A Day on the Stikine River

In the past, I had been hesitant to describe the Stikine to people as the last river of its kind in North America.  Now, I regularly describe it as such with no hesitation and no feeling of exaggeration or grandiosity, it is just the truth.  There are, of course, many rivers in North America larger, longer, and much more well known than the Stikine but that to me, just adds to the mystery and magnificence and importance of this river.  The Stikine is born from Tuaton Lake on the Spatsizi Plateau of British Columbia and starts out small and fast like any other pristine mountain river.  From there, it passes through some of the most uninhabited and unaltered country left on the continent while increasing in both size and volume from the many tributary rivers feeding into it.  The total length of the Stikine from source to sea is approximately 360 miles, Tuaton Lake to the Pacific Ocean just north of Wrangell, with a watershed draining approximately 25,000 square miles.
In all of this vast area, along this river's entire length there is only one highway bridge, Highway 37, crossing the Stikine and one old and unused railway bridge.  There is also only one community along the river, the village of Telegraph Creek, BC, which has a year round population of about 100 people.  There are a few scattered homesteads along the river and a fish cannery on the Canadian side but other than those few human habitations, this is as uninhabited and pristine a place as you could hope for in North America in the 21st century.

This photo is not of Tuaton Lake, my apologies for the deception but I have never been there so do not have a photo of it!  These lakes are somewhat similar though and are the headwaters lakes of the Iskut River which is the largest tributary of the Stikine so hopefully give an example of what the headwaters country of the Stikine looks like.  This photo was taken from high up on the Todagin Plateau looking over at the mountains of the Mt Edziza Provincial Park.

More pictures from and of the Todagin Plateau.  There is unfortunately some new mining activity going on in these beautiful remote Canadian plateaus which has a lot of us who live downstream of these activities concerned for the future health of several transboundary rivers including the Stikine.  There is a mine called the Red Chris Mine currently in production just on the other side of the high point in the photo below with part of the mine's operating plan to dump tailings into the small, barely visible lake on the right side of the above photo.  That lake is also one of the headwaters lake of the Iskut River.  These mines are primarily gold and copper mines made financially viable by some shady "green energy" projects funded by the Canadian government.  Since I am currently typing this blog on a computer which requires the metals being mined in these mines, I'll avoid hypocritical and heavy handed condemnation of the resource extraction which allows the vast majority of us to have all the "conveniences" that we now think we need.  Just don't be fooled by Canada!  It is not the polite, innocent country it likes people to think it is!

This photo is of Mt Edziza, a dormant volcano that is a prominent feature of the Stikine River country.  This region has a significant amount of volcanic influence with many dormant volcanoes, basalt cliffs, thermal springs, and a very high grade of obsidian found on Mt Edziza that was traded up and down the coast and all the way out to the Aleutian Islands.

The one and only road crossing the Stikine River marks the end of the Upper Stikine and the beginning of the Lower Stikine.  This is Canadian Highway 37, also called the Cassiar Highway which will eventually connect to the Alaska-Canada Highway further north. 
The physical feature which separates the Stikine into an Upper portion and a Lower portion is the Grand Canyon of the Stikine, a truly grand canyon in everyone sense that has only been run by some of the best whitewater kayakers in the world, it is very difficult and challenging whitewater and has been called the Mt Everest of whitewater kayaking. There are several interesting YouTube videos of kayakers in the canyon as well as a very interesting one of a helicopter flying through its entire 60 mile length that are well worth watching.

Looking upriver from just passed the bridge into the headwaters country of the Stikine River.

Looking downriver with the Highway 37 bridge in the background and my friend Jen who joined me on a bicycle trip on the Cassiar Highway.

Looking down at a portion of the canyon from the rugged, remote, and occasionally very steep road leading to Telegraph Creek.  The river is hidden deep within.

A couple views of the very end of the canyon where the Telegraph Road allows for an easy view.  These basalt cliffs give way to the more typical granitic rock found here in Southeast AK as you travel further downriver.

Just a few photos from a past float trip down the 160 miles of the Lower Stikine to show the changing geology, vegetation, and volume of the river as it travels through the Coast Mountains to the sea.

This is one of several glaciers that contribute their sediments to the river's flow and have carved these beautiful valleys.  This one is called Great Glacier and is a short way across the border in Canada.

Kate's Needle, one of the tallest peaks in our region, is one of the border mountains separating Alaska from British Columbia.  Kate's Needle just exceeds 10,000 feet in height and is visible from a boat out on the ocean on a clear day.

