Benjamin Island

In Mid-May we paddled out to Benjamin Island to see the sea lions. We hiked through the woods, surprised at how many wind falls there were and also surprised that someone had left a campfire smoldering. The breeze likely whipped it back up. I got a good chuckle at the new signs posted. It's never my intention to get close enough to a 500 lb animal to feed it. No thank you.

It was a Friday afternoon and so we had the island all to ourselves. A little creepy. A little satisfying. There was no one to make us feel guilty about how much time we spent watching the sea lions. I enjoyed seeing the little pups nursing and the teenagers harassing each other. Mr. X liked the lion with what appeared to be an entire salmon stuck to the side of his face...err looks like you got a little something right there.

There was enough of a cold breeze that we hiked back to east side of the island to eat our sandwiches. Mr. X was impressed with the new benches someone has made. On our paddle back to boulder beach we managed to scare both ourselves and a solitary sea lion. He was minding his own business, diving and playing. Unfortunately our timing was poor because he surfaced about 10 feet from us. We were glad he chose to re-dive immediately. Crossing back to the mainland we had to navigate through some fairly deep waters that also happen to go from protected to less protected. I'll admit the rolling waves made me a little sea-sick and I couldn't enjoy watching the water birds until we got out of the wind tunnel. Then I was pleased to see bonaparte gulls, scoters, and grebes.

North Island

Last May when we paddled back to Boulder beach from Benjamin Island, we met a group of women headed out to paddle and camp at North Island. In preparation for a longer paddling trip, we knew we needed a shake-down over-nighter and picked North Island as the spot. With all the fine weather we've been having I expected the island have occupants other than us, but we had the whole place to ourselves.

After work on Friday we loaded up and drove to Boulder beach then paddled along the shore for three miles. Every so often we would meet a sea lions trolling for herring. Once we'd paddled until we were perpendicular with the island, we made a 90 degree left turn and paddled due west to North island.

Setting up camp Mr. X used a tree limb to remove pine cones and other debris. While setting up the tent I managed to get  a pollen shower as the spruce trees are releasing pollen like smoke bombs.

We then went for a walk along the beach. I wanted to see the anchorage on the north side of the island. Mr. x wanted to get the best evening lighting which meant we tromped back and forth through ferns and trees and devil's club until we emerged on the boulder beach on the northwest corner.

 Though it was still light and the sea lions at the Benjamin island haul out were barking we decided to head for bed. Mr. X checked the time 10:30 pm. When the neon orange moon rose over the mountains at 11:00, I realized it was never getting dark. Throughout the night we heard sea lions and the rising tide.

At one point I heard footsteps outside the tent. I couldn't tell what they were and remembering Mr. X telling me about a co-worker who was sniffed and sniffed by a bear in a tent on Admiralty Island, I held very still. We hadn't seen any bear or moose sign, but we know they can swim to the islands in the channel park. We had seen some scat near the beach, but Mr. X didn't identify it except to say that it was strange looking and it was larger than a marten or marmot.When breaking camp I found fresh scat less than 10 feet from the tent.

In the morning, I felt like I was in an aviary. The eagles and ravens, pigeon guillemots, black oyster catchers, varied thrush and scoters, all make a racket. One of them, I swear, sounded like a hyena. Eventually, I got up to read on the sun warmed beach, watching the sea lions work their way back to the haul out, huffing as they went.

Mr. X wasn't far behind me and we sat on the pebble beach enjoying the sun, view and our breakfast.

We then paddled the 1/3 mile to Benjamin island where Mr. X was looking forward to more bushwhacking
in the hope we could reach the sea lion haul out from the north side of the island. We found some deer trails but no trail to the haul out and after climbing a small peak and then tripping through a drainage, I put an end to his enjoyment. At least we were able to conclude that the animal who's footsteps in the night had me stressed out were a Sitka deer enjoying a moist spring diet and not a wolverine or anything else.

We paddled along the eastern shore of the island and decided to skip the sea lion haul out this time around in favor of lunch at home. The glassy waters made for an enjoyable afternoon paddle. 

Benjamin Island

Mr. X has been angling to take this trip for some time. After our Spuhn Island trip on Monday, we packed up on Tuesday and attempted to find a place to put the boats in out the road. Despite the incredibly good weather, the tide would have been against us, so we bagged that plan.

Saturday, though we got out the road by 9 am. We decided to park at Boulder beach and hike on the beach as far as we could, then put the boats in to make the crossing to the island. First we had to cross a couple of snow melt streams. We tried a couple times in crocks and shorts, but I nixed it and said through chattering teeth, "Why are we doing this!? Let's put on the dry suits. That's what they're for."

We inflated the boats in a little notch in the rocks. We saw anenomies and sea slugs. Mr. X spotted tiny sea stars in the water.

We made the mile long crossing in calm waters. Watching for sea lions diving and swimming, making the same crossing. Eventually we approached the Benjamin island beach and we were surprised to see what we think was a horned grebe. He let us get very close to him. Beautiful bird, common but, since they're pretty tame, I don't think their survival is very good. I'd never seen one before :)

At the beach we portaged to the other side of the island only to be greeted by a raft of curious sea lions. We opted to go back to shore and walk along the bouldered beach. That's when a kayaker told us there was a trail through the trees to the sea lion haul-out.

That's really why we went to Benjamin island, why everyone goes there. This island is one of the major haul-outs for sea lions, which means it regularly gets over 200 animals congregating on its rocky beaches.

We hiked about a half hour through the trees. Then had our lunch above the barking and belching mammals.

On the paddle back, the tide pulled us right to boulder beach. It was easy going, so we went straight to the car (instead of bouldering back).