce forest and along the beach, where they saw two jellyfish washed up onshore.  The hikers also made VHF contact with the park ranger station, and the rangers are expecting our arrival tomorrow.  Hopefully they'll help us get a quick message to our families.  

Andy gave tonight's evening presentation, and he offered information about the mammals of the Archipelago.  By now, we've seen several of these mammals, so it was informative to have some more information about them.  At the end of the evening, Harry returned from an hours-long fishing voyage, and he arrived with three more large halibut.  He and Jasmine filleted them on the back deck -- it looks like there will be more good eating for the rest of the week!  Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/l26bbe

Day 10: June 30, 2009

"Which is it: every time there's a rainbow a unicorn is born or every time a unicorn is born there's a rainbow?"  --Jasmine Rebadavia

We began the day back on Perevalnie Beach.  We worked in two groups: one hiked to an adjacent beach (through a beautiful forest), while the other stayed closer to the original beach.  We found items similar to those we found yesterday -- including a second hypodermic needle, as well as more floats and plastic bottles -- and we finished in that location by mid-morning.  After our work on the beach, we headed back to the Island C and loaded the debris into the holds.  We also loaded the four kayaks into the two skiffs and then the skiffs onto the upper deck of the boat; it's impressive how efficiently we make use of the deck space, as the Island C is carrying all of us, our gear, and six smaller boats.    

Around noon, we brought up the anchor and made a 90-minute transit to Carry Inlet.  The weather was cool and misty, so we stayed inside for the transit and amused ourselves with the Movie Game.  When we arrived at the inlet, we brought the skiffs and kayaks back down and split into groups for the afternoon.  Yesterday's hikers were today's kayakers and vice versa, and today's scenery was just as spectacular.  The paddlers enjoyed a long, relaxing voyage.  They stopped at Red Buoy Beach, which was cleaned last year by ITN, and found it to be in good condition.  Moving on, they made their way to Skiff Passage, where they had to wait for the tide to bring higher water in order to make it through the passage.  After an hour or so -- of sunshine on the beach! -- they paddled on to Middle Lake, where they portaged their boats back to the edge of Carry Inlet.  From there, it was just a few minutes back to the Island C.  The hikers made their way through another plush, mossy forest and hiked around three lakes.  The wildlife was abundant again, as they saw ringnecks, loons, black oyster catchers, and cormorants; they also saw a beaver, several otters, and two porpoises.

After dinner, Rich presented some information on the birds of Kodiak Archipelago.  There's an incredible variety of birds here, some of which travel between Hawaii and Alaska with the changes in the season.  Several interns took their first sea shower today -- get wet, turn water off, lather up, turn water back on, rinse -- and we turned in for the night.  Click below for today's photos.

http://tinyurl.com/lp883x