Before draw tags came out, Danielle and I were planning to do a late season sheep hunt together. We booked a ticket for my Mom to come up and watch the kids for 10 days. But when tags came out showing I drew the south road system Kodiak mountain goat tag, I knew we wouldn’t have time to do both a goat and sheep hunt… so our plans changed (sheep was no longer an option).
Actually, this hunt was a long time in the making. After the
first time I drew the tag, went solo, brought home a goat, and showed Mom the
pictures, she was hooked. She wanted me to take her to Kodiak the next time I
drew the goat tag. Well, tags aren’t exactly easy to draw, but somehow, I drew
the same tag three years later. Excitedly, I let Mom know about it and we
started planning for an epic Kodiak adventure. A few months prior to the hunt,
Mom found out she had colon cancer and needed emergency surgery to remove most
of her colon. The mood quickly shifted from an adventure of a lifetime, to a
fight of a lifetime.
Long story short, she kicked cancer’s ass, again, and her
surgery and post operative recovery went amazing. Regardless of her progress,
she was in no condition to be able to tag along on the hunt. As a result, I
ended up solo hunting the tag again. For the second time, I brought home a goat
and had an amazing time. Mom was again jealous of the adventure and begged for
me to draw the hunt a third time. I told her I would try, but results are
random… although I do seem to get lucky.
And lucky I was… drawing the south road system Kodiak
mountain goat tag for the third time in 2023!
When the tags came out, I let my mom know that we didn’t
need her to watch the kids for our sheep hunt anymore, because we needed her to
come with on a Kodiak goat hunt! She was psyched, and so was I. However, it
wasn’t going to be just me and Mom; the entire family was going to come too!
Although the plans shifted a little bit from the first year
I went solo hunting on Kodiak, this one was still lining up to be amazing. The
2023 plan was to load up the truck camper, ferry it across to Kodiak, hunt on
nice days, explore on not so nice days, and enjoy doing whatever we wanted
(with the primary priority of putting a goat in the freezer). It was going to
be a tight fit with five people in a truck camper for 12 days with all gear,
but we were determined to make it work.
Mom got in a couple days before we were leaving. This
allowed us time to get everything packed up, plan meals, and make sure we
weren’t rushing to leave.
Day 1
We left immediately after work on Friday. We had an early
ferry out of Homer Saturday morning, so we would drive most of the way Friday
and sleep at a pull out somewhere along the highway. Once it got dark, we were
blessed by the northern lights coming out to play. We drove south, paralleling
Cook Inlet, trying to find a good place to pull over and take pictures. We
finally got far enough south to a well known lookout that we decided to spend
the night at. Danielle settled the kids in bed, and Mom and I went to take
pictures along the coast. It was a beautiful, clear night with a full moon, and
comfortable temperature. Although the auroras were already checked off Mom’s
bucket list, this was an amazing start to our adventure!
Day 2
We woke up early the next morning, well before our departure
time, because I had to check out a property in Homer we were considering
purchasing (it didn’t look as good as I was hoping). We then ventured our way
to the docks, checked in, and waited to board. I had to drive the truck onto
the ferry, but our priority was getting good bench seats to be able to lay down
on. I wouldn’t be able to get to the seats before they were taken, so I
instructed Danielle and Mom where to go, what to do, and how to save them (this
worked perfectly).
The ferry unfortunately does not allow anyone to be below
deck while moving, or else we would hang out in the camper the whole time. I
guess this is a safety issue in case the ship starts taking on water.
Regardless, there was plenty to explore and do above deck, and we had the next
12 hours to take it all in. The kids loved exploring, playing with the other
kids, and hanging out in the movie area. They also brought plenty of things to
do in their backpacks to keep them busy.
The seas were predicted to be BAD. This gave Danielle and
Mom a bit of anxiety because both of them get motion sickness fairly easy… and
the ferry did not disappoint! We all took motion sickness medication before
taking off, but it got really rough. It’s a good thing we had the bench seats
because we definitely needed to lay down with the rough seas. Luckily nobody in
our party got sick, but plenty of other people on the boat did! The seas
prevented us from doing too much, so we basically took it easy and lounged most
of the time.
As we got closer to Kodiak island, the seas started to get
more calm… which was welcomed. We were then able to enjoy looking out over the
ocean, to which we were promptly greeted by groups of whales breaching the
water. We also started to get cell phone service, which allowed us to check the
weather and tides. The next four days appeared clear and nice, so there wasn’t
much hurry to get in the mountains, however, the tides appeared to get higher
the later the trip got, so we decided tide pooling needed to happen as soon as
possible during the trip.
Once the ferry was docked, we collected all our gear, and
made our way below deck. We piled in the truck, and waited our turn to drive
off. About 30 minutes later, we were able to leave the ferry and start our
adventure on Kodiak. We immediately pulled over to rearrange the camper for the
10 days we were on the island. I had a hitch extension, cargo carrier, and aluminum
box in the camper which we brought out to make room and store items outside.
It was already dark outside and close to bedtime, so we
needed to find a place to sleep for the night. We decided to drive south until
we could find a “good enough” spot to sleep for the night. Good ol’ Google Maps
put us in a pull out across from the rodeo. It was right on the ocean which
teased everyone with breaking waves and inviting sounds… which put us to bed
eager to explore the island.
Day 3
After a fairly lazy morning of rolling out of bed, we had a
quick breakfast and got ready. It was a cloudy and windy morning, but that
didn’t stop us… we were determined to hang out at Fossil Beach for most of the
day. We put chest waders on the kids and bundled them up with layers and rain
gear, while the adults sported hippers and anything possible to stop the wind
and keep warm.
A short drive later and we were are the beach parking area.
There was nobody in sight and we had the place to ourselves! We all jumped out
and started heading down the beach toward the exposed rocks. Once there, we all
split up and explored on our own. We quickly realized why it was called Fossil
Beach, since most rocks were embedded with shells from many years ago.
Ashton focused on finding critters and fish under rocks and cervices,
while Josie played with see plants, anemones, and starfish. Mom dug around for
anything that looked cool, trying to find something small enough to take home
as a souvenir. Danielle and I kept watch, trying to lead them to different
things and avoid slip hazards.
There were rocks to climb, beach to comb, caves to explore,
and sea life to discover. We stayed out there as long as we could until the
incoming tide pushed us off the rocks and eventually back to the truck. We
changed out of our tide pooling clothes, chilled from the heavy winds and lack
of sun (at least it didn’t rain). We warmed up in the camper and downed a late
lunch before hitting the road, looking for our next adventure.