What a misleading title to a blog post this one is!  A Day on the Stikine River has used photos spanning several years covering a very large area of land not possible to see in just one day!  This river and its watershed is just too big, too spectacular, and too important to try to sum up in a post covering just one day.  We are almost in Alaska now where the following photos will demonstrate what is easily seen and done in one day from Wrangell.  The Stikine is a favorite destination for many of us Wrangellites, maybe for differing reasons at times, but still it is a physical feature that influences our area, our weather, and our lives.  The very existence and history of Wrangell is intimately linked to this grand river.

I'll start out with some of the wildlife that the river hides.

Hey, this is technically wildlife!  Maybe not megafauna but still Stikine River wildlife.

A calf moose trying to hide in the most conspicuous of hiding places.  Mom was very nearby keeping a close eye on us as we floated safely in the skiff.  It's challenging trying to keep a boat still in current and take a moose picture at the same time hence the slight blurriness of this guy.

I'm going to interrupt the wildlife for a moment to better explain the forthcoming wildlife photos.  This is Shakes Lake which is an incredibly scenic glacier lake that connects to the Stikine.  This area is the epitome of ruggedness but is also the home of a lot of different animals.  It is not uncommon to see both black and brown bears, mountain goats, and marmots either on the shoreline or somewhere high above among the broken cliffs lining this lake.  That beautiful mountain in the distance is another of the peaks separating Alaska and British Columbia and is aptly named Castle Mountain.  These icebergs in the foreground come from Shakes Glacier which is further down this lake to the left.

Glaciers, along with whales, are two things that always make me feel the power and beauty of this place.  I doubt that I will ever get bored with seeing either one.  The icebergs birthed by the glaciers are constantly changing and present such an incredible array of shapes and sculptures that no two days are ever identical. 

And finally, here is Shakes Glacier itself.  It is a rather docile glacier in the sense that it does not calve very often which allows for a closer inspection of it by boat.

Back to the wildlife of Shakes Lake.  This black bear traversed this steep snow field, the remnant of avalanches pouring into the lake during the winter, over to the even steeper rock ledges rising straight up out of the lake.  Bears are more frequently seen here than one would think making me really curious to know what they find for food?  There are no fish runs in this lake and while there are berries, a small population of marmots, and maybe the occasional mountain goat kid or carcass, it just doesn't seem like there would be enough food to support the amount of bears seen here.  I've seen female bears with cubs, and as I mentioned earlier, both species of bears are here together. 

Another bear traversing the rugged terrain above the lake watching us watch him.

Look in the center of this photo toward the top and you will see two young mountain goats perched above the lake.  I've never seen them in this area so it was a rewarding sight!

Seagulls take advantage of the steep rock faces around Shakes Lake to nest.  There are a few places where they nest low enough to safely get to the nest to get a few quick shots while getting divebombed by the irate parents!  It looks like these eggs weren't far from hatching judging by the cracks that look a lot like the kind of cracks a young seagull beak would make as it tries to emerge into the world.

Moving back down to the main river from Shakes Lake, I'll revisit my developing obsession with photographing wildflowers.

This is a pretty plant found on the terminal moraine at the outlet of Shakes Lake called Roseroot or King's Crown.  A beauty but also delicate and not a common plant.

One of the wild orchids found in Southeast AK is this one, the white bog orchid.  It is not the most beautiful of the orchids but is a fairly common one and is still a pretty sight.

A common sight to see on the river at this time of year is local people subsistence fishing for sockeye salmon with small gillnets.  As a rural community, we in Wrangell can obtain a permit to use gillnets to harvest up to 40 sockeye salmon per household which then typically get smoked and canned providing us with a delicious, healthy, and local food to eat throughout the year.  I typically eat salmon of one kind or another 3-6 times per week every week of the year so this subsistence fishery is an important part of my life.  It is also a fun way to hang out with friends and share the labor and the bounty of that labor.


I'll end this post with a sunset shining down on the mouth of the Stikine. 

Independence Day

First of all, please go back and read the last post I did, the one with the wolf and whale pictures.  That was written quickly and badly so I at least made an attempt to make it tolerable.  My apologies for the poor effort!

The Fourth of July is a very big deal here in the hidden gem.  The population almost doubles, the town shuts down, and people just have a real good time watching boat races, logging events, kids competing against each other in toddler games, and people decked out in their most patriotic duds.

So, I obviously didn't get any great pictures but it was a great day with a miracle opening of the skies revealing that beautiful blue that we Southeast Alaskans cherish. 

