Hey Alaskans! Someone needs to hike and packraft into Kenai Fjords.
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This is a trip that I think someone should do. Start in Seward, hike to Caines Head, packraft around Callisto Head and across the outlet of the Bear Glacier lagoon, and then hike to Bulldog Cove. That’s the stem of the lollipop. Now you can either hike up over the obvious pass to Aialik or go a bit farther down the coast to another pass leading to Coleman Bay. Once in Aialik Bay you can mess around as you see fit. I sea kayaked through the area years ago when I paddled from Homer to Seward. Aialik is spectacular and there was some surprisingly good hiking to be had. I climbed the peak at the head of Coleman Bay and also to the pass leading from the very NE corner of Aialik Bay (the next valley north of the Lechner Glacier) up to one of the most incredible vistas I have ever seen looking down on the Bear Glacier. I’d do it but the logistics from Kodiak kind of suck ever since Seward lost its ferry service. That used to be my shuttle.
Somebody go do this. It’s about 60-70 miles round trip.
Some pics from that trip if you want to see what the area looks like:
This is the valley I hiked up to get to the pass to look down on the Bear Glacier:
The Pederson Glacier:
Pederson Lagoon:
Climbing the peak at the head of Coleman Bay:
It’s a beautiful area. You get the idea.
Another coastal Alaskan lollipop into Kenai Fjords inspired by David’s mention of the Tutka Backdoor. Head to Seldovia and hitch a ride to Jakalof Bay, bushwhack the short distance to Tutka Bay Lagoon and paddle to the head of Tutka. Pick up the Tutka Backside Trail and hike until you are about to drop down to Taylor Bay but instead thrash your way down to Tonsina Bay. From there you can paddle up past the outlet of the Petrof Glacier and Petrof Point where you can cross Nuka Bay to Cape Horn on Nuka Island. Check out Home Cove and visit Herring Pete’s homestead. Go to the north end of the island and hike up into the alpine and then follow the spine down to the south end of the island. Paddle up the west side of Nuka Island checking out Westdahl Cove and Berger Bay before crossing back to Petrof Point and heading home.
I’ve hiked a tiny bit in Tonsina Bay and I’ve hiked on Nuka Island a few times. It all seems pretty doable from terrain and vegetation standpoint. It would be about 90+ miles. You could also get dropped by an air taxi and not have to retrace your steps on the Tutka Trail.
Here are a few pics from Nuka Island. I had some damp weather when I traveled through there so not the best pics, but you can get a feel for the area.
The outlet stream from the Petrof Glacier:
Looking back down Nuka Bay from the beach in front of the Petrof Glacier with the entrance to Tonsina Bay on the far left:
Herring Pete’s house:
On top of Nuka Island. This was around the 2nd week of June (I remember spending the summer solstice in Aialik and it took me about another week to get there).
Looking north into Home Cove:
Looking down to where Herring Pete’s house is just south of Home Cove:
Looking SW with the entrance to Tonsina Bay just above and left of image center:
Arguably the entire coastline of Alaska could be negotiated by sea kayak. Some sections would require some world-class fitness and experience though. Specifically, where you leave the relatively protected waters of the Inside Passage in SE AK and venture along Alaska’s “Lost Coast” up to the entrance to Prince William Sound; a hair-raising 400 mile stretch with only a few natural harbors where you could safely make landfall in rough conditions (which is to say, ‘normal’ conditions). Sometimes it’s better to just hike (and packraft!) those sections. There weren’t many days on our Lost Coast trip where I would have relished getting on or off the beach in my sea kayak: Hiking and Packrafting from Lituya to Yakutat
Lots of other sections of the coast are interspersed with capes and bays, making travel safer since you can get off the water when necessary without getting mulched in the surf: Sea Kayaking from Kodiak to Homer
Okay, another idea. Kodiak has lots of remote canneries. Most are derelict though a few are still operating seasonally for salmon processing. The cannery at Lazy Bay (Alitak) has been in operation for over 100 years and is a mail plane stop with daily flights. I have started many trips there. The cannery in the village of Larsen Bay was built in 1911 and has operated on again and off again in recent years. Last year they were shut down due to COVID. I have ended many trips there and the village gets multiple mail plane flights per day. In between is the vast Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge and a number of derelict canneries, and I’m proposing a self-guided tour of them. The purple and magenta lines are previous trips that I have done, and the orange is the new 75-mile route. It’s a bit more packraft focused than the prior routes which were just hiking.
The starting point- the Alitak cannery in Lazy Bay:
Next, the derelict cannery in Chip Cove:
Then we have the Olga Bay cannery site at Akalura which is in rougher shape:
Finishing at the cannery in Larsen Bay:
There are obviously some cannery-free sections inland, but the refuge has public use cabins along the route like the one at the north end of Frazer Lake:
And the last night could be spent on the ridge west of the outlet of Karluk Lake before floating the Karluk River to the portage trail to Larsen Bay:
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