We didn’t get far on the road before stopping at another
beach, frequented by surfers on the island. There was a small stream next to
the parking area, and this is where Ashton realized that any water on the
island was bustling with fish! The girls were pooped and still cold, so they
rested in the truck, but Ashton was drawn to the creek like a powerful magnet. There
really wasn’t a concern for bears here since it was a very open beach and no
real cover for a bear to hide for a good 500 yards or so.
Pink salmon were staged throughout the braided creek. It was
about 30 yards wide, and shallow enough to walk across. It contained many
pockets where salmon could barely submerge themselves, but most salmon were
easily spotted trying to swim around the shallow braids or find a place deep
enough for them to be comfortable. Ashton took it upon himself to try and catch
as many salmon as possible, and “help” them get further upstream. He did this
for well over an hour and likely would have gone all day if we didn’t call him
back.
We decided to make our way toward the mouth of the Pasagshak
to see if people were catching fish and maybe try our luck. When we got there, a
herd of cattle were crossing the river, swimming right in front of a few hungry
seals… that was a funny site to see. Plenty of people were fishing, but we
could tell our timing was terrible because everyone started to leave due to
tide timing. We still casted a bit without any luck. We then decided to head
further up the river to check out Lake Rose Tead.
Lake Rose Tead is where the salmon of the Pasagshak head to
spawn. It’s public access, but has cattle roaming all around it. There are
common camping spots close to the road for bigger rigs, but larger campers or
RVs can’t really get to the lake. We had a difficult time driving to it, we
even had to stop and saw a couple branches out of the way, but we eventually
made it through the winding, wooded drive to the lake without damaging the
truck or camper.
We did a little fishing (no bites) and exploring, avoiding a
lazy bull that was hanging out near the shore. There was a guy and his son
fishing with salmon roe, hammering silver salmon. We chatted for quite a while.
He told us he knew of three Coast Guard hunters that were recently dropped off
at the Marin Ridge trail to hunt for goats (that’s where we were planning to
go, so that was good intel). They had a bunch of salmon roe, and knew we likely
didn’t have any, so they offered us a bag, which I gladly accepted!
We could see the mountain and goats on Shaft Peak from where
we were camping. That’s where I shot the last two goats, but we weren’t
planning to hunt it this year. We glassed the goats for a while, getting us
excited for our upcoming hunt.
We retired to the camper not long after getting settled. We
were only there temporarily since Danielle, Ashton, and I were headed out for
the hunt the next day. I wanted to introduce this location to Mom so she had it
as an option to camp with Josie while the rest of us were hunting.
Day 4
We woke up to crystal clear skies and a bright booming sun
rising over Shaft Peak. It rained overnight, but it was going to be a hot day,
so hopefully it would dry up the wet brush quickly. Regardless, we were excited
to have great weather for Ashton and Danielle’s first goat hunt. We weren’t in
a huge hurry knowing the brush still needed to dry, so we eventually got around
to eating breakfast, packing up, and heading to the trail head. The forecast
called for sunny and 60s for the next four days, meaning we had plenty of good
weather for an extended hunt, if needed.
We got to the Marin Ridge trail head parking area
mid-morning. There was already a truck there, so hunters were likely in there
already (separate from the Coast Guard hunters we were told about). We chose to
hunt this trail because it starts at nearly the top of the mountains, above
most brush, allowing hiking for miles along high ridges. This would make the
hiking easy for Ashton. The alternative options for hunting the area are
busting through tall and thick brush, something Ashton was way too small to do.
We then spent a good hour preparing our gear, eating some
snacks, hydrating, making sure Mom was comfortable without us, etc. The fridge
and electrical connections in the camper were acting weird and kept shutting
off… this was terrible timing because it threatened to ruin refrigerated items
and my Mom didn’t know how to trouble shoot. I did my best to fix it, but it
wasn’t too dependable, however, I got it functional enough for the food to last
a few days until we came back out.
We said our goodbyes and left Mom and Josie to begin our
hike in. The first part of the hike was a fairly steep, 500 feet climb up a
hillside. We didn’t have good hiking boots for Ashton, so he was stuck in his
Xtratuffs (which he basically lives in anyway). His feet probably stunk from
hiking in the heat, but he didn’t care. It wasn’t long before Danielle shed all
her clothes and was down to her sports bra too. I can’t hike without a shirt and
a heavy pack on, or else I would have done the same thing.
Once we got to the top of the ridge, we could see a couple
goats across the valley in a bowl… a nanny and a kid. While watching the goats,
we looked further up the trail and noticed movement there as well. This time,
it was other hunters. Four hunters were hiking the trail, exactly where we
wanted to go. This was disheartening, because I wanted to avoid off trail
hiking for Ashton, but it looked like we weren’t going to be able to stay on
the trail if we wanted to be successful.
We decided to cross the valley and head toward the bowl
where the nanny and kid were. Since they were present, we assumed nothing was
there recently to spoke other goats, and hoped a handful were on the other side
of the bowl. We dropped down a steep slope and started to make our way toward
the bowl. Once the grass ran out, we were faced with brush from hell! I didn’t
think it was going to be too bad, but it was TERRIBLE. We were still on a steep
slope, and needed to side hill to a traverse area, but the brush was as tall as
I was, riddled with thorns, still wet from the overnight rain, and so thick it
could barely be pushed aside. We were falling constantly, getting cut up all
over, and struggling to even move. It was very hard for me and Danielle to navigate,
but Ashton was really struggling. After about an hour of barely moving 100
yards, we decided to abort this plan, and hike up the mountain to the ridge to
the trail, making a full circle or where we were earlier. We couldn’t go back
to where we dropped due to it being too steep and far away, so we picked a new
path up, with as little brush as possible (which was still a bunch).
A couple hours later, we were back at the top of the ridge,
on the trail, completely exhausted. We decided it was a good time to take an
extended rest and eat our lunch. As we sat there, two hikers stopped to chat
with us. They were impressed by Ashton’s ability to hike and keep up (since
they were questioning their own ability, it gave them motivation).
We contemplated how to get to the bowl since the rest of the
trail was out of the question for hunting. After studying the GPS, I found a
better route to the bowl, starting further up the ridge trail. We were all in
agreement that it looked way better, so we headed that direction after downing
our food.
There was a good lookout at the top of our new drop down
toward the bowl, so we sat there for a few minutes to get a good lay of the
land. We could still only see the nanny and kid in the bowl, but we could also
now see the back side of Shaft Peak. Shaft Peak was miles away, but it
obviously had a dozen or so goats on the back side as well.
The drop below us looked very nice. It was grassy the entire
way, and ended along a spine that crossed the valley, almost like a bridge, to
the flat on the other side leading up to the bowl. As we headed down, Ashton
was cracking jokes and being a goofball. This was reassuring because we just
went through hell on the errant route, and he was acting like it never
happened. We quickly made it to the spine, which had a faint game trail across
it. There was a steep drop on both sides of the spine, which gave Danielle
anxiety thinking about Ashton not paying attention and rolling down one of them
(which almost happened).