A couple of shots from the logging show.  I still say that any day can always get better if there is a chainsaw involved! 

Alaskan women are something special! 

And, keeping a watch over all of it, one of the newest ships in the Coast Guard's fleet.  The ship was supposed to be available to tour but got called out at the last minute on a Search and Rescue mission involving a vessel that lost power and ended up stranded on a rocky beach about 30 minutes from Wrangell.  The ship did make it back in time to allow its crew to enjoy Wrangell's first Fourth of July boat races in over 20 years.

Another Random

The busy season has hit here in the hidden gem, the tourism season that is, so I haven't posted anything lately although I did do a post for the blog for the company I work for, Alaska Charters and Adventures.  I'll just throw in a plug for them as they have given me the opportunity to have a job showing people amazing things,  check out Alaska Charters and Adventures on Facebook as well as at www.alaskaupclose.com.
If it's tourist season why can't I shoot them?
That is a joke obviously and is an occasional bumper sticker seen in various towns where tourism may dramatically change the character of a Southeast Alaska town in the summer.  Wrangell fortunately, has managed to keep its frontier, blue collar, hardworking rural Alaska character while being open and appreciative of folks from all over the world.  We really are a friendly town here on the rock. 
I by no means want to imply that the following photos are a typical day here in the temperate jungle.  These photos are the result of determination, local experience, luck, and the grace of this incredible natural world in which we live.
The following post will be primarily of photos I managed to take while driving a boat or hiking some folks up a trail while trying to get them the great pictures and keep them safe from bears.  I am surprised somewhat by how much I enjoy being a charter captain/guide in the tourist industry here in SEAK.  I don't think anyone would mistake me for a people person but having to get quickly and intimately familiar with people of all races, genders, backgrounds, economic status, etc and then try to provide them with an experience that may truly be a once in a lifetime experience is a pretty satisfying high.  Nailing a trip and seeing your people just buzzing with the experience of the day is addictive, I'm an Alaska addict.
I told my oldest friend, Kevin, once while I lived in western Montana that I would never leave Montana, brother, paraphrasing the movie A River Runs Through It (the book is better!), back when I was a cheesy romantic hippy, now I'm almost 18 years into living in a temperate rainforest and continue to be awed and humbled.

This photo is from the Anan Wildlife Observatory which is primarily known for its bears, both brown bears, Ursus arctos, and black bears, Ursus americanus.  Wolves have been occasionally sighted here but they are very rare to see anywhere.  I have seen them a few times at Anan over the last 18 years, but each time has been a sighting of a wolf or two trotting along the beach at low tide.  This was the first time I have ever seen one in the lagoon area of Anan.  This wolf was in Anan Creek not  far from where the bears normally fish for the prolific run of pink salmon which draw them there.  I think my excitement resulting from this sighting was infectious as the people I was guiding were buzzing with that energy that I've realized is so addictive. 
Oh yeah, and there were several bears too!

Sometimes watching the humans watching the bears is the most entertaining part of being at Anan for me.  I like this shot.  For me, there is so much going on in this moment in time.  We get to see a moment that caught this person's attention while she is trying to capture that moment, we are experiencing two different versions of the same reality.   We are also seeing a sort of fusion of the old natural world and the scary new technological world.  Trippy man!!   But really, click on this one and just think about what you are really looking at.  Go deep!
I can't help but think the bears get some level of enjoyment from watching all of us hairless apes watch them.  We are by far much more unpredictable and oddly interesting I think.

I thankfully found some whales today on a whale watching trip.  I've become a whale hunter!  We search out and stalk these incredible beings hoping to get some incredible shots at them.  With cameras of course. This group of 6 humpback whales offered us a very memorable day.  We first spotted them as they crossed the wide strait at a very quick and determined speed over to the shoreline that I had left 10 minutes earlier.   I was betting on my gut feeling that this group was heading across the strait to feed as they seemed very intent and coordinated.  As soon as they reached the opposite shore, they disappeared for several moments and then, Bubbles!!  The feeding behavior in these photos is called bubble feeding and as far as humans know, is unique to humpbacks.  Typically, a group of whales travel together until they find a school of herring or other small feed fish at which point they somehow determine which one of them will swim in a circle while blowing bubbles to corral the fish into a dense ball.  The other whales then swim straight up through the fish ball with their mouths open swallowing huge amounts of water and fish.  The water is then strained through their baleen using their giant tongue trapping the fish in the whales' mouths.  The gillnet fisherman in the above photo may disagree, but for me, this is a truly spectacular sight to witness time after time!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!