kootznoowoo

We did the cross Admiralty Island canoe traverse via packraft, but just prior to that we did the Baranof cross-island route that goes from Sitka to Baranof warm springs

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heading out

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get's bushwacky pretty quick
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but the lake is rad
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into the jungle
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trail vanished at times

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camped for the night, scoping out where we are going the next day

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pretty steep

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nice to break out on top

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onto the icefield

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weather window collapsed, we were in a whiteout on an icefield, pouring rain, and windy. some cool terrain (when we could see it).
hiked until 2 am with lots of hollering 'hey bear"

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yard sale dry out

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but there is a nice hotsprings to enjoy

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plane couldn't pick us up so we enjoyed slug races and more soaking time in the springs for another day

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We followed that trip up with the cross Admiralty Island trip through the Kootznoowoo wilderness.
Kootznoowoo roughly translates to "Fortress of the Bears" in the Tlingit language - the Russians called it "Fear Island" because there are so many huge brownbears.

We got a boat drop off on the north end in Oliver's Inlet, then hiked/packrafted south then west to the village of Angoon.

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packing all the goods - it was our anniversary hence the classy underwood bubbly rosé

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heading down the kayak tram

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put the boats in the water at the end of the tram, paddled out a little ways and turned around to see bear # 1

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wind came up a bit so pulled out to hike a bit

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calm winds and outgoing tide makes for nice packrafting
bear count: 2

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stopped for the night

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excellent conditions in the morning

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stopped out at Pack Creek bear viewing area to visit a friend , also saw some bears

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bear count: 11

headed toward our next camping spot

bear count: 12

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camped in this 3 sided shelter, woke up to a bear scratching its back on the tree about 15' in front
bear count: 13

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figured that was our cue to checkout so made breakfast and packed up, 30 seconds after starting we ran into this bear
bear count: 14

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spooked two young bears out in this tideflat
bear count: 16

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bushwacking ensued

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had a very close encounter with a rather large male bear, followed by a bear coming towards us in a creek, an unseen bear splashing in the river just behind and out of sight through some brush, a sow w/her cub up a tree groaning and jaw popping. all while doing some of the worse bushwacking i've had the misfortune to encounter.
it was a huge relief when we got to the lakes and the bearanoia could ratchet down
bear count: 21

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plus it was hot and calm

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so hot that paddling in underwear was the order of the day

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loons

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the cabins were excellent

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starting some of the portages

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at the last stop before portaging back to the ocean we thought about staying at this shelter but the horseflies were pretty bad so we headed down the 5 mile portage

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glad i wasn't dragging a sea kayak or canoe

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we popped out at Mitchell Bay, stayed the night there then headed for Angoon

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the tide is big here and makes large areas of standing waves, this was just as the tide started to change

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tide was incoming so time to hike

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bears will shit anywhere

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cool rock features

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we were able to ride the back eddy and make about 4 miles an hour

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we were going to stay the night in Angoon, but a plane landed just as we pulled in so we were able to catch a ride within an hour of showing up

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Wow

That’s incredible. Nicely done.


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That looks amazeballs. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks, looks like a great trip in wild country.

As others have said trip looks amazing. Thanks for taking the time to share.

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Originally Posted by rudy

As others have said trip looking amazing. Thanks for taking the time to share.

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X2. Awesome!!


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Did you ever get comfortable being around bears since it seems like a frequent occurance or was it a hair raising experience every time?

my wife teased me that i was pretty bearanoid after that trip.
having a huge male brown bear staring at you <10' away, giving a big woof/huff, while you are laying on the ground cause you backpedaled and tripped over a log will do that though...
a couple years ago was a very bad bear year (poor fish and berry year) so tend to carry bear spray more regularly since then.

went to Katmai and was ok being this close

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but those bears are pretty chill

That is every kind of amazing, thanks for sharing.

Just stumbled upon this.

I am not worthy.

Kudos!

Thanks for bumping this Gary
Amazing trips @wendigo

Way BITD, I spent a season logging on Admiralty- before it was turned into wilderness. The photos brought back memories- esp the swamps, the 6’ tall devil’s club and the bears.

We had a brown bear come into our camp (bunch of single-wides on skids). He Tore the door off the cook shack, then the door off the locked chest freezer, took a bite or several of all the food, then left thru a wall. Shot him when he came back next day, buried him with a D8. Lotsa fun salvaging what we could before we could get a new cook shack and provisions towed in.

Again, very cool. Thanks for the memories