We slowly made our way across to the flat, and up into the
base of the bowl… without ever needing to bushwhack… it was fabulous!! Once near
the bowl, the nanny and kid disappeared up and over the ridge they were on. As
we got closer to the bowl, we found a bear cache, with bones and dirt
everywhere. I’m not sure if it was a buried deer or goat though as I was hoping
to find the skull, but never did.
Our goal was to climb the bowl mountain side and peak over,
ideally finding a bunch of goat. We picked a good route that was safe from the
many outcrops, loose rocks, and steep sides. This eventually intercepted a goat
trail, which led us directly to the overlook we were hoping to peak over.
We came to the top, dropped our packs, put on clothes, and
slowly crept over… NOTHING! The other side of the bowl was empty ☹
Bummer! I left Ashton and Danielle and walked the bowl ridge for a while trying
to find something, but there were no goats anywhere. Something must have spoked
them out of there recently because this area often has goats hanging out.
We could now see the goats on Shaft Peak even better, and it
was littered with white dots! Too bad those weren’t near us. We sat at the top
of the bowl, snacking, and wondering what our next move would be. If I was
solo, I would have walked the new ridge (dangerous with steep sides and no
trail to follow), but it would not be wise to do with Danielle and Ashton. Since
the rest of the Marin Ridge trail was taken by hunters, we had no other option
than to pull out and attempt a Plan B hunt.
It was going to be a night of relaxed camping and tenting in
the high mountain bowl. We made our way down the steep mountain side, and found
a good spot to setup the tent, next to some running water and behind some
boulders in case the winds picked up. We got everything unpacked and just hung
out for the rest of the night, with amazing weather, under a beautiful sun set.
We ate our dinner and had a blast goofing around until it got dark (rock
throwing, city building, shadow puppets, jokes, imitations, etc.). We would
take out in the morning so I satellite messaged Mom that our hunt was a bust,
and we needed to meet at the parking lot at 11, assuming it would take about 3
hours to get out.
We headed for the tent once the sun dropped below the
horizon and it started to cool off. All three of us crammed into the 2-person
tent, sandwiching Ashton in the middle. We were hoping we would wake up and see
a goat above us along the ridge of the bowl, but if that didn’t happen, we
would likely make our way over to the base of Shaft Peak and get after the
goats we knew were scattered there.
Day 5
The night weather was great even though we were in a spot
that could get nasty. A dang fox kept bothering us through the night though,
smelling and scratching on the tent. Other than that, we slept great! We were
up at 7AM , giving us an hour to pack up and eat breakfast before the hike out.
A peak out the tent door revealed no goats on any part of the bowl, shucks.
We didn’t dilly dally too much… quickly tearing down camp
and stuffing our faces. The grass and brush were wet from the dew overnight; it
would likely take a couple hours of sun to evaporate it, however, the sun
wouldn’t be in the bowl until noonish time.
The hike out was uneventful, simply reversing the way we
went in. The difference this time was the amount of slugs we came across,
likely because everything was still wet from dew. These things were massive,
about as long as my pointer finger and as fat as a hot dog. Ashton and I kept a
close eye on the ground where we were walking to try and avoid smashing too
many of them.
We got to the parking lot about 10 minutes after 11; Mom was
there waiting for us. After we reunited, we found out that some
miscommunication wreaked havoc on their night last night. I let Mom know we
were coming out at 11, but I left off the day. She took that to mean coming out
at 11PM last night, a few hours after I messaged. She isn’t a hunter and
doesn’t live in Alaska, so she wouldn’t know that 11PM was well past dark and
not really feasible from the location coordinates that were sent along with the
message. Regardless, it was my fault, and I should have told her AM.
The prior night, Mom and Josie were in the parking lot,
waiting for us at 11PM (way past Josie’s bedtime). They waited there for hours
past our “return” time. This made my Mom panic and try to figure out what to
do. She didn’t have cell service in the parking spot, so she had to keep
driving many miles down the road to check her phone for a new message. She also
sent a couple texts to my satellite messenger, which I never got since I don’t
keep it on unless I needed it. At about 1AM, Josie was getting really tired and
Mom gave up, retreating to a camping spot with service, hoping that 11AM was
the intended pickup time. I felt terrible putting Mom in that situation, but
I’m glad she didn’t call for a rescue or anything. I learned that I need to be
extremely clear on all communication and to not assume I’m understood.
After being picked up, we headed north toward Chiniak. We
decided we would spend the day exploring another beach and hanging out until we
head back in after goats early the next day. On our way, we spotted more
livestock roaming free, this time, it was a group of about 10 horses, near and
on the road. Bison also roam the south side of the island, but unfortunately,
we didn’t get to see any on this trip.
As we were driving the coast, we found a random pullout with
plenty of beach and streams to explore. We were the only ones on the beach for
the miles up and down we could see. The tide was out and a huge school of
salmon was bubbling at the mouth of a very tiny, rocky stream that was emptying
into the ocean. Seals and sea lions were stacking up behind the salmon as they
tried to dodge the mammals and get into freshwater. Ashton took this as his
calling and again spent countless hours trying to “help” the salmon escape the
ocean and swim up the creek.
The girls explored the beach while I fished in the ocean. At
one point, Ashton and I walked the shallow stream up toward the road. We found
a deeper pool of water dark with clouds of fish. We called over Josie and both
Ashton and Josie spent some time trying to get the pinks to bite… which they
happily did. Josie was able to cast, catch, and land her very first salmon here,
which was super exciting. Ashton and I took turns seeing which lure the school
liked the best (which appeared to be anything that moved).
We spent the entire day here, enjoying the sun and light
breeze. It was extremely peaceful, safe, and relaxing. It was almost dinner
time and we decided to pack it up and head toward Shaft Peak in preparation for
tomorrow’s early departure. We pulled in to the gravel pit parking around 8PM.
Mom and Danielle worked on getting dinner ready while I prepared gear for
tomorrow’s hunt. We could see the top of Shaft Peak from our camping spot,
which had about five to six goats on it… all of which appeared to be nannies
and kids. That’s alright; I know from experience hunting this mountain (and
seeing goats from Marin Ridge) that billys were toward the top and on the other
side in the more steep terrain.
Shortly before bed, I broke the news to Ashton that he would
not be coming on this part of the hunt. He was very sad, and cried, but I knew
this was going to be too extreme for a 7 year old to be able to keep up and
stay safe. I know he would have fun with Josie and Mom, but it broke my heart
to tell him he couldn’t do what he had his heart set on.
