Inian Islands & Idaho Inlet
The USA Today weather map shows America sunstruck in a red hot heat wave. Well, that map doesn’t apply here. This is USA Yesterday. Glacial cool, tracked with bears, anointed with rain. Undaunted by all things wet – perhaps even inspired by it – we sallied forth into the gray, gauzy waters of Icy Strait, first by morning Zodiac around the Inian Islands, then, this afternoon, by foot and kayak in Idaho Inlet.
Steller sea lions glided along the flooding tide as we motored by, our cameras ready. Robust and rambunctious, the sea lions approached closely with long whiskers and wide eyes. The young, bull thrashing salmon they had caught in the tide. At times we could track them swimming below our boats, while overhead tufted puffins strafed us, and bald eagles descended off their high perches. Tucked into near-shore kelp beds, sea otters busily ate shellfish, all while in the distance we could see the Fairweather Range and the dark shoulder of Cape Spencer descending into Cross Sound; where the protected waters of the Inside Passage open into the Gulf of Alaska.
It began to rain at mid-day, but we did not care. At Fox Creek, at the entrance of Idaho Inlet, we alternated activities, hiking into the Tongass National Forest, and kayaking around the Shaw Islands. The hike was rich with wildflowers and bear tracks, and a million droplets of water suspended on every blossom and leaf. The kayaking was magical as well, with rain rolling off our colorful kayaks before beading like miniature diamonds on the calm sea.
We laughed in the rain and told stories, and upon returning home, when it rains, we’ll remember a world that writes its name with water, and makes us grateful to be alive, together with family and friends, enfolded in the beauty and bounty of nature.
The USA Today weather map shows America sunstruck in a red hot heat wave. Well, that map doesn’t apply here. This is USA Yesterday. Glacial cool, tracked with bears, anointed with rain. Undaunted by all things wet – perhaps even inspired by it – we sallied forth into the gray, gauzy waters of Icy Strait, first by morning Zodiac around the Inian Islands, then, this afternoon, by foot and kayak in Idaho Inlet.
Steller sea lions glided along the flooding tide as we motored by, our cameras ready. Robust and rambunctious, the sea lions approached closely with long whiskers and wide eyes. The young, bull thrashing salmon they had caught in the tide. At times we could track them swimming below our boats, while overhead tufted puffins strafed us, and bald eagles descended off their high perches. Tucked into near-shore kelp beds, sea otters busily ate shellfish, all while in the distance we could see the Fairweather Range and the dark shoulder of Cape Spencer descending into Cross Sound; where the protected waters of the Inside Passage open into the Gulf of Alaska.
It began to rain at mid-day, but we did not care. At Fox Creek, at the entrance of Idaho Inlet, we alternated activities, hiking into the Tongass National Forest, and kayaking around the Shaw Islands. The hike was rich with wildflowers and bear tracks, and a million droplets of water suspended on every blossom and leaf. The kayaking was magical as well, with rain rolling off our colorful kayaks before beading like miniature diamonds on the calm sea.
We laughed in the rain and told stories, and upon returning home, when it rains, we’ll remember a world that writes its name with water, and makes us grateful to be alive, together with family and friends, enfolded in the beauty and bounty of nature.
