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Tuesday | July 5

“O’ Earth, What changes hast thou seen?” --Alfred Lord Tennyson

We offer several activities for guests, including paddle boarding, kayaking and a couple of different hikes, including all-day and half-day hikes. I co-lead a kayak along the lee side of Ruth Island and later a half-day hike up the Patterson River. There are lots of beautiful, verdant plants to point-out to my fellow adventure-seekers.

We see bunchberry dogwood, false lily-of-the-valley, skunk cabbage, salmonberry, several species of fungus and many other herbs, shrubs and trees.

 

Our hike is along ATV trails. We see evidence of old cabins and (hard-to-believe) some dung from cows! Apparently this is not part of Tongass National Forest. Our scatological discovery-of-the-day were moose pellets. I pick-up a hand-full and interpret the fascinating life history of this huge Cervid species: “The moose get quite large, males up to 1600 pounds and females up to 1300 pounds.”

“Moose are herbivorous, feeding on deciduous trees such as willow and birch. Moose will eat as much as 40 pounds of willow leaves in a day, enabling the growth of huge antlers.”

“Antlers are shed in the late fall, early winter. Males are solitary except for the rut. The rut is in the fall. This is when the testosterone in the males is at its peak. Males battle it out for access to females. Subordinate male bulls are sometimes referred to as “sneaker” males for sneaking into a harem while the dominant male is off fighting another male.”

We enjoy the riparian corridor adjacent to the Patterson River. It would take all day to follow the trail up to the Patterson Glacier.

Rumor has it that our company dropped-off several kayaks by helicopter on the lakeshore just a couple of miles from the face of the glacier. One group this summer has made it all the way up with the owner of the company leading the intrepid hikers. It was a strenuous adventure of over 10 miles.

Back aboard the WND, we traverse the famous Wrangell Narrows that separates Mitkof and Kupreanof Islands. Anchorage is just a few miles from Wrangell, which lies near the 17-mile wide delta of the mighty Stikine River.