Day 6
Danielle and I got up at 6:30AM and slowly snuck out of the
camper without waking anyone up. The same nannies and kids were on Shaft Peak,
and all goats looked calm and comfortable. There is no maintained trail to
Shaft Peak, only a few game trails and marker tape spots where prior hunters
have hiked before. The hike to Shaft is treacherous and not fun. I learned the
hard way the first time that going straight to it was a bad idea.
We started off heading away from the mountain toward the
nearest cliff face. Our path would entail climbing (literally) a steep outcrop
for about 1000 yards, traversing flat ground through thick alders, brush, and
trees for about two miles until it gradually peaks above tree line, then
ascending Shaft Mountain depending on where the goats are; the first and second
part would be the most difficult.
As we began our climb, we were pleased to find that the
leaves and shrubbery were dry. This meant we would stay dry as well. Although
the skies were clear, it was windy and very cold still (being wet would have
made it worse). Danielle wasn’t too surprised to find the same conditions we
faced on our errant detour down the hillside a couple days prior were now
directly in front of us again, except this time, we needed to go up! There is
no other way to put it… our climb for the first part of the hike was absolutely
terrible. Not only was the brush thick, taller than me, and ripping up our
clothes and skin from the thorns, but it felt like it was literally pushing us
back down the steep hill. I could barely safely navigate this hike, there is no
way Ashton would have been able to do it. In fact, it was so scary at some
points that Danielle had a panic attack similar to what used to happen often
when we first moved here and we were getting used to the heights of the
mountains. After about an hour of the worst ascent of Danielle’s life, we
finally made it to the brushy flats. We could see the gravel pit, road, and
general area of where the camper was since we didn’t get too far away from
where we started.
Construction trucks began pulling into the gravel pit to
start their work day. A few minutes later, a pickup truck pulled in and parked
right next to the camper (which we couldn’t see due to trees blocking it). This
had us a little worried, but we knew Mom could handle her own (and was packing
a .44 Mag for bear protection).
We then proceeded along the next two miles of the second
part of hike. We found many “trail” markers along the way, but whatever route
they were marking was long overgrown. The small deer trails we found were also
of no help since they could easily go under or around the thick alders blocking
our upright and broad bodies. We took a handful of snack breaks, bathroom
breaks, GPS breaks, and good luck item searching breaks. After about four hours
of hiking, we finally made It through the dense flats, and began peaking out
among the transition of alder fields to grass patches.
We weaved our way along a creek and through the grassy
patches to where the alders and brush petered out. We were now in the bowl
below Shaft Peak. In the past, I hunted it two different ways. The first time I
hiked right up the middle to a good lookout spot over the bowl. The second time
I took the far-right ridge and hiked the bowl around and to the peak. This
time, we planned go left of Shaft Peak, directly beneath the peak, and hike up
the back side. To do this, we would need to go directly at Shaft Peak, in the
open, and then tuck to the side through a pass on the West side, before
circling to the back and climbing to the top from there.
There were only two goats, a nanny and kid, in the entire
bowl and they were up high on the Shaft Peak side. They saw us, but didn’t
care, nor did we care about them since they weren’t our target. However, we
didn’t want goats to see us and get spooked, alerting others that something was
lurking below.
We slowly began climbing toward Shaft Peak. We wanted to get
up as close to it as possible, knowing goats were all around the top. This way
we could obstruct our view from them as opposed to hiking further out and in
better viewing lanes. We eventually got to a large boulder in the saddle
between Shaft and the mountain peak to west. We decided this was a good place
to rest and see if a goat would expose themselves on top of Shaft by walking
around to the front (we knew they were still mostly scattered on the back
side).
It wasn’t the best hiding spot. We could duck out of site,
but it wasn’t comfortable staying hidden. As we waited for the goats to round
the peak, we glassed the mountain to our west looking for deer. Surprisingly,
we found seven of them. Black tail deer are small, and bucks have tiny racks
typically. They were too far away to definitively tell through the binoculars
if they were bucks or does (can only shoot bucks this time of year), but we
were fairly sure they were all does and young deer.
After about an hour of sitting there and eating our lunch,
we decided this wasn’t a good spot. If the goats ever decided to round the peak,
it would be a 400-500 yard shot… a distance I’m not confident in shooting with
my .338. We decided to pack up our gear, hug Shaft Mountain, climb over the
saddle, and drop into a small flat on the back side of Shaft. While slowly and
quietly making our way there, I kept a close eye on the ridges directly above
us. At one point, I swear I saw something peak its head over, see us, and
immediately drop out of view. My eyes could have been playing tricks on us with
the sun and silhouettes, but this made me very paranoid that we may have
spooked the goats lounging on the backside.
As we climbed over the saddle and gazed into the flat on the
backside, we could see it was littered with large boulders, but no goats. One
large boulder caught my attention… it was huge, stood about 12 feet off the
ground, and looked like something cut it perfectly in half vertically. The
missing half (flat part) was facing directly north, away from Shaft. This would
allow us to get behind it and stay completely out of sight of the goats while
giving us extreme flexibility in movement and space.
We worked our way away from the side of the mountain and to
the rock in the flat, taking small, slow steps and watching the top of the
mountain as we stepped further away and potentially in the viewing lanes of any
resting goats. One slow step after another, we eventually got to the rock
without a goat seeing us. We were lucky nothing was lounging in the open at
that time.
This is when we discovered the negative side of this new
spot… it was so large and perfectly north of the sun, that it completely
blocked out the sun and casted a shadow over us. This was great for cover, but
not good for warmth. It was sunny out, but cool and windy on top of the
mountain. We also realized we were now in a position where a shot would require
an almost 60 degree angle shot up the mountain. We also realized, we couldn’t
see as much of the mountain face as we wanted to see since it was very ridgey
with pillars. Regardless, we decided it was worth waiting for a couple hours to
see if a goat moved into view.
Danielle got cold fairly quickly, and she stuck her feet out
in the sun like a bush trying to pull nutrients from its roots. We snacked on
food and kept out of sight, peaking up the mountain every once and a while. I
took some time to review the pictures I took of the mountain from our Marin
Ridge hike, and decided if no goats showed themselves, I had a good path picked
out where I would hike/climb the peak with fairly good shooting lanes all
around if/when I stumbled across a goat.
I soon got tired of sitting behind the rock, but instead of
taking the intended path up, I decided to take a nap instead. As I slept,
Danielle played, making some kind of village for bugs or fairies, and drawing
hieroglyphics on the rock face next to us.
