14 July: Days-36, Total-38; Miles-28, Total-1325
– Chuck
It rained off and on all night. At 4am, it was raining
when I checked the canoes. A little after 5am, I awoke to Bill's call
that the rain had stopped and the wind had subsided. We quickly broke
camp and were underway within half an hour. No hot coffee and oatmeal
this morning.
The destination, Galena. There was a US Air Force Base there until a
couple of years ago when it was closed as a cost saving measure. We
made good time for a few hours then the wind started increasing. By
10am we were beating into wind & wave again. A few minutes later
it was pouring rain and cooler. Visibility was limited, but we kept
thinking that Galena should be around the next bend; it wasn't. The
rain and low clouds continued to make navigation through some of the
islands tricky. Finally, a sign that Galena is close, an aircraft circling
under the low clouds waiting for a break in the weather to land at the,
now civilian, Galena Airport.
Then, at a distance, we could see the very top of a huge white sphere.
All right! A communication dome at the old Air Base. Soon we went by
an old "ant farm", various arrays of many different types
of antennas. Miles later, we passed the end of the runway and rounded
a point that had been revetted with white metal panels to prevent erosion
of the runway. Now, a mile or so away we could see the village of Galena.
We were still hard into the wind and waves when we arrived. Waves were
pounding the shore making it nearly impossible to leave a canoe in the
water unattended without it either taking water or getting beat against
the rocky shoreline. I landed mine and pulled it broadside onto the
gravel shore. Bill's much heavier aluminum canoe does not slide as well
as my slicker kevlar (like a lightweight fiberglass) canoe. After a
couple of unsuccessful attempts to secure it perpendicular to the shore,
we knew that would not work with the waves tossing it around. Then we
tried laying round pieces of driftwood on the shore like a crude ramp.
We then got on each side of the canoe and, with a little help from a
big wave, heaved it straight up the driftwood rollers until it was completely
out of the water. Whew, what a relief to have both boats out of the
turbulent water.
The rain let up for a while and we pitched our tents. Then we were off
to explore the village. The Post Office had three boxes for us. Two
from Betty with film mailers, GORP/birdseed (a great mixture of nuts,
raisins and M&Ms) and homemade cookies. One box was from Charlie
Monson, a hiking friend from the Big Cypress Chapter in Miami. Like
Betty with the GORP, Charlie knows what goes good on a physically demanding,
long haul, Snickers bars. There were about a dozen super large size
bars in the box, no note, no beer, just lots of Snickers. Thanks Betty
and Charlie, you made our day!
Bill needed to rest his neck; paddling into those waves has to be stressful
on it. I decided to see if the local watering hole, the first one since
Dawson nearly 800 miles ago, had a happy hour. While there, I met Andy
Summers who has traveled all over this part of Alaska. He gave me a
town by town description of what to expect all the way to Holy Cross.
As agreed, Bill arrived at 6:30 to join me for dinner in the adjoining
cafe. I introduced him to Andy, Helen and Katrina. Bill mentioned that
a young kid had tossed some pebbles at his tent then shyly chatted for
a bit. The locals at the bar immediately knew this young guy and said
his sled was a few dogs short of a full team. They advised us to watch
our gear closely. Bill said he wasn't planning to eat anyway and left
in a flash. After eating, I returned to our camp. Bill said all seemed
OK.
A few minutes after we had sacked out, I heard Bill ask someone what
they were doing lifting the tent door flap to look in. He firmly, but
politely sent the guy on his way.
It was raining hard as I dozed off. It is a good feeling to be in a
warm dry tent when it is cold and wet outside. Raindrops on the tent
are like a soft drum playing Taps.