Sitkoh Bay/Chatham Strait/Lake Eva
This morning we awoke voyaging the coast of Chatham Strait heading north for Sitkoh Bay. In the company of eagles we quietly approached brown bear sow and cubs feeding along a stream. Salmon jumped as if rejoicing for succeeding in their journey through the ocean back to the place where they were born. The perfect place for bruins, we quietly approached the bears of Chichagof Island, the spring cubs staying close to mom’s side as they lumbered along the edge of the salmon choked creek. After a moment of separation the sow stood up looking for her cubs and later the youth did the same amidst the tall beach grasses. At the head of the bay bald eagles scavenged amongst the detritus of spawned salmon and we sensed the amazing life that was nourished by these fish runs.
Leaving Sitkoh Bay, we passed the buildings of the cannery and former community of Chatham. The impressive existing structures were once dwarfed by what existed in the early 1900s. In 1878 the first cannery came to Southeast Alaska and there began the fishing industry that has helped to fuel the state’s economy. The setting of Chatham surrounded by the temperate forest and the structures new and old revealed a special part of Alaska’s history. Leaving the mouth of the bay near Point Craven, we heard stories of the native Tlingit village that once relocated to this location in 1804 after Russians stormed their home in Sitka. Sitka, shortly following that attack, became the home of the Russian American Company and capital of the Russian colony. Searching for the creatures of the sea leaving Sitkoh, we were escorted through the Strait by Dall’s porpoises riding the bow of the Sea Lion.
After lunch we immersed ourselves in the forest giants of the Lake Eva trail and drainage. Huge western hemlock and sitka spruce trees lined the path of banana slugs, salmon carcasses and skunk cabbage and we reveled in the beauty of the cycle of life in this enchanted forest. Evidence of bears everywhere with a stream so full of salmon we sensed the big brown inhabitants of the forest lurking in the woods waiting for our departure. Back on shore those who had already kayaked entered the thick of the primeval woods, while those returning from Lake Eva hopped in kayaks and explored the waterfall in the estuary of Lake Eva’s creek. It almost seemed like we were being kept afloat on the back of the hundreds of thousands of salmon that swam beneath us, the occasional dolly varden and harbor seal adding to the list of life experience.
This morning we awoke voyaging the coast of Chatham Strait heading north for Sitkoh Bay. In the company of eagles we quietly approached brown bear sow and cubs feeding along a stream. Salmon jumped as if rejoicing for succeeding in their journey through the ocean back to the place where they were born. The perfect place for bruins, we quietly approached the bears of Chichagof Island, the spring cubs staying close to mom’s side as they lumbered along the edge of the salmon choked creek. After a moment of separation the sow stood up looking for her cubs and later the youth did the same amidst the tall beach grasses. At the head of the bay bald eagles scavenged amongst the detritus of spawned salmon and we sensed the amazing life that was nourished by these fish runs.
Leaving Sitkoh Bay, we passed the buildings of the cannery and former community of Chatham. The impressive existing structures were once dwarfed by what existed in the early 1900s. In 1878 the first cannery came to Southeast Alaska and there began the fishing industry that has helped to fuel the state’s economy. The setting of Chatham surrounded by the temperate forest and the structures new and old revealed a special part of Alaska’s history. Leaving the mouth of the bay near Point Craven, we heard stories of the native Tlingit village that once relocated to this location in 1804 after Russians stormed their home in Sitka. Sitka, shortly following that attack, became the home of the Russian American Company and capital of the Russian colony. Searching for the creatures of the sea leaving Sitkoh, we were escorted through the Strait by Dall’s porpoises riding the bow of the Sea Lion.
After lunch we immersed ourselves in the forest giants of the Lake Eva trail and drainage. Huge western hemlock and sitka spruce trees lined the path of banana slugs, salmon carcasses and skunk cabbage and we reveled in the beauty of the cycle of life in this enchanted forest. Evidence of bears everywhere with a stream so full of salmon we sensed the big brown inhabitants of the forest lurking in the woods waiting for our departure. Back on shore those who had already kayaked entered the thick of the primeval woods, while those returning from Lake Eva hopped in kayaks and explored the waterfall in the estuary of Lake Eva’s creek. It almost seemed like we were being kept afloat on the back of the hundreds of thousands of salmon that swam beneath us, the occasional dolly varden and harbor seal adding to the list of life experience.