I have no idea how long I napped for, but it wasn’t too
long. Shortly after getting up and Danielle sharing everything she did while I
was out, I crawled over to the far side of the rock to take a peak at the
mountain; I saw white! I got my binoculars and could see it was the top couple
inches of the back of a goat. I couldn’t see the head or really judge sex from
here. In fact, the sun was shining into my binoculars so bad I likely would not
have been able to judge the horns anyway. The sunlight direction was also
terrible for us since peaking out from behind the rock shined a glaring light
on us that would be easy to spot if a goat was looking down the mountain.
The goat was about 200 yards away, but again, at a terrible
angle. In addition, there was a terrible crosswind with many gusts… it was
going to be a tough shot. I couldn’t take the shot now even if the goat was in
a shotting position, simply because of the glaring sun and being a beacon for
movement. As a result, I had to wait for the sun to move. The sun needed to
move further west in order for it cast a shadow off the east side of the rock.
In this shadow, I could peak out and view the goat, as well as setup the gun.
Luckily the goat didn’t move this entire time.
I finally had enough shadow to be comfortable moving my
shooting rest, and practicing the best position possible to shoot at this
angle. After many laying, sitting, and twisted positions, I found a descent one
that would work after moving rocks and clearing a space for my body. It was now
a waiting game… waiting for the goat to stand up.
I didn’t have to wait long because it stood up a few minutes
later. I told Danielle it was game time, and I tried to get back into my ideal
shooting position. Nothing I did would make the shot comfortable, so I
eventually settled in for a long hold on the goat. After I got my breath under
control, I lightly squeezed the trigger. The goat looked around, unscathed. I
couldn’t tell which direction I missed, but I’m guessing it flew high due to
the angled shot.
The goat turned around, stopped broadside, and I let another
bullet fly. Missed again! What the heck!? Two shots were now making the goat
uncomfortable, so it started walking up and toward cover. Getting pissed, I
focused harder, and let a third bullet fly… nailed it this time! Immediately
after the third shot connected, multiple goats showed themselves, as they
looked down at us and made their way to the other side of the peak. The goat
drop, struggling to move, and eventually rolled off the top of the mountain
toward us. In fact, it rolled off the rocky top, on the grassy side, and
tumbled to within 30 yards just above us. We could tell it wasn’t dead yet, so
I walked up to it to finish it off quickly, putting a bullet in its neck
(blowing a huge hole out). That final bullet jarred the body enough to send it
rolling down further; it rolled right at Danielle, who got scared it was going
to roll over her. Luckily, it stopped within a few feet of her and right next
to our bags and gear! The goat was now in a perfect spot for us to cut it up.
The goat was a nannie (female). It isn’t ideal to shoot the
ladies because obviously they can have babies and the billies (male) can’t. We
knelt beside her, and like always, gave thanks for the life we just took and
prayed to God for the successful harvest.
The wind was still blasting, but the sun was countering the
cold effect, making it fairly great weather for field dressing. Danielle helped
with the goat for a while, but eventually split off to get our camp setup and
prepare dinner while I finished cutting up everything.
There were plenty of boulders around, so we placed the meat
on the cold rocks for drying out overnight. The forecast didn’t call for rain,
so we were comfortable leaving it to wind dry.
We then gorged on the three days’ worth of food we packed,
while we sat observing the many ridges to the north and east of us. Overall, we
saw a total of 23 goats that evening between the ones on the peak above us and
ridges far away, many of them very large billies, but too far away to get to. Interestingly,
we saw a group of about 10 headed toward the bowl we hunted two days prior 😊
We planned to sleep in late the next morning and then hike
out as soon as possible.
Day 7
We had another beautiful night in the mountains. Our tent
was tucked low and behind some boulders, so any wind that picked up didn’t
really hit the tent hard. It actually felt weirdly calm overnight, especially
for Kodiak.
We were up at 8AM, mostly because the sun was beaming on our
tent and started cooking us. I knew that meant the meat was likely getting warm
from the sun too, so we had to shift our attention to meat care. There was a
little breeze, so that helped keep the meat cool… it was still plenty cold to
the touch.
We tried stuffing the quarters and all meat into our packs,
bone-in, but we soon realized there was no way everything would fit, which
would require two trips. Two trips WAS NOT happening for that hell hike, so we
decided to further break down the quarters, and thoroughly clean the meat on
the mountain. Luckily, the large boulder next to the tent was like a counter
high shelf (actually to my chest) and worked absolutely perfectly to care for
meat on.
While we were taking care of the meat, we were shocked to
see a hunter come up and over the pass, and stare at us only 200 yards away.
Unfortunately for him, there wasn’t a goat anywhere close to us since we shot
one there the night prior. He eventually hiked down to us and struck up a
conversation. It turns out he was a Coast Guardsman from town who also drew the
goat tag. He was the guy driving the truck that parked next to the camper
shortly after we peaked the first ascent on the way in. Apparently he talked
with “the old lady” in the truck camper, who told him that two hunters were up
on Shaft. Typically, hunter etiquette means you should leave that area alone to
not disrupt another’s hunt, but this guy wasn’t having it. Luckily he didn’t
mess anything up.
He was a nice guy, but still rubbed me the wrong way seeing
he came to hunt the same mountain knowing we were already there (it also took
him two days to get to where we were… he didn’t know the best path).
Regardless, I shared intel with him and said if he had the time to wait, the
goats would get comfortable again and eventually come back. He agreed, but didn’t
stay long and decided to hike toward a ridge South of us. SPOILER ALERT – I saw
him post on a hunting Facebook group about his successful hunt. After messaging
him, he said my suggestion was spot on and ended up shooting a nanny in the
exact same spot 3 days later.
We finished up the meat as the sun was getting higher and
starting to warm everything up; leaving an estimated 20+ pounds in bone and
inedible goat parts. I stuffed my pack with my clothes bag, all the meat, the
hide, the rifle, and some smaller things; Danielle had the rest. We now had a
3-part hike ahead of us… descending Shaft, the traverse, and the death drop… I
mean home stretch.
The descent was difficult, although it was open and not
brushy, the grass was slick and steep. We fell a couple times, and Danielle
rolled her ankle often (she wasn’t used to having weight on her back). We were
eventually greeted by bushes and brush, marking the end of our safe descent and
the start of our traverse.
The traverse on the way out was a bit easier (not always,
especially with the heavier packs), since it was gradually downhill and we
could see a little where we came in. Often we got off track and started down a
slim path that went nowhere… at least we had the GPS to reference and see
exactly where we got off track to get back on. About halfway through the
traverse, it started to dump rain. This made the rest of the hike miserable and
cold, however, we knew a warm camper was waiting for us so we kept pushing.
