FORD'S TERROR - Day 1

The mouth of Endicott Arm, Just shy of the Sumdum Glacier-Runoff Creek


I'm cosy. It's raining and I'm in a tent, dry and warm. Outside is a mass fo water, Endicott Arm. Nehind me is a forest with mears. Approzimately 100 yards to my left, hanging from a tree, is a bag of our food. The other food lies at the bottom of the tree in two bear containers. It's all arranged. Day 1 of the Endicott Arm Expidition has come to a lobely close for me, and I think we've done pretty well for first-time kayak expeditioners in bear country. My conversation tonight has focused on bears, but I can't help it. After three months in Alaska, this is my first night camping in the wilds. YeeHaw.

Highlights of the day include the gorgeous blue South Sawyer Glacier - small calving making enormous thundering crashes into the ocean below. I say small calving, but it is dwarfed by the surrounding 700 foot mountains.

Sweet-faced seals peeping a look at our boat.

My irritation of the other passengers aboard Adventure Bound.

The halarious moment as our kayak pushed off from the mother-vessel, to the command of the grumpy captain Steve - 'Be here at 3:30 on Monday. Don't mess with the tides in Ford's Terror in a boat like that. High Slack is OK, and two hours after low...' And the side of the ship was jammed with American bodies, camera lenses pressed to their faces, as I encountered a reverse-moment of how the black bear munching on mussels earlier that day might have felt - an item at the zoo. Click Click.

I think, after all the planning, every moment of this trip could be joy. I'm looking forward to a trip routine establishing so I no longer need to think through eachy logistic, and can relaz into enjoying simply being here.

Thanks be to me being here. What an amazing place.