We are having a chilly and late spring/summer in southwestern Alaska. I had been waiting for a nice weather window between iffy weather and work obligations to get out and do a point-to-point trip on the island I have called home for over 30 years. My style of backcountry travel involves using inexpensive “seat fares” on the mail plane to reach remote canneries and villages as starting and ending points. There are both float- and wheeled-plane mail routes to anchor an itinerary around in the Kodiak Archipelago. Or, I will fly to a distant village etc and then hike/paddle back home. (Note: the local air taxis are fine carrying bear spray and stove fuel; just tell them you have it and they will probably stash it someplace safe like in an ammo can in a belly pod or in a float.)
The Kodiak Archipelago is a microcosm of what the rest of Alaska has to offer. The south end of Kodiak is characterized by low, rounded hills of wildflower meadows and tall tundra hummocks, dotted with marshes and sloughs. It strongly evokes the feeling of the Bering sea coast and the North Slope. Moving to the center of the west side of Kodiak Island is classic Southcentral coastal Alaska with deep bays and lovely beaches backed by mountains clad in truly horrific brush up to about 1,500′ elevation. Tough country. The center of the island has a spine of slate and white-crystalline granite, making for steep and dramatic mountains like in the Alaska Range (on a much smaller scale). The east side of Kodiak looks out onto the Gulf of Alaska and has steep-walled, deeply-incised ‘fjords’ ringed by impressive spires. The north end of Kodiak and the rest of the archipelago is largely densely wooded in a verdant and luxurious canopy of Sitka spruce and sphagnum moss, giving way to small alpine peaks erupting out of the forest like in parts of Southeast Alaska.
This trip was to take advantage of the relatively brush-free southwest side of the island, following a route I have developed specifically to minimize vegetative annoyance. But this is still Alaska after all, and while not involving epic salmonberry or alder thrashes, almost every step comes at a cost as you stumble-slog across vast swathes of tall/soft hummocks, squish your way across marshy expanses, or plow through chest-high ferns, pushkie, salmonberry and grass. But the ancient landscape in this part of Kodiak, called “The Refugium,” escaped the heavy ice coverage that most of the rest of southcentral Alaska experienced during the last two Pleistocene glaciations and offer a different topography and floral community from other parts of Kodiak. Broad and rounded low ridges offer sometimes pleasant hiking opportunities as do the gracefully arcing beaches along the Shelikof Strait, interspersed by craggy and sheer capes towering over the sea.
And there are animals. Lots and lots of animals. Kodiak brown bears, Sitka blacktail deer, red and silver (and cross) foxes, willow ptarmigan, harbor seals, and all manner of upland, song, and shorebird. Mountain goats have made their way west across the island and can be found on capes along the Shelikof, though I didn’t bump into them on this trip. Likewise, I did not see the herds of reindeer (not caribou) that wander the tundra headwaters of the bigger river systems on the west side. The profusion of wildlife is one of my favorite things about Kodiak which has the most watchable wildlife of any place I have ever visited. But you have to be very vigilant and comfortable around wild animals. You might run into a dozen brown bears in a day.
A real benefit to following the coast is that bug pressure is minimal. I barely had to shoo a single whitesock away for the first 4 days of the trip. A handful followed me across the Sturgeon River valley and a few more joined in for the Karluk River valley crossing as I turned inland and east for the last 2 days. I think I saw a grand total of 2 mosquitos. Amazing. And I probably should not admit to this, but I didn’t filter any of the water on the trip other than 2 liters out of the Karluk River, and just filled my bottle where and when I wanted. I’ve been doing this for a long time and seem to be skating by nicely.
This is the video of that trip along with a map of the route (which is also animated at the start of the video). There were a few questions generated in the Hiking Across Kodiak Island, Alaska thread where I post other videos that I will address here instead as they were somewhat specific to this trip.
Cheers, Philip
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