We made it to the end of the traverse and along the ridge
overlooking the gravel pit. The camper was still there and the workers were
moving ground in the rain. We assessed possible paths down. We could take the
same way we came up, but since it was almost too dangerous when it was dry, we
decided not to try it wet. We found a less steep route down, but the tradeoff
was brush thickness… and the brush was utter hell.
I lost count of how many times we fell during this third and
final part to the camper. The shrubbery here was easily taller than me, thorns
were everywhere, the ground was uneven and we had to trust we were stepping on
level ground, then parts of the ground were covered in snotty plants which
acted like banana peels, we were many pounds heavier with the water weight on
us… basically we were setup to fall on our butts the entire time. At one point,
Danielle fell face first down hill. The weight of her pack pile-drove her into
the plants and ground. This was scary but luckily didn’t hurt her.
We took many breaks on the way down, exhausted from falling
and standing, fighting against the brush, and tensed muscles from the chance of
falling any second. This final drop to the camper was only about 1000 yards
away, however, it took us well over an hour to cover this ground. We finally
made it down and were in the last few yards of brush along a flat path toward
the gravel bar, when unbeknownst to us, a small drainage cut through the brush.
I stepped into the two foot drop thinking it was flat the entire way to the
gravel pit, and I fell hard! My legs and knees got wrapped up, and the weight
on my back forced my knee to pop. Unlike when I fell going downhill where I
could use the slope and gravity to drive my ability to stand up with the
weight, I was now on flat ground, in a mini canyon, curled up like a pretzel
with an anvil on top of me. I wasn’t in a position to be able to unbuckle from
my pack and start over, so I yelled over at Danielle to come help.
Danielle dropped her pack and got behind me. I told her to
push my back forward as hard as she could when I said go, at which point I
would stand and keep moving. On three, she pushed me forward, hard, exactly as
planned, however, I quickly released a loud scream of pain after a sharp stick
impaled me through the ear lobe. I didn’t realize until later how lucky I was
that it was my ear and not another part of my face, especially my eye! That was
the icing on the cake, and happened literally within a stone’s through from a
clear and easy path to the camper.
We hit easy hiking ground and slowed to an immediate crawl.
We strolled past a few truckers, waiving to their thumbs up cheers, and rounded
the corner to the most beautiful site ever… a warm camper with dry clothes! We
knocked to let them know we were back, and then collapsed on the ground to lay
for a bit. Danielle was hating life, swearing she would never do another
mountain hunt again, not understanding why anyone would put themselves through
that type of “fun”. I just laughed… she needs a few more of those for the sense
of accomplishment it to really sink in and outweigh the suck. Next time I’ll
have her plan every part of the hunt so the full weight of success falls on
her.
Mom came out of the camper with beers and pickles, EXACTLY
what we needed! Guess what Danielle did with her beer???? She started drinking
it without me! This is a running joke between us that whenever we have drinks
together, she NEVER waits or cheers and always starts drinking as soon as it’s
in her hand. Even after pointing it out multiple times, she still (accidently)
leaves me cheering to the air.
The sun was out hardcore at this point so we changed our
clothes, laid out all wet gear to dry, and just lounged in the sun sharing our
hunt story. It was such a good feeling at this moment, fresh off an extremely
physical and mental challenge, fresh meat in the camper, refueling the body in
a very comfortable environment, engulfed by Kodiaks serene beauty along a
secluded creek in the mountains, surrounded by people we love and cherish,
sharing stories and smiles. This was a core memory for sure.
Well the heat of the day wasn’t going to be good for the
meat, so we couldn’t lay around forever. We put away our yard sale of gear and
left the hunting area in search of a good spot to setup for the day to cut and
wrap meat.
We drove north looking at a bunch of pull offs near the many
bays, until we came to an absolutely perfect spot, on a small peninsula, right
off the beach, with a large fire pit, trees, shade, a creek, and a tire swing.
I got the cooler out, the cleaning table, all butchering
stuff, the whiskey, music, shade… and started the final part of meat care.
While doing this, of course the kids and Mom hit the beach and creek to
explore. This spot could not have been more perfect!
Danielle helped expedite the meat care process, which
allowed me time to play a little too. We got a fire started and everyone did
their own thing… Mom and Danielle beach combing, Ashton trying to catch fish in
the creek, and Josie digging in the dirt/ rocks… as I rotated between them.
Everyone broke briefly to cook dinner over the fire, then they all went back
until way past dark (with headlights). We eventually had to call it a night
because it was getting late, and of course, we all passed out almost instantly.
Day 8
We woke up to another beautiful day of clear skies and
sunshine. The plan for today was to get the meat to town and in a freezer,
bathe, and then find another cool place to explore/ camp.
Of course, everyone wanted to stay here for a little longer
so we spent most of the morning continuing to explore the land around our
campsite. We spent most of the time along a path that went into the woods
toward the creek, where it was thick overhead with forest trees, with an open
and nearly bare ground to play. It was like a different world in the forest
compared to the ocean beach just a few yards away.
Around noon, we gathered up some truck food and hit the road
toward town. Our priority was getting the meat in a freezer. The previous times
I did this hunt, I stored my cooler full of goat meat in the large walk-in
freezer at SeaHawk Air, so that is where we went… or tried to go. On our way, I
saw something extremely interesting that caught our attention. Fresh off the
docks was a pickup truck, with the bed full of ice, and huge shark tails
sticking up and out of the bed. Everyone in the truck didn’t believe me, so I
slowed down to let the truck pass us. It turns out, the truck was going the
exact same way we were headed, to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game
building, which was only a few blocks away from SeaHawk Air. Naturally, we had
to stop to check this out first.
I creepily followed the truck into the ADFG parking lot, and
fond a not so legal place to park. I stayed in the truck while everyone else
got out to talk to the girls driving the sharks around. After about 15 minutes
of conversation and pictures they returned. Apparently these sharks will be
used for research and class dissection projects… soooo cool!
After the detour we found our way to SeaHawk Air. I went in
and inquired about the ability to store the cooler, which was unfortunately
denied; the large walk-in freezer was out of service ☹
Luckily they told us about a place in town that would store our freezer, so
that’s where we went instead.
After dropping the freezer off, the next stop was getting
ourselves clean. Since I’m military, we had access to the Coast Guard base; the
rec center would be our ticket to freshening up. I took Ashton, and the Josie
went with Mom and Danielle. We had the locker room and showers to ourselves… it
felt good to take a warm shower and get clean clothes on. Of course the boys
were out to the truck first, but the girls weren’t too far behind.
Rumor has it that Coast Guard land has some of the best
beach combing available. Maybe that’s because not everyone has access to it,
I’m not sure. However, there is a beach there called Glass Beach. This beach is
full of small sea glass (basically litter I think) that has been dulled over
the many years of rolling in the ocean waves. This was definitely a place Mom
wanted to check out so we made a stop there.
