so i wanted to just add a few pictures in every so often. kayak island was the second trek of betsy's island adventures. you can read all about it in a previous post. all the adventures have a post.....without pictures so i'll try and add some pictures of these amazing spots. my labels are either "just talking" or "alaskan adventures" so hopefully that helps make these easy to find...anyway, kayak island is 60-65 air miles south of cordova. we took a little plane and landed at low tide on the beach. it was quite the trek. the island has a lighthouse so you stay in the boathouse. it's pretty primitive,but there are some perks. the wood stove, propane stove already there and a bunch of old left behind stuff so you could survive quite awhile if you get stuck out there.
the above picture is of a friend stephanie. i was posing them. these odd rocks were scattered everywhere. they often looked like cabbages. if there are any rock sorts out there i'd love to know how they were formed. i'm guessing a volcano was involved but not sure. it's just a 2 mile walk to the lighthouse, but it is rough going because of all the rocks/logs and flotsam all over the place.
the tidepools on the island were amazing. i love to hang out in the intertidal zones. it reminded me of all my days tidepooling in ketchikan. i lived there for 6 years and my cabin was on the beach for half of that. used to get off work in the mornings and just have a look around. they had huge sunburst seastars out there. on kayak island there was all the usual stuff, stars, urchins, muscles, limpits and sea anenomies. i took several courses in the universities i attended on oceanography and marine biology. i love to learn...just not very good at getting degree's. my friends got to learn about intertidal zones. i think they quite enjoyed all the wealth of my knowledge..haha! below is the actual lighthouse....st elias is it's name. lots of history about it. i think the island got slammed pretty hard in the '64 tsunami, post quake. there is an old lighthouse keepers house there and i guess it was a pretty lonely existence as it's quite remote and the waves can make it tough to get to the island. even as our little plane landed the winds were blowing a good 40-50 miles per hour and we had huge gusts i'd put near 70 while we were hiking to the lighthouse. our sweet pilot just gave us that alaskan pilot smirk when we asked him about the conditions upon returning. it was no doubt a bit dangerous...but that is part of the life of alaska. he was very excited that our group was headed out there. only 2-3 groups actually make the trek to kayak island/year. it's quite remote that way. i'm happy that we got to enjoy all the island had to offer. i'll try and add more pictures later with details...i really must get moving and walk these dogs. not sure where to go yet. maybe up to the prospect heights trailhead. it's a little higher elevation, perhaps the bears won't be rummaging about as much. lots of sign posts at campbell airstrip trail yesterday about a rouge black bear without any fear of the humans it crossed. we stayed on the main trail and avoided rovers run where the 15 year old was attacked last summer. then i just opted to run errands and take the girls to university lake dog park. i've seen bear there too, but they aren't as common. it's grown popular with the dogs since being made official so i think the bears avoid it...as do the geese. no geese yet...still waiting. that is the sure sign of spring...well break up as it's called here. spring seems to come after break up.
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