Beardslee Islands in Glacier Bay; Juneau

Alaska: Glacier Bay, Beardslee Islands, Juneau

For planning this trip, we first found great flights round trip to Juneau ($360) and began looking at what was nearby. Unfortunately, the flight costs went up some before we actually booked the flights; however, it was still a great deal for Alaska. We found Glacier Bay National Park and through research, found some helpful sites (see below). The sites gave us valuable information about kayaking and backcountry camping.

https://www.glacierbayseakayaks.com/

http://alaska.guide/City/1403078/Gustavus

https://adventuresinalaskablog.wordpress.com/

The night before we left, we only slept for 3 hours. We had four flights and 3 layovers on our way to Gustavus, Alaska. We landed in Juneau which only has 5 gates and then were able to get on our last flight. The flight normally takes only 13 minutes but due to weather, ours took 23 minutes. Shortest flight ever! :)

We took the stairs coming off the plane and joked that it felt like we were on a private jet. It was misting and the baggage claim was outside. It was raining when we arrived at Bartlett Cove. The lodge was out of bear spray unfortunately so we went to our park ranger orientation. We ended up setting our camping supplies in the rain too and it was foggy. The campground was about 1/2 mile from the lodge. We decided due to weather and our lack of sleep, we would get dinner at the lodge. We were all exausted and when you cook, you have to do it in the inter-tidal zone on the beach. The downside is you are exposed to the elements as there is no shelter on the beach. I slept great that night.

Barlett Cove in Glacier Bay National Park

Day 2: We woke up and ate breakfast on the beach. We then went towards Gustavus to the Toshco to purchase bear spray. We also ended up getting 5 gallon collapsible water containers. We definitely over-packed water for the backcountry portion but we decided to be safe than sorry. There is only 1 place in the islands to get freshwater. When we returned we ate lunch on the beach again and hiked the Bartlett river trail. There are about 5 trails in Bartlett Cove and this is the second longest. We had to keep a close eye on the trail floor due to roots and rocks. It was a rainforest and everything was covered in green. At the end of the trail, we saw two bald eagles. We stayed for a while and watched them fly from the beach back and forth to the trees.

When we returned, we went on a run and checked out Forest Loop Trail. We also discovered tent sites with permanent tarps at the far side of the campground. When we returned, Kaitlin and Tim had arrived. They went to their backcountry orientation at the park station and set up camp. It then started pouring but we managed to boil water on the cooking stove and make dinner. We enjoyed talking as a group and shared some Bourbon. We went to bed and woke up around 6:45 am.

View from Bartlett Cove

Forest Loop Trail

We enjoyed coffee on the beach and a light breakfast. This morning is when we were leaving in our kayaks for the backcountry portion of our trip. We definitely underestimated how long it would take to sort and correctly pack our gear for the kayaks. We weren't done packing for the orientation at 9:00 am. We met Leah from Glacier Bay Sea Kayaks. She was wonderful. We did end up (4 of us) getting light rain pants. Everyone rented the tall rain boots too. Overall on the trip my rain coat held up well except the second kayaking morning when I think it had enough and gave up. Luckily the rain subsided and my fleece kept me warm. We fit our supplies into the kayak and got our rainboots, spray skirts, maps, and fiberglass kayaks. Andrew had also laminated all the tide charts and maps before our trip.

Special thank you to Glacier Bay Sea Kayaks for the great kayak rentals and all the advice!

All of the guys sat in the back and used the rudders to steer. All of our kayaks were completely packed. When we first began, the waves were a little choppy and everyone was anxious to get to the shore of Lester prior to the boats reaching close to us. Andrew and I saw a harbor porpoise. We all saw a bald eagle by the island too and managed to avoid the boats. There was a lot of kelp but it seemed to serve as a good boundary of not being too far from shore but deep enough for good kayaking. There were a few times we had to watch out for very large rocks though as the fiberglass is delicate. All of a sudden two huge sea lions popped up very close to our kayak. I got my camera out and Andrew commented that they "looked mad!" and to paddle quickly. We got a good laugh out of that. Then, we heard and saw water from a whale's blowhole. There were a couple of humpback whales to our left as we came around Lester and Young islands. A few curious harbor seals would also pop their heads up. Kaitlin and Tim saw a whale breach near a cruise ship. Motorized boats are allowed in Sitakaday Narrows but not in the Beardslees or East Arm. We were making good time.