It was a little cloudy and breezy here, but it felt
refreshing combined with our newly cleaned bodies. We spent quite a while here
because the glass was actually pretty cool, and challenging to find the rare
blue kind! It was hard to peel Mom away from this beach, but we had to get to
our new site to get settled before it got too late.
We decided to head as far north as possible this time to
White Sand Beach. There really wasn’t camping there, but the large parking lot
allowed us to pull to the outside and stay out of the way without looking like
we were spending the night.
White Sand Beach should really be called… Black Sand with a
Couple Small Patches of White Sand at Low Tide Beach. This place was LOADED
with salmon. A creek wove through the park and parking lot, exiting into the
ocean, with fish stacking up everywhere in the creek and hanging out mostly in
the first 300 yards of the creeks emptying into the salt. There was also a ton
of bear activity here with dead carcasses and bear prints everywhere. The kids
knew to not stray off alone; but really, the bears were stuffed and had easy,
all you can eat buffets of fish at their finger tips so people definitely
weren’t on their minds.
We got to the beach at low tide. We could see a handful of
jellyfish near the shore, a couple divers looking for crabs, a firepit party of
retirees, and millions of jumping fish. Ashton and I grabbed our rods and we
spent the night landing countless salmon. Danielle and Mom went the opposite
direction looking for beach treasures, and shortly after Josie got bored with
the boys she ditched us for a long run to the girls.
The sun set and we met in the middle, retreating back to the
camper for dinner. It was another long day of exploring and fun, so again, we
didn’t last long after dinner before everyone crashed.
Day 9
Like the day before, we spent the morning further exploring
and enjoying the same beach. Somehow it was another, amazingly beautiful day.
The kids loved running in and out of the trees here, fishing without dad’s
help, assisting salmon upstream, and exploring the sandy beach (most beaches
were rocks on Kodiak).
The parking lot of this place had a very steep hill to the
north of it. At the very top was an amazing overlook of White Sand Beach, with
a buoy swing that swings out and over the parking lot below (about 300 ft off
the ground. Before we left, Josie told me she wanted to try it. That was a
proud dad moment because the night before I was joking when I asked the kids if
they wanted to. I knew Ashton would never say yes because he is scared of his
shadow sometimes, but Josie, she’s crazy and I had a hunch she may want to. The
night before she said no, but now, she was determined. Of course, Danielle
thought I made her say that, but Josie quickly corrected Danielle that it was
under her own desire. So off we went!
The climb to the swing was so steep Josie had a hard time
doing it herself. We stumbled backwards quite a bit, but finally made it to the
top. I could tell Danielle and Mom were having a heart attack inside. I tested
out the strength of the swing by hanging on it and swinging out over the cliff…
it was solid. The buoy was actually molded perfectly for someone to sit
comfortably with foot rests. I placed Josie on the swing, and she expressed
nervousness. We first did little, independent swings, which eventually turned
into big, full send swings… she loved every second of it (while Mom and
Danielle likely felt the opposite). I had to carry Josie down the hill due to
the steepness, but it ended in a nobody getting hurt 😊
Mom wanted to go back to Surfer Beach one last time, so that
is where we headed… from the far north end of the road, to the far south. We
stopped at Big Rays Sporting Goods store on the way through town. There was a
tent sale going on that Mom and Danielle wanted to check out, and I needed
fishing tackle to use with the new roe we were given. On our way out of town,
we saw a mama sow and two cubs fishing in a slough. We stopped for a few hours
to watch and take a million pictures.
Once at Surfer Beach, we did more of the same thing, Ashton
chasing fish in the creek and the girls looking around the beach. After we got
our fill of Surfer Beach again, we tried driving to the end of the road. We
didn’t make it far until it ended on private land. There was a small creek
there so we got out after Ashton begged to look at it, caught minnows, looked
at a bunch of deer tracks, then got back on the road.
The rest of the trip was now going to focus on catching
silver salmon. Of course, the best place to do that would be Lake Rose Tead. We
made our way back to the place we camped for one night on Lake Rose Tead, and
setup the camper for a longer, two-night stay.
I got the raft out and ready to use, we setup the awning and
chairs, unpacked all outdoor toys, brought down the fishing gear, made some
drinks, and we settled in. Josie found an island of tall brush where she setup
her fortress, Ashton paced the shore with his net trying to catch little fish,
I got used to the available shore fishing options, and Mom and Danielle did
their own thing.
Typically, fishing on this lake is best super early in the
morning, especially when the sun is still behind the mountains. Regardless, we
tried anyway. Using the roe proved difficult, especially with the sun beaming
on this crystal clear water. I mostly caught large sculpin, which Ashton was
psyched about, but you can tell fisherman hated them because they were all over
the beach, dead, from people catching them while trying to get silvers. I ended
up only catching a small jack that night, but at least I got on the board.
It was spitting rain toward the evening, so we went back to
the camper a little early for dinner and a movie. We had a couple days here so
calling it an early night wasn’t a big deal.
Day 10
Fishing was the plan for the day, but unfortunately, nobody
really wanted to get up early to fish during the best time of the day. I wasn’t
really wanting to go solo, so I slept in with the rest. We woke up and lazily
got breakfast together and eventually got out of the camper to play.
It was yet again, another gorgeous day… few clouds in the
sky and the sun starting to peak out from the mountains from our east. We
fished on and off all day, catching countless sculpin, some spawned out
silvers, little salmon fry, and even baby halibut.
Close to sunset, we took the raft across the lake to a point
where the inlet narrows to try our luck. There was a deep hole close to the
shore here so we were hoping to hook up with something to actually put in the
freezer. We were tossing roe and spinners, and both kept hooking the dang sculpin.
I eventually had a legitimate bite, but it was only a jack silver. My next cast
also resulted in a good bite, but this time, my line erupted out of the water
attached to a large silver salmon. I was able to land the fish without a net,
and I handed off the pole to Ashton while I took care of the fish. About 2
minutes later, Ashton had a large salmon on his line pulling hard.
Unfortunately, the salmon spit the spook and Ashton wasn’t able to land the
fish.
We fished on this point until it got too dark to see, and we
were forced to paddle back to base. We had plans to sit around the campfire
that night, but the spitting rain decided to kibosh those plans. Instead, we
opted for another dinner and a movie night. The kids LOVE these, but they know
they only get tablet time in the camper when the weather outside is bad (they
secretly wish for bad weather sometimes they told me).
Since we didn’t catch many keepers, Ashton and I decided we
were going to wake up super early tomorrow and take the raft out to the middle
of the lake to target the AM bite. Ashton is not a morning person, but he is a
diehard fisherman, so that trumps everything.
Day 11
Ashton and I got up before sunrise and snuck out the camper
without waking up the girls. It was very cold and everything was wet from dew.
We put on our waders, pumped up the raft, loaded it with our fishing gear, and
hit the lake.
The skies were clear and the air was calm, with barely a
breeze. It was very peaceful and easy to get around. The raft was a packraft,
so we didn’t have much room for our gear, and it wasn’t really made for
casting/ fishing, but we made it work. We started by casting spinners of
different colors. Since the water was crystal clear, we had to cast fairly far
away from the raft assuming the salmon would be spooked by our presence over
top of them.
Ashton couldn’t cast too far, and the awkward position in
the raft had him switching over to small salmon eggs and fishing for trout/
fry. This was very entertaining since the lake was basically boiling with
hungry, little fish. I have never seen anything like it, but the little
stinkers would literally jump out of the water at his bait held up to 6 inches
above it, and grab the hook.
While he was messing with the little fish, I was hammering
silver salmon. These things hit like a freight train! It was chaotic trying to
land them with the raft, pulling anchor and maneuvering the net around, but it
worked fairly well… with the exception of losing a few due to the extended time
it took to try to get them aboard.
Ashton switched back to casting spinners eventually and
almost immediately after, he hooked up on a giant silver. This fish started
towing us around the lake, and Ashton played it for a good 10 minutes. Luckily,
we landed it successfully after it finally tired out a bit. We weighed the fish
later in the day, and it was a whopping 15 pounds!
Once the sun peaked over the mountains, the bite cooled and
we decided to call it a morning. After I started paddling back to the camper, my
mom came running over in a panic, waving for me to come back immediately. I was
now paddling into the wind, with the sun beaming down on me while I was decked
out in warm clothes and waders… I was sweating hardcore, but I knew something
bad happened so I had to power through to get to shore as soon as possible. I
didn’t have time to paddle directly to the camper, so I had to get to the
closest bank possible since running would be faster than paddling.
I left Ashton at the bank and sprinted toward the camper; I
met Mom halfway. She said Josie was gushing blood from an accident with her
finger. Not really sure what to expect, I sprinted to the camper. Once there, I
found Josie screaming and Danielle trying to comfort her.
I asked what happened and I was told her finger got slammed
in the hinged side of the door. I took Josie and carefully peeled back the
paper towel covering her finger. I was relieved to see that it actually wasn’t
that bad. A huge chunk of her skin on top of the finger was gone, but it looked
like it was scraped off, rather than cut off. This would certainly make it
bleed a lot, but there was no need or ability to get stitches, nor was there
any concern for long term issues. I can see how a bunch of blood, loose skin,
and a screaming girl would make people freak out (especially Josie who doesn’t
really let people help with her injuries unless it’s me… and Danielle who
passes out easy after seeing gushing blood), but we had the tools to take care
of it here. Josie let me clean the wound, apply ointment, and bandage her up.
After a few cuddles and bribes, she was good as new!
I then returned to Ashton who was trying to catch more of
the little fish. Mom helped to drag the raft toward the camper, so all I had
left to do was shuttle the fishing gear and clean the fish. I didn’t have a
good place to clean fish, so I made do with the rocks on the bank of the lake.
It was a slight hack job, but these silvers would be canned anyway so it didn’t
matter too much.
After the sun came up, it got very hot (if I had to guess
the temp, I would say 70). There was no breeze or clouds to be found. Of
course, our kids asked if they could go swimming… and no matter what the temp
or conditions, we always say yes. The kids changed into their bathing suits and
played around the lake for a few hours, never really submerging, but getting
wet enough to need the suits.
The kids played around the lake while the adults started
packing everything up and storing items for the long trip home. We would leave
the island tomorrow, so the transition started today. After packing everything
up, we sadly bid farewell to our amazing camping spot, and headed north.
Our first stop in town was the Coast Guard base again for
another round of showers. And after showers, of course we had to stop at glass
beach again (which was one of Mom’s favorite beaches from the many we explored
on the island).
Our next stop was picking up the cooler of frozen meat prior
to the meat shop closing. From there, we decided to eat at a local restaurant
since we were running low on food and didn’t want to bother with cooking
another meal… greasy burgers hit the spot (except Mom, the vegetarian, who
likely had a boring salad). The kids were begging for ice cream all week, which
Mom agreed to, and they finally got to cash in on the promise with a huge
brownie/ ice cream dessert.
We couldn’t drive too far away from town since our departure
time the next morning was very early. We tried finding a couple spots to park
the truck and crash, but nothing close to town either felt safe or allowed
parking. We decided to drive to the windmills and crash there for the night
(the same place a bear broke into my truck the first time I was on Kodiak).
Since we didn’t have time in the morning to get the truck ready for the ferry,
we had to prepare the truck the night before. This entailed bringing in the
cargo box, which would be put on the dinette bed, and take out two sleeping
places. As a result, Mom and I would sleep in the front seats of the truck,
while the rest would sleep in the camper. This would also allow us the ability
to drive the truck to the ferry, wait in line, and then load the truck without
having to wake the kids up until we had to leave the truck and find our seats
on the ferry. It wasn’t a comfortable night of sleeping, but it wasn’t terrible
either.
Day 12
Mom and I woke up before dawn and drove to the ferry
terminal. It was very busy, but surprisingly organized for the limited amount
of space available to utilize. After I loaded the truck in the belly, we woke
the kids up and made our way to the deck to find seats. Unfortunately, we
couldn’t get the same seats we had on the way to Kodiak, which were perfect for
laying down when the water was rough. Luckily, we found the last two dinette
tables available and claimed those for our return voyage.
The ferry to Kodiak was amazing! I have never seen the seas
so smooth in my life. There appeared to be zero waves somehow, the entire way
from Kodiak to Homer… which is unheard of. This was a welcomed change from the
trip down though. This allowed us to explore the ship to its fullest and enjoy
a meal in the diner as well. We saw a handful of whales, porpoises, otters, and
sea lions along the way too. The kids stayed plenty busy playing on their
tablets and watching movies in the theatre. Danielle and Mom were not looking
forward to the return ferry, but this eased their worries 😊
It took about 12 hours to get back to Homer, and we had a
long 4-hour drive ahead to Anchorage. Mom’s flight was leaving late at night,
and we had no wiggle room to get her to the airport. It worked out perfectly to
take her straight to the airport, getting there a little over an hour prior to
her departure time. Like always, it’s hard to say goodbye, but it was
especially hard after this epic trip.
We got home to Eagle River around 2AM. This gave me enough
time to sleep before work the next day.
Day 13
Work… grind/ sausage meat… unpack… back to reality
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The desserts that were long overdue
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